Today, we celebrate the dedication of St. John Lateran, the cathedral church of Rome. Although we mark the dedication of a building, we more importantly give thanks for the Church itself, God’s “chosen” and “faithful” people, who will “build up the heavenly Jeru-salem” (Collect).

Paul proclaims in the Second Reading that we “are God’s building…the temple of God,” and so we pray that we may become “the temple of [God’s] grace and the dwelling place of [his] glory” (Prayer after Com-munion). Jesus seems to warn against focusing too much on buildings after cleansing the Jerusalem tem-ple, speaking instead of “the temple of his Body” (Gospel). The preface for the Eucharistic Prayer does speak beautifully of a building that is a “house of prayer … the temple of the Holy Spirit,” but soon turns again to the people who gather there, “the Bride of Christ…the mother of countless children.”

Our prayers today, then, should seek the unity of Christ’s body, symbolized in so many church build-ings, but made present in living assemblies.