It’s the Feast of Dedication of the Lateran Basilica of Our Savior, 2nd Class, with the color of White, and a commemoration of St. Theodore, Martyr. In this episode: today in Church History: “Pius IX Condemns Modern Errors in Qui Pluribus (1846)”, the meditation: “Jesus, Our Model”, a preview of the Sermon: “The Sanctifying Power of the Church”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Have feedback or questions about the DD or our other shows? podcast@sspx.org
Sources Used Today:
- “Jesus, Our Model” — From the Assumption to Advent
- “The Sanctifying Power of the Church” (SSPX Sermons)
- Spiritual Journey — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
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If you went to Rome and asked to see the pope’s cathedral, you might expect someone to point you toward Saint Peter’s. You’d be sent across town instead, to Saint John Lateran.
That’s the church whose dedication we celebrate today, November ninth. The pope is the Bishop of Rome, and the Lateran is where he has his cathedral. The word cathedral comes from cathedra, the bishop’s chair. That chair tells you more about the church’s place in Rome than its size or the crowds outside.
The basilica goes back to Emperor Constantine, who financed its construction in the fourth century. According to the traditional date, Pope Saint Sylvester dedicated it on November ninth, 324. Its original dedication was to Christ the Savior. The names of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist came later, which explains why the church most people call Saint John Lateran appears in the traditional missal as the Basilica of Our Savior.
Above the entrance is an inscription calling it the mother and head of all the churches of Rome and the world. That’s quite a claim to put over a door. And it helps explain why Catholics far from Rome celebrate the anniversary of this particular church. The bishop whose chair stands there is also the successor of Saint Peter.
Listen to how the traditional Mass opens. It takes us back to Jacob, who wakes after dreaming of a ladder reaching to heaven. He realizes that the place where he lay down is the house of God and the gate of heaven. A man goes to sleep with a stone for a pillow and wakes up afraid to overlook the holiness of the ground beneath him.
Then the Epistle takes us in the other direction. Saint John sees the heavenly Jerusalem coming down from God, and hears that God will dwell with His people. In the space of a few minutes, the Mass takes us from a solitary traveler sleeping outdoors to a whole city filled with the presence of God.
You can hear those readings in a little parish church thousands of miles from the Lateran. The next time you step through its doors, even if you’ve done it a thousand times, think of Jacob waking up. He hadn’t realized where he was.
Lord Jesus Christ, make us mindful of Thy presence whenever we enter Thy house, and bring us at last into the heavenly Jerusalem. Amen.
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