Monday, November 9, 2026 — Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
My Father’s house
John 2:13-22
Readings of the day: First Reading: Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9; Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17; Gospel Acclamation: 2 Chronicles 7:16; Gospel: John 2:13-22.
The Gospel
Near the Passover, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem and finds traders and money-changers at work in the temple. He drives them out, overturns the tables, and says, “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” When he is asked for a sign, he answers, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” He is speaking of the temple of his body; after his resurrection, his disciples remembered his words and believed.
Reflection
Jesus cleanses a temple of stone, but he points to a greater temple: his own body, raised on the third day. St. Bede reads the sign this way: as Christ purifies the temple in Jerusalem by his own power, so the temple of his body, destroyed by human hands, is raised again. Today we keep the feast of the Lateran Basilica, the cathedral of Rome, dedicated in 324 and called the mother church of all churches. A church of stone matters because it holds living stones: we are God’s building, and the Spirit of God dwells in us. St. Augustine teaches that zeal for God’s house begins at home: the one eaten up with zeal desires to correct what is wrong, and where he cannot correct, he endures and mourns. Let the Lord drive out of our hearts whatever turns his house into a marketplace.
From the Fathers
“As by My power I purify your inanimate temple from your merchandize and wickedness; so the temple of My Body, of which that is the figure, destroyed by your hands, on the third day I will raise again.”
— St. Bede, in the Catena Aurea on John 2:13–22
“He then is eaten up with zeal for God’s house, who desires to correct all that he sees wrong there; and, if he cannot correct, endures and mourns.”
— St. Augustine, Tractates on John 10.9, in the Catena Aurea on John 2:13–22
“But why does He give them the sign of His resurrection? Because this was the greatest proof that He was not a mere man; shewing, as it did, that He could triumph over death, and in a moment overthrow its long tyranny.”
— St. John Chrysostom, Homily 23 on John, in the Catena Aurea on John 2:13–22
Feast of the day
The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. The Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, was dedicated to Christ the Saviour in 324 by Pope St. Sylvester I. It is the mother and head of all the churches of the city and of the world.
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Sources: the day’s readings follow the daily lectionary (USCCB, Lectionary 671). The Gospel text is not reproduced here; read it at the link above. Patristic quotes: Catena Aurea on John 2:13–22, compiled by St. Thomas Aquinas, translated by John Henry Newman (1841, public domain).