Rededication Homily
Saint
John the Baptist Church
Edmond,
Oklahoma
August
26, 2006
My
dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
We have gathered together in the Name
of the Lord Jesus. Therefore we
should be filled with great joy, with sincere hope and with an assured trust. God is truly with us. He loves us and He blesses us.
As your Archbishop, I wish to
congratulate all of you, the faithful members
of Saint John the Baptist Catholic Parish.
In a particular way, I congratulate
your very effective pastor, Father John Metzinger. His pastoral leadership
has been built on the strong foundation of many pastors who have gone
before him throughout the past one hundred and seventeen years. I single
out two specific former pastors, Father John Petuskey of happy memory
and Father Marvin Leven who is here with us tonight. Many other priests
have faithfully and joyfully served here, especially in recent months – Father
Rex Arnold, Father Louis Vander Ley OSB and, most recently, Father
Dan Letourneau.
I thank you, the many faithful
deacons, sisters and lay people who make
Saint John’s such a vibrant, active and inspiring Catholic parish. Your generosity
to the various appeals for your parish, your school and the Archdiocese
and the wider needs of the universal Catholic Church are greatly
acknowledged and deeply appreciated.
With faith and trust and generosity,
you have successfully undertaken many projects. Your efforts, your
sacrifices and your personal participation have been outstanding. The completion
of the enlargement of this church building brings us here tonight to
bless your great work and to re-dedicate your beautiful, large parish church
to the honor and glory of Almighty God.
I thank you for making this possible.
Above all, I thank Almighty God Who
sent His divine Son Jesus to save
us. He came to lead us safely on the
journey of life. For that very reason,
Jesus tells us in the Gospel tonight that we must worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. He tells us that this is
the kind of worshipper the Almighty
Father seeks. The reason? He tells us: “God is spirit and those who
worship must worship in spirit and in truth.”
(John 4:24)
Your parish church is not just a building. This Church is not just a gathering
place. This is a sacred place. This is where we come together to worship
God in spirit and in truth. Here we
attentively listen to God’s Word in
the Sacred Scriptures. Here we are
instructed by Jesus through the instrumentality
of His ordained priests. Here we do
what Jesus told us to do. We
baptize; we confirm; we forgive sin by the power of God. Here we bless the
union of a man and woman who enter Christian marriage. Here we bless the
bodies of those who have died and from here we commend the souls of our
brothers and sisters.
But most important of all, it is here
that we celebrate the presence of God
among us. Not just a memory, not just a
recollection, not just a grand idea. Here we celebrate the true and real Presence
of God among us.
God our Father sends His Son Jesus to
save us. Jesus, through the action
of the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the ordained priest changes the bread
and wine, that you offer, into His own Sacred Body and Blood. Then He
says: “Take and eat; take and drink
that you might have life everlasting.” Thus
it is that we worship here in spirit and in truth. Here the Triune God, the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell with us, to save us and
to sanctify us. Praise the Lord! Yes, praise the Lord for He is good and merciful
to all of us.
The Sacred Mystery of the Eucharist
celebrated here on your altar in your
beautiful enlarged parish church is a gift of God surpassing all we could
ever hope for. This is the gift of God
Himself to us – Take My Flesh and
eat It. Take My Blood and drink It that
you might have life everlasting.
In this sacred place, in this house of
God, the Divine Mystery of salvation
is opened up for us. Therefore, in this
sacred place, profound changes
should occur in the souls of men and women, young and old. Each one
of us should be radically changed by God’s Presence and His action here. Each of us, sinners and wanderers though we
are, can find Him Who is
the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Remember, God is spirit and those who worship
must worship in spirit and truth.
Precisely because your parish church
is the House of God and a most Sacred
Place, we shall now offer a special prayer of re-dedication. Following
that prayer, the walls between the stained glass windows in the new
seating area will be anointed with the Sacred Chrism. Thus the new construction
and the older part of your parish church will have been anointed and
dedicated to the honor and glory of God and for your eternal salvation.
Most
Reverend Eusebius J. Beltran
Archbishop
of Oklahoma City
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