Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

Today's Mass Readings

You may have recently heard, as did I, that the penny has been excised as a currency option in the United States. I even received an ominous warning in an email titled “the end of the penny.” Not dissimilar to that of the prophets of Israel in the Old Testament. In today’s readings, we also have an ominous reading about currency from the Lord Himself. In the Gospel, Jesus goes so far as to make a whip of cords to drive out the money changers from the courtyard of the Jewish Temple. I do not think our Blessed Lord is necessarily concerned about the semantics of what denomination of coins are available. He is seeking to liberate His Father and Our Father’s house from distractions and unholy activity.

This sentiment of our Lord speaks to the feast we celebrate today, the Feast of the Dedication of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. (There will be a test on that name after Mass.) What is this obscure church and why should we care about it? It is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome, of which the Pope is the bishop. Since it is his cathedral, every Catholic under his leadership has a claim to it. Just as a cathedral is the mother church of any diocese, St. John’s is every Catholic’s Mother Church. It gets celebrated as a feast and even overtakes a Sunday of Ordinary Time because of its significance to us. Like the Jews, Catholics and Christians have always honored the dedication of things not just as ceremonial anniversaries, but to honor the purpose for which things are dedicated. Jews to this day celebrate Hanukkah as the dedication of the Temple for it was saved from the Greeks. The Church celebrates this Dedication day for what the Basilica of St. John Lateran means for us. It is the primary place the Church has set aside for Her head on earth, the Pope, to worship and draw all peoples to the Lord our God in the vessel of the Church.

This is why Christ seeks to liberate the Temple. He chose the Temple and now Churches as His dwelling place on earth. Not that He merely wants a nice home, but He wants a place to commune with His people, His very Body. We are His hands and feet on earth and He is our Head, like St. John Lateran is of all Churches. At its heart, this feast is an invitation by the Church to let “Zeal for your house…consume me,” and return to the Lord our God with your whole heart. As St. Josemaría Escrivá said, “When you approach the tabernacle, remember that He has been waiting for you for twenty centuries.” The Lord is waiting for you with all love and expectancy!

Reflection by Jack, seminarian