Anniversary of the Church’s Dedication January 31, 2026
Fr. Alexander Albert St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville
It’s about the water, you know. For us, at least… for our earthly building, this glorious temple to God called St. Mary Magdalen Church, it is about the water flowing to the right side of the temple, the water that makes polluted water fresh, that gives life to plant and animal, the water that so enriches the trees it nourishes, their fruit in unfailing food and their leaves perfect medicine.
What do I mean? I mean grace, of course. This building, this temple truly is God’s dwelling place. Solemnly dedicated by ancient rituals, housing the Eucharist in the tabernacle, the place where thousands of baptisms, confirmations, weddings, funerals, masses, and even a few ordinations have taken place… God is here. God is everywhere, of course just as water always saturates the air, but here? Here his presence is condensed, tangible, drinkable. Like the temple in Ezekiel’s vision, it is a special place of God’s dwelling.
Also like that vision, the point of this dwelling is not just that we come to God here – you truly must come here and come here often to encounter and receive God – but we must also become that stream of water flowing out from this place. We come here to drink deeply of our God and then pour out ourselves so that others may drink of him.
Hear me, souls of Mary Magdalen Parish, you need this church, you need this place to remind you of God, to give you God, to concretize and sacramentalize the living relationship you have with God. And if you do this truly, you become the water that flows out of the temple. Purified by baptism and confession, your loving acts outside this building ought to purify the homes, workplaces, and relationships into which you pour yourself.
If you become the water Christ desires to be then you like the stream will give life to the plants and animals, the souls who do not truly know Christ. Given life by Confirmation, your courage outside this building will provide others the courage to come alive. To truly live, to opt out of the predominant culture of death and selfishness takes courage and those who do not live in Christ need us to live in Christ, to embolden them and give them courage to begin to truly live.
If you become the living temple Christ desires to be, you shall be like the trees nourished by the stream that flows from the temple. Nourished by the Eucharist, you shall be like the trees that always bear fruit to nourish others. Healed by Christ, the leaves of your kindness and compassion and mercy will provide healing to those wounded by sin and death.
This is what it means to worship in spirit and in truth. It is about recognizing this building for what it is: the dwelling place of God. It is about becoming the dwelling of God, the temple built of living stones. It is about the water that flows from here and from us when let the Church be what it is meant to be and become for God what we’re meant to be. Rejoice with me that we have this sacred building whose dedication we celebrate today. Celebrate by your worship in this building and let that celebration reach it’s fullness by becoming the water that flows into the world, purifying it, giving it life, bearing fruit and bringing the healing grace of the gospel day after day, month after month until at last that day comes that all of creation is made new, worshipping God without fail in spirit and in truth.