Today we celebrate the oldest church in Christianity, the Basilica of St. John Lateran. But our readings remind us that however important buildings are, when Jesus walked the earth he was God's temple. Now it is we, the baptised, who are God's true temples, called to be living stones, active in the world.
Based on 1 Corinthians 3:9-11,16-17
For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
(New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org)