The Dedication of Saint John Lateran Basilica
Feast – C
November 9, 2025
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton
A Jewish Legend
In Jewish folklore, there is an inspiring story about the place where the great temple in Jerusalem was built.
The legend goes that two brothers had adjoining farms. The older brother was married and had a family; the younger brother lived alone.
When the harvest came, the younger brother said to himself: “My brother has a wife and children and many responsibilities. I’ll help him by giving part of my harvest to his family.”
So, in the middle of the night, he went over to his brother’s property and poured some grain from his own harvest into his brother’s bins. He did this night after night.
Meanwhile, the married brother had a similar thought: “My brother has no wife or children and lives by himself. He has no one to care for him in the winter of his days. I’ll take some of my grain and add it to his harvest so he will never be in need.”
And so, during the night, the older brother went over to his brother’s property and poured some grain from his own harvest into his brother’s bins. He did this night after night.
For years the brothers wondered why their grain supply never dwindled. Then, one night, they both set out for the other’s house at the same time.
In the dark, they met – each carrying sacks of grain to fill the other’s bin. They realized immediately what each other had been doing all those years.
They dropped their sacks and embraced. And, on the spot where the brothers embraced, God directed that his temple be built.
“Here at last is the place where I will build my temple,” God said. “For where brothers meet in love, there my presence will be.”
A Church Building
That story leads me to one reflection for today – the celebration of a church building in Rome.
Our church here – Our Lady of Grace – is a sign of God’s presence. In fact, we believe that it is more than that – that God, Jesus is present to us in the reading of the Word and in the celebration and reservation of the Eucharist.
God, Jesus calls us to have that same kind of love for one another as God wanted in the Jewish legend. This very building assumes that the sense of oneness or community is present within and among us.
Saint Paul in today’s second reading calls us, he calls you and me the building and the temple of God. He wants us to know that we are God’s temple, that God is present within us.
And it follows that he wants us to see others, everyone else also as God’s temple. He wants us to treat each other accordingly.
Love and Community
So, the expectations made by the Jewish legend and by this church building and by Saint Paul are clear.
We are to treat each other with respect, whether or not we like or agree with each other. We are to try to take in and understand the other person’s perspective or background or needs.
We are to look out for the good of one another and for the common good of all, much as the brothers in the legend did. We are to be there for one another in times of need.
We are even to be there in prayer and maybe in some other ways for persons whom we will never meet or know. This might be people in our cities or our rural areas, or people in other countries like Guatemala or Ukraine or Sudan.
Authenticity
So, our respect, our care, our sense of community makes our presence here authentic.
To put it another way, our respect, our care, our sense of community means that we have allowed this church building to form who we are and how we live. That’s the message or calling that I am seeing on this day in honor of the Pope’s cathedral church in Rome.
