Mother Church

Today we celebrate another glorious feast: it is the feast of the Lord’s house, of God’s temple, of the city of the eternal King, of Christ’s bride.

Let us ask ourselves what this house of God, his temple, this city, and this bride can be? With awe and reverence, I say: It is we ourselves.

I say it is we ourselves, but in the heart of God; it is we ourselves, but by his grace and not by any merits of our own. We, humans must beware of appropriating what belongs to God, of taking the glory to ourselves; otherwise, if we exalt ourselves, he will humble us and bring us down to our proper level.

Bear in mind also that he describes his house as a house of prayer, and that holiness befits this house; then the purity of self-restraint will accompany the tears of repentance, and what is already God’s house will become his temple as well. Be holy, says the Lord, because I am holy. And the Apostle says:” Do no not realize that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit dwells in you?

As we honor this church, we honor more than a building.

We honor a symbol of the one true Church of Jesus Christ, 

which is the Mystical Body of Christ.

The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica reveals:

God’s enduring desire to dwell among His people,

a spiritual house built of living stones, where Christ is the corner stone.

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, 9 November 2025