This weekend we celebrate the feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. This feast usually falls on a weekday but this year, as with some other feasts, it happens to occur on a Sunday and takes precedence over our usual Sunday celebration. This is an important feast in the history of our church because this cathedral is some sixteen hundred years old and was the site of many significant events, including four ecumenical councils.

As with very old houses, within the walls of old churches years and years of history live. As we look around our own St. Michael?s, we can only imagine the number of people who have passed this way and worshipped God. The sheer numbers would be staggering. How many began their lives of faith through the Sacraments of Baptism, Holy Eucharist, and Confirmation?; How many couples walked down this center aisle to be united the Sacrament of Matrimony?; How many were returned to God with their funeral Masses?

Walking through the church and looking at the memorials on the stained glass windows, most names are unfamiliar yet they were very real people who treasured their faith and their church.

I am also struck by the number of immigrants who passed this way. Having left the familiarity of their homeland, they found comfort and solace in the universality of their Catholic faith. And even to this day, many of those from Brazil continue to find that place of belonging in St. Michael?s Church.

Today, on this feast, we therefore celebrate our own church building and the myriad number of faithful who have come this way. May we continue to provide that place of comfort and solace in the midst of the fast paced world in which we live.