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Introduction
It's seldom that nearly everything lines up on a single occasion
- but today it has! Today - the memory of the 50th anniversary
of the parish fresh in our minds, we celebrate the Feast of St.
Luke the Evangelist, the parish patron saint, and bless at last
a beautiful new space with the three objects that symbolize St.
Luke's writing and preaching: a gathering space graced with a
baptismal font, an ambry to hold the sacred oils, and a reconciliation
room where the Sacrament of Penance is to be celebrated.
So it's clear that our patron, St. Luke himself, is in the "driver's
seat" - for it is his witness to Christ and the Gospel that will
help us understand the significance of what we bless today.
The Gathering Space
In the Gospel, Jesus sent out 72 followers whom He had mentored
to prepare the way for him - for his preaching and his presence.
They went in pairs to all the places Jesus intended to visit.
St. Luke tells us that Jesus sent them out with no possessions,
no tools, no props - only the peace of His Kingdom and His healing
love.
The point of that missionary expedition was to gather a people
whom the Lord could claim as His own … a people who drawn to the
Father by Christ, in the Holy Spirit, a people who would make
space for God by living the Beatitudes, (which Luke recounts in
his Gospel as the Sermon on the Plain). Gathering a people for
the Lord was also the motive that prompted Luke to go with St.
Paul on a missionary journey & stand by him when the going got
rough.
My prayer is that you will never see this gathering space as
a mere lobby…but rather as the threshold of God's house where
we are gathered as God's family… the destination towards which
we lead others by the witness of our lives. Like the 72 disciples
in Luke's Gospel, you are sent forth from here - armed only with
truth and love - to gather family members, friends, colleagues,
lapsed Catholics, those searching - around the table of the Lord
to hear His Word and to share His Body & Blood.
May this space prompt you and me to see the work week as a missionary
journey such as Luke describes in his Gospel and in the Book of
Acts.
The Baptismal Font & Ambry
Within the gathering space we find a beautiful new baptismal
font - and here again we find St. Luke often writing about Baptism,
especially in his AA. In fact, 10 passages in the Acts of the
Apostles are about Baptism. Some of these episodes pertain to
the Baptism of a single individual - such as the Baptism of Simon
Magus, the Ethiopian Eunuch, and St. Paul.
Other episodes describe the Baptism of a whole family or household,
such as the baptism of Lydia, the business woman, and her family,
the jailer of Paul and Barnabas at Philippi and his household
as well as Crispus and his family. Still other passages are about
the baptism of large groups - such as the 3,000 baptized on the
first Pentecost, the Baptisms done by Philip, and the Baptism
of the 12 men at Ephesus.
Here at this font, episodes such as Luke described will be repeated
- perhaps not 3,000 all at once - but indeed many adults, God
willing - who have listened to and accepted God's Word in its
fullness will come to this font to receive the gift of new life
from God who is love. Many parents will bring their children to
baptized and as they see the hope of eternal life shine on their
children will rediscover their own baptism - by which sin is washed
away and through which God's life takes hold in our depths even
as His Spirit binds us to the Church.
Hopefully our witness to Christ, the living of our own baptism
will open the minds and hearts of those around us to the wonder
of Christ's love and lead others to come to this font to be reborn
by water and the Holy Spirit.
St. Luke will help us complete the picture of what we are blessing
today. In the 4th chapter of the Gospel of Luke we read how Jesus
entered the Synagogue, unrolled the scroll of the prophet Isaiah,
and repeated the prophet's words: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives, and recovery of sight to the
blind…." For the name Christ means "the anointed one" - and we
who follow Christ are also anointed with the Holy Spirit.
Thus so near to the font of new life we find what is called an
ambry - from the Latin "armarium" - a chest for keeping tools.
These are no ordinary tools but the sacramental tools of the Holy
Spirit: the oil of catechumens, the oil of chrism, and the oil
of the sick with which we are anointed in the Holy Spirit in Baptism,
Confirmation, and indeed in the Anointing of the Sick. These are
the signs the spirit employs to deepen our relationship with Christ.
Every time we enter St. Luke's and see the font and the ambry,
let us think how carefully Luke teaches us about Baptism & Confirmation,
and then let us thank God for the gift of these sacraments of
initiation, and resolve to live them wholeheartedly!
Reconciliation Room
The Reconciliation Room also is located not far from the Baptismal
Font, for the Sacrament of Penance has been described as "a second
Baptism" - a baptism not in water but in tears of repentance.
In the Sacrament of Penance, Christ, by the power of the Holy
Spirit, employing the ministry of priests as guides and channels
of his mercy, absolves us from those sins we have confessed and
for which we are contrite.
In the Sacrament of Penance our baptismal innocence is restored
and we are led to share more deeply the Eucharist in the heart
of the Church so as to be agents of reconciliation in the world
around us.
Here again, St. Luke is our guide. His Gospel highlights Jesus'
proclamation of healing love to all sorts of sinners - and from
many others who grieve over their personal situation - from the
grieving widow of Nain to the tax collector Zacchaeus, to the
dramatic and anonymous woman who washed his feet with her tears
and wiped them with her hair.
St. Luke was, after all, a physician, and so he understood well
that Christ is the divine physician who heals us of sin & restores
our lost dignity. As you pass by the reconciliation room, allow
St. Luke to remind you of the story of the Prodigal Son told so
artfully in his Gospel and allow him to lead you to receive the
Sacrament of Divine Mercy frequently.
Conclusion
Even as we enter upon a very difficult and uncertain time in
our lives, a time when things we may have counted on no longer
seem to be working, a time when we need one another's support
and prayers - St. Luke leads us to the unfailing welcome Christ
extends to his people, to the font of unending life and anointing
with the eternal Spirit, and to the never-failing mercy of the
Redeemer.
Aided by St. Luke's prayers and preaching, may this beautiful
new addition to the parish plant at St. Luke Parish - not only
adorn this church building - but indeed help us to grow ever more
beautiful in the grace of God - as individuals and as a parish
family.
May God bless and keep us in His love!
Return to the Writings of Bishop
Lori
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