Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

In those days,
during a vision received from the Lord,
the man brought me back to the entrance of the House,
and there: beneath the threshold of the House,
water was flowing toward the east,
since the front of the House faced east.
The water was coming down from beneath the right side of the House,
to the south of the altar.
The man made me go out by way of the north gate
and led me around the outside
to the outer gate facing east,
and there again, water was trickling from the right side.
He said to me:
"This water flows toward the eastern region,
descends into the Jordan valley,
and empties into the Dead Sea,
whose waters it makes fresh.
Wherever the river goes,
every living creature that swarms will live,
and there will be very many fish,
because this water brings freshness wherever it goes,
and life appears wherever the river comes.
On both banks of the river,
every kind of fruit tree will grow;
their leaves will not wither,
nor will their fruit fail.
Each month they will bear fresh fruit,
because this water comes from the sanctuary.
The fruit will be food,
and the leaves will be medicine."

    – The word of the Lord.

 

OR

Brothers and sisters,
you are a house that God is building.
According to the grace God has given me,
I, like a skilled architect,
have laid the foundation stone.
Another builds upon it.
But let each one take care
how he contributes to the building.
The foundation stone—no one can lay another
than the one there already: Jesus Christ.

    Do you not know that you are a sanctuary of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If anyone destroys the sanctuary of God,
God will destroy that person,
because God's sanctuary is holy,
and this sanctuary is you.

    – The word of the Lord.

God is for us refuge and strength,
help in distress, always at hand.
We will not fear though the earth be shaken,
though the mountains fall into the depths of the sea.

The River and its streams gladden the city of God,
the holiest dwelling of the Most High.
God is in her midst: she will not be shaken;
when the morning dawns, God helps her.

The Lord of hosts is with us;
a fortress for us, the God of Jacob!
Come and see the deeds of the Lord,
He destroys war to the ends of the earth.

As the Jewish Passover was near,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
In the Temple, he found
the sellers of oxen, sheep, and doves,
and the money changers sitting at their tables.
He made a whip out of cords,
and drove them all out of the Temple, with the sheep and the oxen;
he scattered the coins of the money changers,
overturned their tables,
and said to the sellers of doves:
"Take these things out of here.
Stop making my Father's house
a house of trade."
His disciples remembered that it is written:
Zeal for your house will consume me.
The Jews then responded to him:
"What sign can you show us
for doing this?"
Jesus answered them:
"Destroy this sanctuary,
and in three days I will raise it up."
The Jews replied to him:
"It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary,
and you would raise it up in three days!"
But he was speaking of the sanctuary of his body.

    Therefore, when he was raised from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this;
they believed the Scripture
and the word that Jesus had spoken.

    – Let us acclaim the word of God.