FEAST OF DEDICATION OF THE LATERAN BASILICA
You Are the Temple Greeting
Know that this place is holy because the Lord is here among us. Know that we ourselves are called to be holy, for we are God’s temple. May the Lord Jesus always stay with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
We are glad that we can come to this church of brick and mortar and meet the Lord here in prayer. But we ourselves are living stones in the church of Christ our Lord, whose body we are. The Book of Revelation says: “Here God lives among his people. He lives among them and he will be their God, God-with-them.” This is said about us, God’s people! We are that temple in which God lives, both as members of Jesus’ body and as a living Christian community. Through our Lord Jesus, let us give thanks to God.
Penitential Act
Lord Jesus, you are the foundation on which your Church is built: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy. Jesus Christ, you have made us your body in which you live and move: Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy. Lord Jesus, you chose us to be the living stones of your house and your very temple: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy. Lord, through your forgiving mercy, make us worthy members of your body. Be alive in us, your people, and lead us to everlasting life. R/Amen
Opening Prayer
God our Father, you have called us through your Son to be a community of faith, love, and service built on the only firm foundation, Jesus Christ our Lord. Fill us with his Spirit, that we may be your Church in word and deed, making no demands, seeking no privileges, not trying to dominate and control. Help us to bring joy to all, to love without excluding anyone and to serve without demanding gratitude. May we thus be the living house filled with the presence of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading • Ez 47:1-2, 8-9, 12: Life-Giving Streams Flow From The Temple
Like life-giving streams, God’s grace flows from his Temple and makes everything healthy and fruitful. So will the water of baptism give us health and life.
Second Reading • 1 Cor 3:9-11, 16-17: You Are God’s Building
The Christian community itself is a building constructed in God’s honor. Each of us is a living stone of it, with Christ as our foundation. God lives in his community.
Gospel • Jn 2:13-22: Christ, The True Temple
Jesus cleans the Jewish temple. It will be destroyed, for the true “house of God” where we will meet God is Jesus Christ. Are we not his body, the Church?
Intercessions Let us pray to Jesus our Lord that his Christian community may be more aware that they are the people and temple of God, and let us also pray for the needs of all people and of all the world. Let us say:
R/ Lord, build community with us.
That in our Christian communities all may contribute time and effort toward a better, more evangelical Church, let us pray: R/ Lord, build community with us.
That our organizations in our dioceses and parishes may cooperate better with one another so that by their teamwork and unity they become more the one body of Christ, let us pray: R/ Lord, build community with us.
That all our Christian Churches may work toward the unity to which they are called by the Spirit of Jesus, the one Shepherd of all, let us pray: R/ Lord, build community with us.
That the leaders of the world may seek peace in the world community and look for common solutions for common problems, while respecting each other’s rights and dignity, let us pray: R/ Lord, build community with us.
That those living in security may welcome strangers and refugees, people without a home or a country, and show them the warmth of hospitality, let us pray: R/ Lord, build community with us.
And finally, that this community may always be aware that it is united in faith and love, in hope and service with the pope and with the worldwide Church, let us pray: R/ Lord, build community with us.
Lord Jesus, you wanted to live among people. Make your Church more and more the space where people can meet in your name, for you are our Lord forever. R/Amen.
Prayer Over the Gifts
Lord our God, we bring before you these gifts of bread and wine to remember that Jesus Christ is among us. May he be to all of us our way, our truth, our life. And may he become alive among us through his Holy Spirit, not only in these signs and this place but in the whole wide world, in a new, living Church, in a new, authentic Christianity, where he is our Lord forever and ever. R/Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
Together with Christ who is the foundation stone on which we are built as his body, we offer to our Father the worship of this Eucharist and of our lives.
Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer
In this house of prayer let us pray to our Father in heaven the prayer of trust of his Son Jesus: R/ Our Father...
