Today is the thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time.
For the second week in a row we have our normal Sunday in Ordinary Time bounced by a special feast day. This time it’s the feast of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. It is the feast of a church, but not just any church. St. John Lateran, as it’s known, is the mother Church of the Catholic faith.
Many people assume that St. Peters is the home of the Catholic Church but that’s not the case. St. John Lateran is the cathedral for the diocese of Rome and therefore the home church for our faith.
A few interesting things about all this:
Lateran, as it’s called, is named for St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.
The name Lateran is a family name for the family that lived on the site and had a palace there.
The church is actually not inside of Vatican City.
Many popes lived at the Lateran location before St. Peters was built. You might recall that how construction of St. Peters was being funded was a big part of the complaints of Martin Luther in the 1500s.
Today’s readings all have a temple connection. I particularly appreciate the second reading, reminding all of us that we are ourselves temples, temples of God and that God Himself resides within us.
We should regularly ask ourselves how we’re doing at temple building and living holy lives. The temple of our body is the place where the Spirit of God resides. If we’re not living holy lives there’s room for our temple to be spruced up, spiritually speaking. Living the sacramental life of the Church can help us grow in holiness and bring our temple into a more glorious state so as to influence friends, family members, and acquaintances.
So, as we think about the mother church of our faith let’s also think about our little piece of temple that we need to maintain so as to build the Kingdom in our corner of the world.
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace, Bob
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