A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 2:13-22
Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his Body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.
REFLECTION: Zeal for your house will consume me.
In 313 AD Constantine made Christianity legal. He gave them their first official church. It has since then been the central church of Catholicism.
This is the Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in the Lateran (Santissimo Salvatore e Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano). It is also known as the Papal Archbasilica of Saint John [in] Lateran, Saint John Lateran, or the Lateran Basilica. It is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Rome in the city of Rome, and serves as the seat of the Roman Pontiff.
It is the oldest and highest ranking of the four papal major basilicas, holding the unique title of "archbasilica". It is the oldest public church in the city of Rome, and the oldest basilica of the Western world. It houses the cathedral of the Roman bishop, and has the title of ecumenical mother church of the Catholic faithful.
It ranks superior to all other churches of the Roman Catholic Church, including Saint Peter's Basilica.
The archbasilica is in the City of Rome. It is outside Vatican City, which is approximately 2.5 miles to its northwest.
The Scala Sancta, or Holy Stairs, are white marble steps encased in wooden ones. They form the staircase which once led to the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem and which, therefore, were sanctified by the footsteps of Jesus Christ during His Passion. Saint Empress Helena, the mother of the then-Emperor Constantine I, was responsible for transferring the stairs in the 4th century. In 1589, Pope Sixtus V relocated the steps to their present location in front of the ancient palatine chapel named the Sancta Sanctorum.
God Bless You
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