Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome on November 11, 2025 at Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Chicago, IL. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; Psalm 46; 1 Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17; and John 2:13-22.

Today is a feast that even regular church-goers might not remember celebrating. The Lateran Basilica was dedicated by the emperor Constantine in the year 324 as the first building ever constructed exclusively for Christian worship. On one level, this feast is about a building. But on another level, it’s a day to contemplate a series of questions more than answers. What does it mean for a particular place to be holy? What does it mean for an action to be holy? What does it mean for a person to be holy? This is especially intriguing in a year when millions of people have made the pilgrimage to Rome to pass through the holy doors, including the one at St. John Lateran.

For our Jewish ancestors, if something was holy, it was set apart for God. The Jerusalem Temple was supposedly built over the very rock on Mount Moriah where Abraham spared Isaac. But after Solomon built the Temple, many people thought that God was no longer present anywhere else. In the time of our first reading, the original Temple had been destroyed, but there was a belief that when the Messiah came, the rock on Mount Moriah would break open and provide such an abundance of fresh water that the Dead Sea 20 miles away would come alive again. In Jesus’ lifetime, Herod re-built the temple to grand proportions not to glorify God, but to glorify himself.

Paul tells us that each of us are a temple of God. Let’s take a moment to celebrate that the Spirit of God dwells in each of us!

People of faith use the word “holy” very differently than Robin, the Boy Wonder, when he declares, “Holy Armadillo, Batman!” In the Judeo-Christian tradition, for something to be holy, it is considered to be set apart for God. This is an especially interesting concept to consider at Old St. Mary’s as we wrap up a capital campaign to help maintain and perhaps enhance our facilities at Old St. Mary’s. 

Why do we spend money on church buildings? And who in their right mind decided that the day we hear Jesus condemning people for exchanging money in the Temple would be a good day to ask for donations to the capital campaign during Mass? Aren’t all places holy in the eyes of God? Chicagoans understand the idea of making pilgrimages to a special places for inspiration. The number one tourist activity in Chicago is the architectural river tour. And if you’re such a diehard White Sox fan that you don’t enjoy going to games at Wrigley Field, the Church may select you, like Pope Leo, to work at St. Peter’s Basilica for the rest of your life! Extraordinary places aren’t the only ones where we can have extraordinary experiences, but we enter these spaces with heightened expectations.

I made a pilgrimage to Rome in 2008 to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the founding of the Paulist Fathers. On the very first day of the pilgrimage, I had three unexpected, profound experiences, in three grand structures. While in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, the Holy Spirit challenged me to consider the depths of God’s forgiveness for all people. Less than two hours later, we Paulists had a historic meeting with our Redemptorist brothers on the Via Merulana. That afternoon at St. Clement’s, in front of a series of plaques commemorating Saints Cyril and Methodius, I experienced an electric moment as we prayed for the unity of all Christians. So, perhaps there’s a good reason for places to be set apart, to be designated as holy.

Why are certain items considered to be holy? It’s similar to why many of us have ridiculous amounts of sports apparel in our wardrobes. Some Catholics have a fondness for palms and ashes, for crucifixes and icons, for scapulars and habits because they are what we call sacramentals. These items set us apart from other people, declaring our identity: our beliefs and our values.

Why are certain people considered to be holy? There are plenty of people in this room right now who are holier than I am! As Generation X priest, however, I’m uncomfortable with external signs to indicate my vocation. I’ve worn my Paulist habit a grand total of five times in my life, and I’d prefer that people call me “Rich” instead of “Fr. Rich.” I’m glad that I didn’t come into religious life at a time when I would have been required to receive what’s called “tonsure” – having the crown of my head shaved. 

St. Paul exhorts all of us to be temples of the Holy Spirit. What makes us holy? Is it our internal attitude or our external appearance? Does the former lead to the latter? Is Old St. Mary’s holier than a mountaintop? Is our current building less holy than the more traditional one we had before the Great Fire, which was the first cathedral of the Diocese of Chicago? Or are the people inside the church building the main determinants of a church’s holiness?

On the second day of our Roman pilgrimage 17 years ago, we visited the Lateran Basilica. But the main spiritual fruit of my visit there did not come to me until later, when my friend Izabella posted pictures from the pilgrimage. In one picture, she captured a bunch of pilgrims looking up at the ornate ceiling, including me. And it was then that I discovered that I had a bald spot on the top of my head! (Honestly, I had no idea: even now, I can’t feel it, and my hair was not as thin back then, and this was long before internet livestreams displayed views of my head from a bird’s eye angle.) Seeing that picture was a humbling moment, to recognize that even if I didn’t feel middle-aged yet at age 34, I was definitely starting to show some symptoms. Has God decided to give me a permanent tonsure, to make me more humble, and therefore possibly make me more holy? 

When we come to this place that is set apart, we step out of our ordinary experiences into the Mass. And in the Mass, we receive the sacrament of the Eucharist. And in the Eucharist, we receive additional graces, strengthening the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. And in that grace we are made more holy, more ready to take our place at the banquet in the heavenly Jerusalem.