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GOSPEL MEDITATION

November 9, 2025
Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

When I was 22, I entered St. Peter’s Basilica for the first time. It floored me. I could hardly take it in, its grandeur, majestic arches, vibrant colors, and the light that danced through its high windows. Somehow, amidst such splendor, I felt an overwhelming sense of belonging, as if I had finally come home.

Jesus reorients how we Catholics see sacred buildings. In today’s Gospel he says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:13-22). His riddle implies, shockingly, that his own body is now the fundamental dwelling place of God and humanity. The temple in Jerusalem has been superseded.

In our churches today — whether they mirror the basilica’s grandeur or embrace humble simplicity — we experience architectural symbols of Christ’s risen body. It is no accident we call them “churches”: they make visible in brick-and-mortar Christ’s body which is made up of the living stones we call Christians. Each church building, like St. John Lateran in Rome, or St. Peter’s, or any other, is meant to be a vibrant sign of Christ’s resurrected body. We should cherish and protect our churches as places where heaven touches earth, where we, as a community, are raised to the fullness of life in Christ. — Father John Muir ©LPi