Introduction to the Rites of Peace and the Breaking of Bread
In the Christian community and in life we are on the way with one another, we seek peace and long for happiness. Here in this house of prayer the Lord Jesus breaks the bread of life for us. Let us also break bread for one another and pray for the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The peace of the Lord he with you always. R/ And also with you.
Invitation to Communion
This is the body of Jesus the Lord. He gives himself to us that we may become more authentically his body of the Church. R/ Lord, 1 am not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God, you have filled this house and us with the presence of your Son; he has spoken his Word to us, he has shared himself with us as our food on the road of life. May we now be your sign to the world that your Son is alive among us. May our search and concern for justice, for human dignity, for love, integrity, and unity give praise to you and proclaim to all that we are your people and that Jesus Christ is our Lord, now and for ever. R/ Amen.
Blessing
It is not so much the building that counts to honor and worship God but Christ whom we meet here and whose body we are. And in us, in that body of Christ, people should recognize the Lord and feel his presence. May this really become true in us, with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen. Go in peace and be the sign that Christ is alive in the world of today. R/ Thanks be to God.
Reflection: John 2:13-22 Sense of holy makes God’s dwelling A master asks his disciples: "Where does the Most High dwell?" They replied, “He dwells in the heavens.” The master concluded: "The Most High lives only where he is allowed to enter". The temples may remain mere magnificent structures and huge spaces for the animation of ceremonies and the organisation of events and celebrations, but they are not dwelling places of God when the intention of their establishment and of people is defective because God’s temples are abodes of unity, surrender, and serenity, and springs of strength and renewal of souls and relationships. When our intentions become integral and transcendent, everything will reveal sacredness. Jesus, in today’s gospel, charges people who treat everyone and everything as products to be exchanged or bargained. Because God’s dwelling cannot be reduced to a place of exchange between supply and demand. Such loss of the sense of the sacred is not only a matter that pertains to religion, it leads to the loss of the basic sense of dignity and reverence toward life and human persons themselves. God cannot be bought with sacrifices. He loves us and expects from us a free heart that responds to His love. God cannot be merited but welcomed with a humble heart. The prophet Ezekiel indicates this divine presence and action through the symbolism of the temple water. It has the efficacious power to refresh, enliven, nourish and heal. In a culture of consumerism, which proposes a subjective value depends on its utility rather than its true value, there is a tremendous decline in the sense of interiority and simplicity. Thereby, we have lost sight of the truth that “we are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in us.” Instead of bargaining and contracting with God, let us allow Him to visit all the rooms in our hearts so that He may make place for everything and everything in its original place. Let us preserve the external and internal beauty of the temple by reawakening the sanctity of the temple, the community, and the human person. When our communities and each of us become more holy, our temples become truly houses of God; thereby, our life itself may become meditation and prayer.
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John 2:13-22: We are the new temples of God’s glory
Today’s solemnity of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, known as the “Mother of all Churches,” invites us to reflect on our unity as one Church, built upon the foundation of the Apostles. The Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Pope’s cathedral, symbolises this unity. For centuries, it has been a place of gathering, worship, and hope—a powerful reminder that the Church is not confined to any single building but is a living, growing body made up of all of us, the faithful. In the Gospel today, Jesus cleanses the Jerusalem temple, declaring it “my Father’s house.” By doing this, he reveals his identity as the new temple where God truly dwells. Just as the Lateran Basilica has stood as a testament to God’s presence among His people, so too, Jesus becomes the place where we encounter God’s glory and love. Through His life, death, and resurrection, Christ transforms the notion of the temple: it is now within Him and,consequently, within us as we live in Him. Today, as we remember this holy space of the Lateran Basilica, let us also see our own hearts as temples of God. Our actions, our love, and our compassion must be places where others can encounter the glory of God. We are called to build this unity by seeing Christ in one another, especially the poor and the needy. By honouring the dignity in each life, we bring glory to God, for as St. Irenaeus reminds us, “The glory of God is the life of humanity.” Like the Lateran Basilica, we may stand as living temples—welcoming, united, and radiating God’s love to the world.
