Feast of the Dedication of a Church
THE feast of the dedication of a church is the day upon which we annually commemorate its solemn consecration to God.
Why do we celebrate the anniversary of dedication?
To give thanks to God for having chosen a dwelling-place amongst us, for having shown us therein so many favors, and for having preserved us in the true faith. By such an anniversary we should also be incited to sanctify ourselves as temples of God.
Is it anything new for churches to be dedicated and the anniversary of their dedication to be celebrated?
No; for we read in Holy Scripture (in. Kings viii.) that Solomon built a magnificent temple for the Lord, the dedication of which he solemnized during two weeks; that this feast was annually observed by the Jews, and attended by Christ Himself (John x. 22). The early Christians, in like manner, dedicated their churches, and solemnly commemorated their dedication every year.
The ancient Martyrology ascribed to St. Jerome makes mention of the consecration of the first church at Koine, built by St. Peter. In the earliest days of Christianity, on account of persecutions, the churches were not so solemnly dedicated as they are in our day ; but as soon as those persecutions came to an end, under the Emperor Constantine, who embraced Christianity about the year A.D. 312, the bishops caused the dedications of churches to be solemnized with the most imposing ceremonies. On the feast of the dedication, in the Introit of the Mass, in order to inspire veneration for the temple dedicated to God, the Church uses the words of the patriarch Jacob: "Terrible is this place; it is the house of God, and the gate of heaven, and shall be called the court of God" (Gen . xxviii. 17). "How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord" (Ps. Ixxxiii. 2). Glory be to the Father, etc.
Prayer.
O God, Who doth renew to us every year the day of the consecration of this Thy holy temple, and dost ever bring us again in safety to the holy mysteries, graciously hear the prayers of Thy people, and grant that whoever enters this temple to implore blessings may rejoice in having obtained all his requests. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.
EPISTLE. Apoc. xxi. 2-5.
In those days : I saw the holy city the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying: Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and He will dwell with them. And they shall be His people : and God Himself with them shall be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away. And He that sat on the throne said : Behold, I make all things new.
GOSPEL. Luke xix. 1-10.
At that time : Jesus entering in, walked through Jericho. And behold there was a man named Zacheus : who was the chief of the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus Who He was, and he could not for the crowd, because he was low of stature. And running before, he climbed up into a sycamore tree that he might see Him : for He was to pass that way. And when Jesus was come to the place, looking up, He saw him, and said to him : Zacheus, make haste and come down : for this day I must abide in thy house. And he made haste and came down, and received Him with joy. And when all saw it, they murmured, saying that He was gone to be a guest with a man that was a sinner. But Zacheus standing said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor : and if I have wronged any man of anything, I restore him fourfold. Jesus said to him : This day is salvation come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
This gospel is read on the feast of the dedication of a church, because through that dedication Christ comes among the congregation, as He once did among the household of Zacheus, and dispenses grace and salvation, as He once did to that penitent publican.
PRACTICAL LESSONS ON THE SPIRITUAL TEMPLE, WHICH IS MAN HIMSELF.
"You are the temple of the living God; as God saith, I will dwell in them". ii. Cor. vi. 16.
St. Bernard in his first sermon on the dedication of a church says that the feast of dedication is our feast also. For we too are temples living temples of God and as such were, in holy Baptism, no less solemnly dedicated than are these temples of wood and stone. Every Christian is a pure and holy temple ; for as a church is first freed from the malice of the devil by manifold prayers, by exorcisms, by sprinklings with holy water, by repeated signs of the cross, by incense, so we, in holy Baptism, by many prayers, by exorcisms, and renunciations of Satan, by frequent signs of the cross, by the breathings of the priest, and finally by the sanctified water, thrice poured, with invocation of the all-holy Trinity, are purified from all diabolical malice and sin, and dedicated as temples of God. But if we are such does there not, therefore, rest upon us a sacred obligation, as St. Augustine says, to maintain that purity which we have received in holy Baptism, and to suffer nothing within the temple of our hearts which can offend the eyes of so pure a God? For woe to those who defile and desecrate the temple of God ! God Him self, says St. Paul, shall destroy them (I. Cor. iii. 17). But the temple of the heart is defiled by every mortal sin, particularly by impurity. Flee, therefore, from sin ! But if you have indeed driven God from your heart by mortal sin, and given place to the devil, banish him again by true repentance, and dedicate anew the temple of your heart with the blood of the Lamb, through the holy sacraments, as a church that has been desecrated is reconsecrated and reconciled.
Aspiration of St. Augustine.
O God, Who, for no merits of my own/ but purely of Thy grace, hast, in holy Baptism, made me Thy temple, grant that I may ever keep it pure and holy for Thee. Purify this temple from all vices ; adorn it with virtues ; and permit nothing to be ever found in this Thy dwelling which may offend the eyes of Thy majesty. And grant that at last, as a living stone, hewn and prepared in the tribulations of this world, I may be built into the heavenly Jerusalem. Amen.
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Next: Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin, November 21
