Homily by His Grace Archbishop Patrick C. Pinder, S.T.D., C.M.G. at the Dedication of the Rebuilt Sts. Mary and Andrew Church Treasure Cay, Abaco, The Bahamas
Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time November 5, 2023 11:00 a.m.
Readings Nehemiah 8:1-4, 5-6, 8-10 Psalm 19b:8-15 1 Peter 2:4-9 Matthew 16:13-19
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
July 28th, 1973, was the date this Church of Sts. Mary and Andrew was first dedicated. That was the year and month of our National Independence. That was fifty years ago!
September 1st, 2019, saw that original church building utterly destroyed by the violent, destructive force of Hurricane Dorian. The nature and the extent of the destruction was such that there was not one wall of the building left standing. The sad and disheartening sight was a flattened landscape of rubble.
Wading through that rubble Elmer Bongon was able to recover the Blessed Sacrament in the ciborium in which it was preserved. That ciborium has been in the Tabernacle of the Chapel of my residence in Nassau for the past four years.
It is being returned to this church today. That is but one sign the restoration, the re-building, and the renewed hope which this dedication means, not just for the local Catholic community, but for the Abaco Community as a whole.
I have had the occasion to dedicate a number of churches during my time as Archbishop. Of all of them, this one is unique! This is the first time that I have to dedicate a Church – rebuilt after being totally destroyed. This is a unique expression of renewed hope and commitment. It says, plainly, that destruction and devastation will not have the last word.
When it comes to the dedication of a church, we are instructed that the first Scripture Reading for the occasion must be the words from the Book of Nehemiah which we heard proclaimed earlier.
There, Ezra the Priest is reading from the Book of the law. His audience is men, women and children old enough to understand. It comes to the point where Ezra says to the people: “Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the Lord is your strength.”
As we come to this moment in the post-Dorian recovery of this parish and of this community, we can surely make those words our own. “Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the Lord is your strength.” (Ezra 8:10)
In this ritual of dedication, we bless water and with it we bless the walls and the people. Later, after the altar and the walls are anointed with Sacred Chrism, we incense the walls, the altar and the people. This is to remind us that the people are the spiritual temple. If we celebrate the Rites properly, they teach us the faith.
Our Second Reading from the First Letter of Peter urges us in these words, “… like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter2:4-9)
Please note that the “sacrifices acceptable to God” refers to the way we live our lives. It refers to the way we conduct ourselves both in public and in private. Just prior to our text, here is what the Letter of First Peter says by way of prelude to our reading.
“Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, insincerity, envy and all slander, like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation, for you have tasted that the Lord is good.” (1 Peter 2:1-3)
Our Gospel today is one of only two places in the Gospel when the word Church is mentioned. The context here is a profession of faith by Simon Peter. The place is Caesarea Philippi. The question Jesus puts to his disciples is: “Who do you say that I am?” Peter responds: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16)
The Messiah is the Anointed One. It is translated, the Christ. From Christ we get the name Chrism, the Holy Oil, blessed at the Chrism Mass each year and used to anoint the altar and the walls here today.
The altar represents Christ! That is why we reverence it with a bow and the priest kisses the Altar at the start of Mass. Notice we did not kiss the Altar at the start of this Liturgy because it was not yet anointed. It will be shortly!
The introductory notes for the Dedication of a Church tell us this. “The very nature of a Church demands that it be suited to sacred celebrations, dignified, evincing a noble beauty … and it should stand as a sign and symbol of heavenly realities.”
I wish to assure you that in the rebuilding of this church we did not provide a mere ‘quick fix’ on a cheap budget. We have provided a place of beauty suited to the purpose of worship for which it is intended.
I should tell you that the Baptismal Font, the Altar, the Ambo, the Lectern, the Pedestal for the Tabernacle, the Chairs for the Priest and Deacon and the Credence Table, all these pieces of Liturgical furniture are the work of a Bahamian craftsman. Each piece is crafted in proportion to this space. The work is exquisite. Rendered in Mahogany. It is all an effort to create an ambiance of noble beauty befitting the exercise of worship.
With this dedication we are renewing the devotional life of this parish – which has been dormant over the past few years due to the lack of a church building. The renewed devotional life is a work in progress. It will begin with the regular Saturday Evening Mass, but it will not remain there. It is very much a work in progress.
The core of this Liturgy is the Prayer of Dedication.
“Father in heaven,” it says, “… today we come before you, to dedicate to your lasting service this House of Prayer, this Temple of Worship, this Home in which we are nourished by your Word and Sacraments.” That says exactly what we are here for today.
Prior to that Prayer of Dedication, we invoke the Saints to pray for us. Before that though we, like Simon Peter, will profess our faith. We will do so in the familiar words of Creed. To the Creed we now turn our attention and lift our voices.
Then we will turn our attention to the Act of Dedication of this wonderful space where we will express our Faith in Worship, God-willing, for generations to come!