4th Sunday of Lent
St. Joan of Arc, Aberdeen
Dedication of Daily Chapel
March 10, 2024
Introduction
On this Laetare Sunday, a Sunday of Rejoicing in the midst of Lent, we have gathered to bless this new daily Mass chapel here at St. Joan of Arc, and to dedicate its focal point, the altar, on which the mysteries of our salvation are re-enacted day after day. With you, I rejoice in this beautiful new space for daily worship, even as I express my warmest thanks for the leadership of Father Franken and for those whose generosity made this dream a reality.
Today’s Mass and the Rite of Dedication speaks for itself. I would invite you to listen attentively to the prayers that are offered, prayers that go to the heart of the Church’s identity and mission, prayers that go to the heart of the Church’s liturgical and sacramental life, prayers that reveal how much the Lord loves us and what he has done to save us. As you listen to these prayers and take them to heart, you will find yourself rejoicing in the Lord – in his generosity, kindness, and mercy.
The Temple in Jerusalem
So also, the Scripture readings for this Laetare Sunday shed light and beauty on what it is that we do this morning. For in the Second Book of Chronicles, we read how the King of Persia brought to an end the Babylonian exile, a disastrous event by which the people of Israel were ejected from their land, and the Temple in Jerusalem was desecrated and lay in ruins. Though he was a secular ruler, the King of Persia was God’s chosen instrument in restoring the people of Israel to their land and in beginning the process of rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem.
Upon returning to their land, rebuilding the Temple was the Israelites’ top priority. After all, the first and greatest commandment of the Law of Moses is to love the Lord God with all one’s heart and mind and soul – something that is to be done, not only individually but also collectively. Thus did the people of Israel strive to rebuild the Temple and restore it to its former glory.
Perhaps something similar has taken place here at St. Joan of Arc. Even though we may not experience exile as did the Israelites, there are so many ways we can find ourselves “exiled” from God and the Church. Contemporary life is filled with stress and distractions, and with allurements that aim to alienate us from the worship of God and from friendship with one another. The construction of this chapel is an invitation in stone, as it were, to make the worship of God a daily priority, to make it the center of life – the center of the life of this parish and the center of each parishioner’s life. For here, daily Mass will be celebrated. The Eucharist reserved will be adored. Parishioners will slip in to pray.
“God So Loved the World”
Turning to the Gospel, we, like Nicodemus, find ourselves in conversation with Jesus. There Jesus brings us to the very heart of the Gospel: “God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life…”
Every day, as the faithful gather for Holy Mass in this Chapel, the mystery of the Cross will be re-enacted on the altar we dedicate today. The Lord gives himself to us anew, he is lifted on the Cross of glory so that we might be freed from our sins and rise with him to new life, a new and glorious sharing in the life of God, even now in the midst of our daily life, with its ups and downs. In this way, we stay close to the Lord and we remember his mercies. We do not allow the cares of daily life to pull us away from the Lord, to alienate us from God’s Holy People, the Church, as we grow, day by day, in the holiness to which Baptism calls us.
May this Chapel, this house of God and gate of heaven, be a sacred place, where parishioners will encounter the living God day by day, and filled with God’s love extend themselves in love ever more fully to their families, their parish community, their neighbors, and especially to the poor and vulnerable. May God bless us and keep us always in his love!