9 November 2025

9 November 2025 - The Feast of St. John Lateran

Transcript

Reading:  

2 Chronicles 7:16

Write:  

I have chosen and consecrated this house, says the Lord, that my name may be there forever.

Reflect:   

We are celebrating a feast day this weekend that we do not normally get to celebrate on a Sunday. This is the feast day of the dedication of the Cathedral in Rome. No, it is not St. Peter’s. It is St. John Lateran. The feast day for the Cathedral is always November ninth. So, when it shows up on a Sunday, it is a more important feast day than the Sundays of Ordinary Time. This is like last Sunday when we had All Souls Day replace the Sunday of Ordinary Time.

Why is St. John Lateran such an important church for us? Because, as the Cathedral of Rome, it is the Cathedral for the entire world. It is one of the four basilicas in Rome that if you ever make a pilgrimage to Rome you need to visit. What are the four churches? I’m glad you asked. St. John Lateran, St. Peter, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Walls. You can walk between all four sites easily in one day – I have. And, there is an indulgence attached to doing so. Do not think you can make an easy trip to all the churches in Rome in one day – there are over nine hundred and thirty of them!

So why is a Cathedral called the Cathedral? It comes from the Latin word for chair. The main chair in the church actually belongs to the Bishop. It is called a “cathedra.” You may have heard the phrase Latin “ex cathedra.” It means from the chair. When the Pope speaks from his chair, it is considered a very important announcement. It is where we apply the idea of the Pope being infallible. Ex cathedra statements have not been made very often. But when they are, we need to pay attention to them.

Moving on.

As I said, every church has a “bishop’s chair.” When I was in Stuart Nebraska I joked around with the people a little bit saying that the only one who had permission to sit in the bishop’s chair is someone delegated to sit there. That is true. I, or the deacon if I or the Bishop are not around, are the only ones that are supposed to sit in that chair. Well, I made a joking-big-deal out of that and one of the parishioners at the fall dinner decided to make a joke of it – again. He brought a chair to the dinner as a fundraiser and the only one who could not sit in it was me! And people had their picture taken of them sitting in that chair. And it raised some money for the parish school. I thought it was quite funny.

Apply:   

So, let’s turn from a lighthearted way to start my comments this weekend, and turn to the quote that I made at the start. This was the Gospel Alleluia Verse from the Mass today. “I have chosen and consecrated this house, says the Lord, that my name may be there forever.” It comes from the Second Book of Chronicles. Uh, that is an Old Testament reference. “This house” is a reference to the temple in Jerusalem. But now that the temple has been destroyed, and Christianity has become the way our faith is expressed, how should we apply this line?

With the sending of the Holy Spirit, Jesus has made every one of us consecrated to the Father. Each of us is a temple of the Holy Spirit. This is what St. Paul tells us today.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God,

and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

If anyone destroys God's temple,

God will destroy that person;

for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.

So let’s go back to the first part of my comments today. And let’s apply them to ourselves. Each of us is called to be a “seat” of the Holy Spirit. He dwells within us. Paul’s comments today start off with: “You are God’s building.”

Let me leave you with something else. Jesus attacked those who were selling things in the temple, even though they were needed in the temple. If you are willing to ask him, what would He be willing to attack and drive from you that is not from him? What would Jesus be willing to do for you who are the living temple of the Holy Spirit? Is there something inside of you – some attitude, maybe even some sin – that needs to be cleansed for the sake of God’s glory?

After Communion, our director of parishes has a few comments for us to think about. So I’m going to stop my comments now, other than to emphasize again my last question: Is there something inside of you – some attitude, maybe even some sin – that needs to be cleansed for the sake of God’s glory? Let him heal you and cleanse you. We are in a change of seasons, and it is quite natural for us to think a seasonal cleaning. Confession anyone?

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