Homily from the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome.
“‘If the Temple was so important to the Jews, if it was so important for the Jews to be Jewish that they needed a temple, how come Christians didn’t rebuild the Temple? When Christians came back into the Holy Land, when Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire, how come they built St. John Lateran and didn’t go back and rebuild the Temple?’ Because of today’s Gospel. What did Jesus say about the Temple? It’s going to be destroyed. What’s going to happen? I’m going to raise it up in three days. What Temple was He talking about? His own Body. And this is so crazy, when every Christian saw the destruction of the Temple, the Temple was gone but they already knew that just like Baptism had fulfilled and replaced circumcision, where does every Christian find Christ’s Body [the Temple] everywhere in the world? In the Eucharist.”
Mass Readings from November 09, 2014:
Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12
1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17
John 2:13-22
