Dedication of the Church 2025
Ez 43:1-2,4-7a
He 12:18-19,22-24
Jn 2:13-22
More than a century ago, men of faith built the church in which we are celebrating Mass today. The Bishop of Portsmouth consecrated it. He sprinkled the walls with holy water – as for its baptism. He anointed the 12 consecration crosses with Chrism oil – as for its confirmation. He prepared the altar, anointed it with Chrism oil and burnt incense on it. He then offered the Holy Sacrifice upon it. After communion, he solemnly brought the ciborium of consecrated hosts into the tabernacle. The Eucharistic presence of Christ, our God, in this church has never ceased since that date.
The church is the shelter and the sign of God’s presence among us in the Eucharist. Of course, God’s presence is not limited to the little box which we call the tabernacle. No space, no thing, no one can contain God. But just as He chose, in the days of Ezekiel, to make his glory dwell in the temple, God chose to dwell among us. The Word was made flesh, and He dwells among us in His Eucharistic body. When we turn to the tabernacle, we focus on God’s presence among us. Here is not as a thing among other things, but Someone. He comes to meet us, and He tells us: ‘I want to dwell with you. Be yourself my temple. Let me live in you; and you, live in me.”
The temple of God invites us to become temples of God, and it helps us to do so. This is true on a personal level, but also on a community level. The church helps us to become a community, to be “the Church”. The consecrated building invites us into the mystery it signifies. All of us, this morning, we have come from different places, but now we are gathered in one place, in the same church, around the same altar. We are listening to the same Word of God. We shall soon be offering the one sacrifice of Christ and communicating in the one Body of Christ. Jesus, among us and in each of us, makes of us His Body, builds us as His Church.
He does so invisibly by the working of His grace in our souls. But we are also surrounded by numerous signs of His action. The tabernacle, the altar, the lectern, the cross, the consecrations crosses, the candles: all speak of Christ, direct us to Christ. The words of the readings and prayers; chant and silence; the rites and ceremonies of the liturgy; the ministers and the priests, even the abbot with his funny hat: all mean Christ, point to Christ, give us Christ. We see colours and lines, we hear sounds and words, we smell incense, we touch and we taste the Bread of Life. Through this seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting, we are in contact with Christ. Our body sits, kneels and stands up, thus expressing the attention, the desire, the faith and the love of our hearts. We pray to God, and we adore Him, each of us, and all of us in unity. We are made one by Christ to whom we pray, whom we adore and whom we love. Our liturgy is the highest expression of our love for Christ, a love filled with reverence and awe.
In the liturgy, a world opens up. We do not see fire and earthquake, as the Hebrews did at the Mount of Horeb. Rather, we are aware that we are partaking in the assembly of the angels and saints in heaven. The Mass we offer reaches into God’s very world. It is heaven coming down to us and at the same time lifting us up to itself. Heaven is the world centred on God, filled with God, fully existing for God. This church is a sign and a token of heaven. Are we not all turning to God, praying to God, offering our lives and ourselves to God? Is not God our centre right now, the One to whom we are directing the gaze of our heart, from whom we expect grace and support to live our Christian life in this world during the week ahead? The Liturgy is heavenly life begun. It directs our lives heavenwards.
Today we give thanks for the gift of this Abbey Church which we love so much, which means so much for us, which helps us so much to be the Christian men and women, the community and the Church we are. And we listen to the demand which these bricks and these arches, but even more our brothers and sisters around us are making to us: ‘Be yourself built into the house of God. Be holy, my Brother, my Sister, for our God is holy!’