Through the years I always wondered why the Church would have a feast honoring a building. As I thought through the readings, I began to understand the need for both temporal and spiritual. The Basilica of St. John the Lateran represents the “living church” on earth. In today’s reading of Ezekiel, I imagine the temple foreshadowing the founding of the Church by Christ on earth. In Corinthian’s, Paul reminds me that I am God’s building and should strive to lead my life that way. In the Gospel Christ cleanses the temple. I need to keep in my mind that I need to cleanse my personal temple of all that drives me away from Christ.

I recently returned from a mini-pilgrimage a few weeks ago. Our small group stopped at the Holy Annunciation Monastery in Sugarloaf, Pennsylvania. It is run by a small but dedicated group of sisters, who are the only order of nuns that worship in the Eastern Catholic Rite. Nestled in the hill country, it brought the temporal and spiritual together. What was to be a simple one-hour visit turned into a four and a half hour visit.  We were drawn into the beauty of their chapel coupled with their lives of prayer, work, contemplation and hospitality. There were Christian believers, non-Christian and non-practicing fellow pilgrims in our group. Everyone left with a calmness, a sense of serenity and felt drawn closer to God. This experience fit well into today’s reading. The sublime mixing of the heavenly with the earthly was surely present. A good reminder for me is to be aware of “finding God in all things” as I move forward about my daily life and not miss the many wonders, no matter how small, God has put in front of me.