FEAST OF THE DEDICATION OF THE LATERAN BASILICA - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

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

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

My Soul's Beloved,

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, this Church is the symbol of the Church You founded on the Rock and it is our spiritual home. The Church is Your Body, You are its Head and we are its members. Lord, when You were raised between heaven and earth on the Altar of the Cross and You offered Yourself to the Father as the only perfect and pleasing sacrifice in atonement for the sins of the whole world, You opened for us, sinners, the gates of heaven You, Yourself becoming the Gate through which we may enter. 

St. John, the disciple whom You loved, stood at the foot of the Cross with Your Mother and Mary Magdalene and was a witness to what happened and his testimony is true: But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. It is from Your pierced side when blood and water gushed flowed from Your side, that the prophecy of Ezekiel is fulfilled. From the right side of Your pierced side O Lord, flows life-giving water representing the water of Baptism that regenerates us, cleanses us, makes us fruitful, and fecund, and filled with Your life, we can share this life with others.  

Thank You, Lord, for making us sharers in Your life and for the grace and gift of sharing Your life with others.

The water flowed from under the right side of the Temple, south of the altar. 

Wherever the river flows, all living creatures teeming in it will live. Fish will be very plentiful, for wherever the water goes it brings health, and life teems wherever the river flows. Along the river, on either bank, will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and fruit that never fails; they will bear new fruit every month, because this water comes from the sanctuary. And their fruit will be good to eat and the leaves medicinal.’

PSALM 45 45(46):2-3,5-6,8-9

The waters of a river give joy to God’s city, the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is for us a refuge and strength,
a helper close at hand, in time of distress,
so we shall not fear though the earth should rock,
though the mountains fall into the depths of the sea.

The waters of a river give joy to God’s city,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within, it cannot be shaken;
God will help it at the dawning of the day.

The Lord of hosts is with us:

the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Come, consider the works of the Lord,
the redoubtable deeds he has done on the earth.

The waters of a river give joy to God’s city, the holy place where the Most High dwells.

JOHN 2:13-22

My Soul's Beloved,

You are good, kind, gentle, and all-loving nevertheless let us not fail to understand that You will not hesitate to take a whip to those who make the House of God a den of thieves. Today we read the account from the Gospel of John when You went to Jerusalem for the Jewish Passover, entering the Temple You saw the utter chaos that prevailed there by the buyers and sellers defiling the house of God. Filled with righteous indignation. 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 desire to make our sinful, weak wicked hearts, and our bodies Your Temple, this is where You wish to abide making You one with us one with You. Your condescension in desiring this is incomprehensible to us. This is why we are not overcome with wonder and awe that the God of might and power, grandeur, and beauty, who shines brighter than a thousand suns, actually resides in us. If we did, Lord, we would die of overwhelming joy. Lord Jesus, grant me the graces I need, the wisdom I lack, and an increase in love that presently waxes and wanes like the moon, only then will I truly begin to realize and understand what it truly means to have God take up residence in my soul.

Thank You for the Sacrament of Reconciliation where I can come to You lay bare all that defiles my soul, and You, not with a whip, but with Your precious Blood, cleanse me of all my sins and make my poor heart a fit dwelling for You. prepared, to reveal to You.  

The Jews intervened and said, ‘What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?’ Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are you going to raise it up in three days?’ 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.