Feast of St. John Lateran Basilica
Cobh
9 November 2025
My friends,
It’s unusual to celebrate a feast marking the veneration of a particular church building, albeit the Basilica of St. John. After all its just bricks and mortar. Yet, due to its location and place in the history of the earliest days of the Church of Rome, it has a unique symbolic significance in the life of the Church worldwide. It is the Pope’s Cathedral. So, one of the first acts of the new Pope, the new Bishop of Rome, is to take possession of his cathedral and take his place on the cathedra, the place from which he exercises his teaching task of preaching the Word. Hence, the title given to the Basilica of St. John Lateran, “The Mother and head of all Church’s.”
It is a beautiful basilica in its own right – though different in scale and decoration from the other basilicas in Rome, St. Peter’s, St. Paul outside the walls and St. Mary Major, where Pope Francis was recently laid to rest.
In the course of the recent diocesan pilgrimage for the Jubilee of Hope, I had the privilege of again visiting St. John Lateran. My first visit was as a Seminarian – when right away I was captivated by the beauty and depth of symbols of the mosaic of Christ in the apse, underneath is the cross from with streams of water flow forth in all directions. Deer drink from the streams, echoing the psalmist who sings in praise of the streams of living water that quenches the thirst of the heart.
The entire mosaic is inspired by the Old Testament verses from the Prophet Ezekiel 47 1-12 (1st Reading), with its vision of the life-giving waters flowing abundantly from the Temple. These symbols, with roots in scripture and fashioned in the earliest days of the Christian community in Rome, continue to inspire all those pilgrims from all over the world, to celebrate the hope and joy that Christ Jesus brings to humanity and each pilgrim who places their trust in him, in this Jubilee of Hope.
While this exceptional Church of the St. John Lateran served as a universal symbol of faith, in some ways it is no less to be revered than any local Church, big or small, because in the daily living of the Christian life, it is these local temples that enable us to celebrate and cherish the sacred and sublime, when we gather in prayer.
It is often asked in a world where so much is reduced to the lowest common denominator – is there nothing sacred anymore? Not just things religious but the nature of our public discourse where vilification and smear are so common, the increasing rudeness and distain in daily affairs, combined with an extraordinary level of invective and abuse on some social media.
Surely, this is clear evidence of cultural decline, despite our ‘progress’ inspired by the relentless demand of social liberalism. If our only focus is on ourselves to the detriment of those ‘round us, our future will indeed be grim.
When we speak of drinking from streams of living water – we speak of imbibing the best of human qualities, to live life in a wholesome and generous spirit. St. Paul speaks to us today of how we, as a people of faith and prayer are that Temple of God, built on our foundation stone, Christ Jesus, Our Lord.
The Church that had so much of its roots in Rome, continues to be a living spring flowing out to the ends of the earth. We are thankful to be part of the new heavens and new earth.
