Mass Reflection: Sunday - 9th November 2025

 

EZ 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; PS 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9; 1 COR 3:9c-11, 16-17; JN 2:13-22

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the cathedral church of the Bishop of Rome — the Pope — and the mother church of all Christendom. While we honor a building, our readings invite us to look deeper: this feast is about the spiritual reality of God dwelling among His people. The readings remind us that the Church is not merely a structure of stone, but a living temple built of the faithful, with Christ Himself as the cornerstone.

In the first reading, Ezekiel envisions life-giving water flowing from the temple, bringing fruitfulness and healing wherever it goes. This water symbolizes God’s grace poured out upon His people. As stewards of that grace, we are called to let the living water of God’s Spirit flow through us — nurturing, healing, and renewing the world around us.

St. Paul builds on this theme, reminding us, “You are God’s building… Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor 3:9,16). The apostle urges us to recognize our sacred dignity as members of the Body of Christ. Stewardship begins with this awareness — that our lives, our time, and our talents are not our own, but gifts of God meant to be offered back to Him in service and love.

In the Gospel, Jesus cleanses the temple in Jerusalem, driving out those who had turned His Father’s house into a marketplace. His zeal reminds us that our worship and our lives must be pure and centered on God alone. When Jesus declares, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up,” He reveals that His own body is the true temple. In His death and resurrection, Christ becomes the new dwelling place of God, and we become His living stones, united in faith.

The Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica calls us to renew our dedication to the Church — not only to the physical building where we gather, but to the spiritual temple formed by the People of God. As Christian stewards, we are called to care for our parish communities as places where the presence of Christ is encountered and shared. We do this through generous participation in parish life, faithful support of our ministries, and lives that reflect the Gospel.

May today’s feast remind us that the Church is most fully alive when her members live as grateful stewards, allowing the living water of God’s grace to flow from our hearts into the world — building up the Body of Christ, the true temple of the Lord.

Mass Reading: Sunday - 9th November 2025

First reading
Ezekiel 47:1-2,8-9,12
Wherever the water flows, it will bring life and health

    The angel brought me 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.

________

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 45(46):2-3,5-6,8-9

The waters of a river give joy to God’s city, the holy place where the Most High dwells.

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.

The waters of a river give joy to God’s city, the holy place where the Most High dwells.

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.

The waters of a river give joy to God’s city, the holy place where the Most High dwells.

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.

The waters of a river give joy to God’s city, the holy place where the Most High dwells.

________

Second reading
1 Corinthians 3:9-11,16-17
The temple of God is sacred, and you are that temple

    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.

________

Gospel Acclamation
2Ch7:16

Alleluia, alleluia!

I have chosen and consecrated this house, says the Lord,
for my name to be there forever.

Alleluia!

________

Gospel
John 2:13-22
Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up

    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.