On this day the church celebrates the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. We have this feast day simply because the Lateran Basilica is the ‘mother’ of all Catholic churches in the world. It is also called the cathedral of all cathedrals. Today our thoughts should focus on our own local churches, our places of worship. Notice in the gospel reading today, Jesus gets angry with those who had no respect for the temple and made it a marketplace. Most times we take for granted the fact that we have a church close to our homes and always available for us to pray, to worship, and to receive the sacraments. However, there are places where Christians can’t worship freely and openly. There are also places where Christians don’t have churches or the sacraments like we do. I was watching some news about the war in Ukraine, and my attention focused on a picture of a completely destroyed church, sad, very sad. Ask yourself today, are you thankful for your church? Do you go there often enough to pray? We tend to complain sometimes about the pastor, about the music, about mass times, and other things. However, today we need to be thankful for our places of worship and for the sacraments that we can receive.
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