Dedication of the Church 2021
Bereshit bara elohim et hashamayyim veet haarets.
If you have done even even very little Hebrew, you know this verse, the opening verse of the Hebrew Bible: ‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.’ The first word is Bereshit – in the beginning – and the first letter is Beth. This is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet and Jewish scholars have meditated on the meaning of this fact. Why did not the Bible begin with the first letter – Aleph? Aleph, they said, is a silent letter, also used to express the number 1,000. It is, therefore, pre-eminent in its order and alludes to the ineffable mysteries of the oneness of God. God is one. God is number One. The creation can only come second, hence the use of the second letter.
This letter, Beth, means ‘house’ or ‘family’. The first letter of the first word of God speaks of a house. The Word of God itself is like a house intended to provide a shelter to the whole creation of God. Moreover, the creation must be some sort of house. It is the place where all the living dwell. One speaks of the ‘common house’ of the creation where humans are called to live in harmony with other creatures and to lead an ecologically responsible activity, caring for the riches of nature and using them in a sensible way.
From the start, God built the world as a house where all must dwell in peace. Whose house is this? Obviously, it has to be our house, the house of all creatures. But very soon in the biblical revelation, God expressed a desire to come down and dwell among us. He wishes to live with us men and, above all, He wishes us to live with him. God dreams of a common house for man and Himself, and He builds it all along the history of salvation.
This common house of God and men is foreshadowed in the Temple of Jerusalem, the place where the Name of God abides. But this can only be a symbol for God does not dwell in a temple of stones. His abode is as great at the world and as intimate as our human hearts. We are called to welcome as our guest God visiting the depths of our hearts and illuminating them by His Holy Spirit.
In a deeper sense, the true temple, the genuine house of God, is Christ. In Christ, the Divinity dwells in our humanity, and man dwells in God. Jesus is the perfect microcosm; in Him, the vocation of creation to be a house of God is fully realised. Mary is the womb where this temple of God was built up by the grace of the Holy Spirit. In her, the Word was made flesh. Flesh became the house of God. God dwelt in the flesh.
We can now move to the second meaning of the letter Beth: family. Where there is a house, usually there is a family; where there is a family, there must be a house. The Mystery of Jesus is not limited to the physical boundaries of his human body. Jesus has a mystical body, which is the Church – that we are; we, gathered together in this consecrated church today, and with us all the believers who in all places and at all times adore the Father in Spirit and truth. In the grace of this communion, our abbey church is the house of God and a holy Temple, a place of praise, adoration and sacrifice. Here we gather as a family in the bond of love around the table of charity : the altar where the Eucharist is celebrated. A family gathered around an altar: such is the Church of Christ on earth.
As the bricks of this church have been placed in order to build up a solid shelter and a vision of beauty, we, too, each of us, are called by Christ to insert ourselves into the mystical building which is His Church. Thus our unique identity becomes part of the mystery of Christ. We are linked with Him through the bond of faith and established in communion with one another in Christ’s Spirit, sharing one life, one truth and one charity.
That means that have to stick together, to become ever more aware of the whole of which we are a part, and to play our part in it with generosity and joy. But this means also that we are from the start – from Christ’s calling and from our Baptism – linked with one another by a spiritual bond which is far deeper and far stronger than even the closest family ties, even it is not felt in the same way. With our sisters and brothers, with the saints in heaven and the angels, and with the souls in the Purgatory, we make one family, one body sharing in the one life of the risen Christ. The Holy Spirit is the soul of Christ’s Body, the Holy Church of God, the link of our unity.
As we give thanks for the grace of being called to worship God in His temple and to dwell in His house as a monastic family all the days of our life, we entreat God that the sacrifice of praise may never cease in this place so as to bring glory to His name, peace to all who visit our abbey, and blessing to all who humbly implore His mercy.