FEAST OF THE DEDICATION OF THE LATERAN BASILICA IN ROME - 2020

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I have chosen and consecrated this house, says the Lord,
that my name may be there forever. 2 CH 7:16

EZEKIEL 47:1-2, 8-9, 12

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

Within the Church You founded on Peter and the Apostles, life abounds in the life-giving Sacraments You instituted. Living water, having its source in You, streams out of her and wherever it flows is found abundant life and abundant fruit. Without this visible sign in the world, without this beacon of light situated on the hilltop, without this New Jerusalem on Mt. Zion, the world would swiftly grow dark and all the evil forces that rage around her would overwhelm the world and destroy it.

The sole reason why the world has not long since been devoured by the forces of evil that have seen every kind of horrific, murderous, treachery committed on the innocent, the poor, and the helpless, is because from the rising of the sun to its setting, unceasingly, the Church offers to the Father, You, her Bridegroom who lay down His life for her and for the world. 

As long as this holy, unblemished Sacrifice, offered once-for-all on Calvary is made present to the Father by the Church that was born from Your sacred side, evil cannot overcome the world. 

PSALM 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

How wonderfully well the psalmist expresses the joy of Your Presence among us. You make the Church Your dwelling place where You are fully present body, soul, and divinity, in the Holy Eucharist. When we receive You in Holy Communion this same presence is within our imperfect, sinful, mortal bodies, and for a moment we are one with divinity.

What greater joy can there be than this, my Beloved, to be united with You in the sweetest, most profound intimacy of all in the Holy Eucharist?

This is why a joyless Christian is no Christian at all. We must have songs of praise in our hearts, and joyful praise on lips always for You are Emmanuel, God with us, always. 

Though the earth should rock, though the mountains fall into the depths of the sea, we shall not be afraid for the Lord our God is our refuge and our strength, He is our helper who abides in us.

The Living waters of mercy and love that stream forth from Your side keep safe all who are called by Your Name, all who are grafted into Your Body, and all who are fed by Your Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist. Without these channels of grace that flows into us through the Sacraments You instituted, we would wither and die and be fit only to be cut off and thrown into the fire.

Thank You, Beloved, for the greatest sign of all of Your love for us - the Sign of the Cross on Calvary. We live because You died on our behalf and rose again so we would not taste eternal death but enjoy eternal life with You.

JOHN 2:13-22

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

Let us pay close attention to what You did that day before the Jewish Passover in the Temple where You found people desecrating it. We read, 'Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle, and sheep as well, scattered the money changers’ coins, knocked their tables over and said to the pigeon-sellers, ‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market.’'

You will not permit us to desecrate Your Temple, which is our body for You make Your abode in it. St. Paul reminds us, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

You stood before the Jews who were bristling with helpless fury at what You had just done by destroying their unholy commerce in the sacred precincts of God's house, and demanded, ‘What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?’ 

You responded, ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.’ And You did. On the third day after the Jews and the Romans of the day committed Deicide, You rose from the dead. The Jews mistakenly believed that You were speaking of the physical temple in Jerusalem, but we have this truth engraved for all time, But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.

Let us who are baptized and who belong to Your Church refrain from desecrating our body with sin so we may enjoy eternal life in the Kingdom of God with You, our Lord, and our God.