Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome
Today’s feast is rare in that it falls on Sunday only once or twice a decade and it outranks a Sunday in Ordinary Time!
The ceiling is massively high at Saint John Lateran Basilica in Rome, which is the Pope’s Cathedral, with gilded wood made from the first gold brought back from the New World in a design by Michelangelo.
Ceiling heights have been proven to affect how people think. Higher ceilings promoting more abstract and creative thinking and lower ceilings encouraging more detail-oriented and logical thinking. Managers should want noticeably higher ceilings. Technicians and accountants might want low ceilings.
Dream the dream, desire holiness and sainthood.
Don’t Aim for Purgatory; You Might Miss!
The massive solid bronze doors of St. John Lateran are over 2,000 years old and were originally the doors of the ancient Roman Senate House which witnessed the political life of the Roman Empire, including Julius Caesar. Each half of the doors weighs over 9 tons but are so precisely balanced with a system of counterweights that a single person can open or close them with ease, a remarkable feat of ancient engineering.
The four virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance are called cardinal from the Latin cardo, meaning "hinge" because the moral life hinges on them as habits, and disciplines.
St. Josemaría often said: “Work can be the hinge of the whole spiritual life because its about service for the good of the family and for society, it is also a field for attaining perfection through the exercise of virtue in the work setting, from the house and homelife to the office.
The Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran has the title “Mother and Head of all the Churches in the City and in the World.” Constantine had been given the palace in Rome that belonged to the Lateranus family, and after his conversion to Christianity he gave it to the Pope. The "John" in Saint John Lateran refers to two saints, Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist.
Apostolic authority is a moral power given to the apostles by Christ. Over time, the distinction was made into the power of order to make holy and sanctify (the Eucharist, Absolution in Confession), and jurisdiction which is teaching and governing.
Jesus builds his Church on Peter, meaning "rock", and his successors, and in Matthew 18:15-18, “whatever you bind” or “loose” when speaking to Peter and to all the apostles.
This is the power to teach, interpret, and preserve the truth revealed by God.
Consider the difference between ecclesial communities vs. a Church which must have have true sacraments and above all – because of the apostolic succession – the priesthood and the Eucharist" which the Catholic Church has in its fullness and Orthodox have.
Lastly, the destruction of the first Jerusalem Temple in 568 BC which was for centuries the preeminent place of divine encounter for the Israelites.
Now we have the Real Presence of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
We also have our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit. For those being saved, that is in the state of grace, St. Paul says, “You are that Temple!” in 1 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 6:16, and Ephesians 2:21, and that by baptism individual Christians are the very Body of Christ.
There is a monastic saying, “You build the life and the life builds you.” This is not the secular understanding of building the life you want, in fact Jesus, and St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:9, say be careful how you build.
The saying applies also most beautifully to marriage: building a life together in marriage. The daily commitment to be faithful to what God wants for them, to form and bless the couple. Indeed, it is precisely through the challenges, difficulties, and trials of ordinary, daily married life that God wants to transform with his love and make married couples more like him.
The Lateran Basilica survived and thrived in spite of being ransacked by the Visigoths in 410 AD, and again in 455 AD by the Vandals, various fires, and earthquakes: it was always repaired, restored and beautified, each time.
This tells us of hope and perseverance: We can endure, rebuild, and emerge stronger from our own challenges.
The awesome physical Mother Church of the whole world serves to nourish us, pardon us, emphasizing that Christians are the "temples of God" and must strive for holiness and bring God's life, love, and holiness into the world.
