A Homily for the Feast of the Dedication of the Cathedral

​+ Deeply rooted in the Old Testament Jewish tradition, the Sacred Liturgy of the Catholic Church celebrates with particular solemnity the annual feast of the dedication of a church. So too, in any diocese, it celebrates with equal solemnity the dedication of its Cathedral church, which is what we are doing today, on the anniversary of the dedication of the Cathedral of Fréjus, in which diocese this church has been located since its construction more than a thousand years ago. We might well ask why the Church goes to such lengths in celebrating thus, this year supplanting the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost? The answer is twofold.
 
In the first place, this is because Christianity is not an idea or a philosophy or a system of personal beliefs, but a tangible, sacramental relationship with the person of Jesus Christ, the definitive revelation of God in human history, who became man for our salvation. Put simply: Christianity is an objective, tangible reality and not something nice thought up by someone to appease the difficulties of human existence. Jesus Christ, God become man for our salvation, wishes to reach out and touch us to heal and strengthen us and to share with us that life which will endure beyond human death. So too, we can reach out and touch the hem of His garment (cf. Mt 9:20-21) seeking the help we need to become whole.
 
Whilst Almighty God can, and occasionally does, work through extraordinary ways, normally He works to give us a share in His divine life through the Sacred Rites of the One True Church founded by His Son—primarily through the sacraments, beginning at our baptism. This is why the Introit of this Mass sings: “How terrible is this place! Indeed, it is nothing other than the house of God and the gate of heaven;”—terrible, that is, in the positive, awe-inspiring sense that truly wondrous realities of eternal significance take place in our churches (as the preface of the Dedication of a Church enumerates so clearly): through the Sacrifice Christ on the Cross, renewed in every offering of Holy Mass on our altars, sinners such as we find forgiveness and healing and are given new life and grace to become the men and women whom Almighty God calls us to be! What could be more terrific? What could be more beautiful?
 
This is why Christians from the very earliest centuries have spared no effort or expense in setting aside places for worship, indeed in building worthy houses for the saving activity of God amongst us. Those unknown people who, over a thousand years ago, quarried and carried and cut and placed these very stones in that harmonious style we admire today under the name of “Romanesque” did so to win any aesthetic competition or praise. They did so for the Glory of God and so that the people who come into this church—which, in God’s Providence includes you and I—would have their hearts and minds lifted to Him and come to that compunction, that conversion of our lives, that willingness to seek the forgiveness of our sins which is necessary if we hope to share in God’s life now and for all eternity.   
 
It is appropriate that this feast falls on the annual weekend of the Journees du Patrimoine when it is our pleasure to welcome many people to the monastery to see, indeed to experience, the beauty of this ‘terrible’ place. For whilst this building is indeed an historical monument of significance and beauty, it is no longer just a beautiful old building. It has been our privilege to return to it the life for which it was built. It is now once again a living monument to the eternal Truth and Beauty and Goodness of God—an invitation, indeed a call addressed to each of us to share in and live from those realities, now and forever.    
 
But today is not the feast of the dedication of this church. Today is the feast of the dedication of the Cathedral of Fréjus—the church in which we find the cathedra, the seat of the teaching authority of the Bishop of Fréjus (since the nineteenth century of the combined diocese of Fréjus-Toulon). Celebrating this feast is, then, a manifestation of Catholic communion with the Bishop. But let us be clear: communion is a theological reality implying unity of faith—of fundamental beliefs or teachings. It is not a reality that imposes a uniformity of opinion or practice according to the despotic whim or political program of any particular bishop (or pope for that matter). Disagreements—even conscientious disobedience in matters of policy and discipline—are possible, even as we are bound to pray for our bishop (and, indeed, for the Pope).
 
In celebrating this feast we are affirming our communion in the one Catholic Faith with Dominique Rey, our bishop (and his coadjutor) just as we are affirming our communion in faith with the first Bishop of Frejus, Acceptus (+374) and all of his successors. The presence on the altar this morning of the relics of the four great Western Doctors of the Church (Sts Gregory the Great, Ambrose, Augustine and Jerome) is a further witness to this communion. In doing so we pray especially for our bishop, that he may be a faithful and worthy steward and guard and teach the Catholic faith intact. So too we pray that we may ever remain faithful to all that the holy Catholic Church teaches, believes and proclaims to be revealed by God.” +