Liturgical Readings for : Thursday, 9th November, 2023
09-11- The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
FIRST READING
A reading from the prophet Ezekiel 47:1-2. 8-9. 12
I saw a stream of water coming from the Temple, bringing life to all wherever it flowed.
The angel brought me back to the entrance of the Temple, where a stream came out from under the Temple threshold and flowed eastwards, since the Temple faced east. The water flowed from under the right side of the Temple, south of the altar. He took me out by the north gate and led me right round outside as far as the outer east gate where the water flowed out on the right-hand side.
He said,
‘This water flows east down to the Arabah and to the sea; and flowing into the sea it makes its waters wholesome. Wherever the river flows, all living creatures teeming in it will live. Fish will be very plentiful, for wherever the water goes it brings health, and life teems wherever the river flows. Along the river, on either bank, will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and fruit that never fails; they will bear new fruit every month, because this water comes from the sanctuary. And their fruit will be good to eat and the leaves medicinal.’
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
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Alternative FIRST READING
A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 3:9-11. 16-17
You are the temple of God.
You are God’s building. By the grace God gave me, I succeeded as an architect and laid the foundations, on which someone else is doing the building. Everyone doing the building must work carefully. For the foundation, nobody can lay any other than the one which has already been laid, that is Jesus Christ.
Didn’t you realise that you were God’s temple and that the Spirit of God was living among you? If anybody should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy him, because the temple of God is sacred; and you are that temple.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
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Responsorial Psalm Ps45:2-3,5-6,8-9 R.v.5
Response The waters of a river give joy to God’s city,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
1. God is for us a refuge and strength, a helper close at hand, in time of distress:
so we shall not fear though the earth should rock, though the mountains fall into the depths of the sea. Response
2. The waters of a river give joy to God’s city, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within, it cannot be shaken; God will help it at the dawning of the day. Response
3 The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Come, consider the works of the Lord, the redoubtable deeds he has done on the earth. Response
Gospel Acclamation 2 Chron 7:16
Alleluia, alleluia!
I have chosen and consecrated this house, says the Lord, for my name to be there for ever.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to John 2:13-22 Glory to you, O Lord
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 2:13-22
He was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body.
Just before the Jewish Passover Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting at their counters there. Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers’ coins, knocked their tables over and said to the pigeon-sellers,
‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market.’
Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture:
Zeal for your house will devour me.
The Jews intervened and said, ‘What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?‘
Jesus answered,
‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up’.
The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are you going to raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection 9th Nov. The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica John 2:13-22
The Lateran Basilica is one of the four great Basilicas of Rome. The original Basilica was erected by the Emperor Constantine, the first Christian Emperor. It is the Cathedral church of Rome and, so, is the church of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. For that reason, it has come to be known as the mother church of Christendom. Before the time of Constantine there were no public buildings called churches. Christians met in ordinary spaces, such as people’s homes.
Writing to the church in Corinth about thirty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul says to them, in the words of today’s first reading, ‘You are God’s building… God’s temple’. For Paul, it was the Christian community, rather than any physical building, that was the place of God’s presence in the world.
In the gospel reading, Jesus points to himself as the Temple of God. He, more than any human being, is the place of God’s presence in the world. As individuals and as a community we look to the Lord to help us to be the place of God’s presence in the world, to be church, in that sense. We gather in a building we call a church, to open ourselves to the presence of the Lord, so that we can become more fully the church of God, the body of Christ, the place of God’s presence in our world.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
