We Are This Temple

St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome

      This coming Friday (Nov. 9) we celebrate the dedication of the basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral church of the city of Rome, once a royal palace and basilica which belonged to the Roman emperor Constantine and his family. 

     At one time to say “the Lateran” was equivalent to saying “the Vatican” today. This continued up until the 14^th century. When the papacy moved from Rome to Avignon for 70 years, the Lateran basilica fell into ruins from lack of use as well as from several earthquakes which ravaged it. The church was rebuilt several times. Its present appearance dates from the latter part of the seventeenth century, from a renovation carried out by Pope Innocent X. 

     The Liturgy of the Hours of this feast reminds us that “the temple of God is holy, and you are that temple.” We are the church in which God dwells. No earthquake will damage this holy place, nor threaten its foundation, built as we are on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone. St. Thomas of Villanova compares us further to the temple in which God walks about: “Whenever you feel within yourselves the movements of good desires, the pangs of contrition, or the fire of devotion, recognize the steps of God, the signs of the Holy Spirit, walking in the temple.”

     Sr. Christa Kreinbrink, OSB