St John Lateran

Living Stones  1 PETER  2:5

St. John Lateran is the oldest of the 4 major basilica’s in Rome and dates back to the year 325.  

What we celebrate today however is so much more than a building where we gather for Mass. 

In which we are baptized, married and buried. 

We are reminded that we are the Church!

So often we fail to realize that we are the Living Stones

That make up the church. 

the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. 

For the first 300 yrs of the Church,

This is exactly how Christians saw themselves. 

For the first 300 yrs there were no buildings to pray in. 

No place in which to be baptized or married or buried. 

The Christians of the first 300 yrs were constantly being hunted and persecuted. 

They did not go to Church on Sundays dressed in their best clothes,

And listen to choirs sing and priests preach. 

They broke bread where they could

And wherever they were,

There was the Church. 

For they were the Church. 

And it was made up not of bricks and stone

But their very life and breath, flesh and blood. 

Built on the Apostles and Prophets Eph 2:20

And made of Living Stones for the Holy Spirit to dwell in. 

While it is wonderful to have a beautiful church in which to pray,

They are only meant to remind us;

That The REAL Church is US!