The Holy Presence of God


Homily for the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

November 9, 2025

 

Once, a parish priest climbed way up in the church’s steeple to be nearer to God. He wanted to hand down God’s Word to his parishioners, like Moses of old, who had brought the Ten Commandments down from the mountaintop. Then, one day he indeed thought he heard God say something.

 

The priest cried out aloud from the steeple, “Where are you, Lord? I can’t seem to hear your voice clearly.” And the Lord replied, “I’m down here among my people. Where are you?”

 

Today, we’re celebrating the dedication of a special church, the church of St. John Lateran. What makes this church unique is that for many centuries it has been the cathedral, or the official church, of the bishop of Rome, the Holy Father.

 

So, in our readings we find a focus on buildings that were signs of God’s presence. In Ezekiel, life-giving water is flowing from the temple, making the earth fertile and fruitful for the people.

 

In the second reading Paul talks about himself, as well as those who came after him, as builders of God’s building, with a solid foundation. But then he teaches that the people are actually what God is building. Each person has the Spirit of God dwelling in him or her. That makes each of us, and all of us together, holy. God’s not off somewhere in holy isolation. God is down here—in us, and with us, and among us.

 

In the gospel we find two temples, two signs of God’s presence among the people. The first is the magnificent building, the temple which was the sign of God’s presence in Israel, the special place where they could focus their worship and offer their sacrifices to God.

 

But we have a second “temple” in this gospel—in this case, not a building or a sign or a symbol, but Jesus, the Son of God, God come to earth to be among the people. The clue to help us understand this is Jesus’ statement: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” In other words, put me to death on Good Friday, and on Easter Sunday I will rise from the dead! God among the people, watering, teaching, nurturing, not just for this life, but for life eternal.

 

So, we’re celebrating church today, in all its manifestations and meanings. A building that is the sacred place of encounter with the divine. A community that is sacred because God dwells in each and in all of us. And Jesus Christ, the foundation, the very life-giving presence.

 

Let me end with a story. Many years ago, when I was studying to become a priest, I heard about a priest who some years before was the head of a seminary. During the season of Lent one year, he examined his conscience and decided that, once and for all, he wanted to give up smoking. He knew this would be hard, so he brought the Eucharist into his office. Being a humble man, he didn’t tell anybody what he had planned.

 

One day, a visitor came to see the priest, and he started to light up a cigarette. The priest became outraged, and he yelled at the visitor, “How dare you smoke in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament?” The visitor ran out of the office, believing the priest had gone mad, thinking he was the Blessed Sacrament.

 

Well, that crazy story has stayed with me over the years, and I’ve thought about it in relation to how I treat people. If God’s Spirit dwells in each of us, if each of us is a holy temple, then that means I should treat everyone as if they are, in a sense, a blessed sacrament, a person created in God’s image, and having a spark of the divine within them. If God is down here, in, with and among us, even in those I find it difficult to love, how dare I treat anybody as if they have no dignity or worth?

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