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The Light of the World
“Grant that all who assemble here to pray, . . . may obtain the blessings of Thy consolation.” When
we come to the church to pray, we do not pray alone. This church, through its dedication to
God, connects us with the prayers of the Church and the Christian community. Prayers offered
in this consecrated church of stone are supported by the Church and will be heard.
“This day salvation is come to this house” (Gospel). Salvation was brought to the house
of God on the day of its dedication, when the Lord first celebrated His sacrifice in it. But every
day the Lord reappears upon the altar at the Consecration of the Mass. The church then
becomes like the house of Zachaeus, who “received Him with joy” (Gospel). What is said of
the church is said of us also: We receive Him with joy at the Consecration of the Mass and in
Holy Communion.
Prayer
O God, who year by year dost renew the day of the consecration of this Thy holy temple, and
dost ever bring us again in safety to the holy mysteries, hear the prayers of Thy people and grant
that whosoever entereth this temple to seek blessings may rejoice to obtain all that he seeketh.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Dedication of a Church (2)
In the language of the liturgy, the word church means more than the sacred edifice. It means the
living Church on earth as well as the Church in heaven. The word church means the house of
God made of stone, it is true; but it also means that living organism which is the body of Christ
with all its perfection and all its faults. The word church implies the faults and miseries of men
as well as their virtues and perfections; it connotes the misery and poverty of men as well as the
inexhaustible riches of God. It suggests the place where it is the pleasure of God to dwell: the
altar and the tabernacle. All these thoughts are suggested to the mind of the Christian on the
feast of the Dedication of a Church, which is really a feast of the communion of all the saints.
“Behold the tabernacle of God with men” (Epistle), in the house of stone, in the Church, in the
community of saints, in our own soul. “For you are the temple of the living God” (2 Cor 6:16).
“The temple of God is holy, which you are” (1 Cor 3:17). The consecration of the temple of our
soul took place at the moment of our baptism. There we received sanctifying grace and became
children of God. “The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is
given to us” (Rom 5:5). “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love
him, and We will come to him and will make Our abode with him” ( Jn 14:23).
“This day is salvation come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham” (Gospel).
We ourselves are like Zachaeus, who in the eyes of the Jews was a great sinner. “He was gone to
be a guest with a man that was a sinner” (Gospel). Christ became our guest at the hour of our
baptism. The unwelcome tenant of our soul, Satan, was cast out. Our sins were forgiven, grace
entered our soul, and with grace, God Himself, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. We
became “sons of Abraham,” children of election, who before were children of wrath. “For the
Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Gospel).
“You are the temple of the living God,” a most holy tabernacle. God has come into our soul
to make us rich and happy, to take possession of us as He takes possession of the temple built
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