Almost five years ago, as I was admiring the recently renovated parish hall, I looked over at the cathedral and suddenly a Scripture passage  came to my mind from the lips of King David: “Here I am living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the Lord dwells in a tent!” (II Samuel 7). The cathedral seemed ugly to me, especially the exterior; the interior, on the other hand, I found quite beautiful. And at that very moment I felt an urgent call within me. It was a call of love for the house of the Lord and I heard the voice of Christ saying, “Zeal for your house consumes me” (John 2:17). And that is how the adventure of renovating our cathedral church began.

While this work was being completed and we were considering various options, I was reassured by an event that took place in my family as we prepared to celebrate my dear father’s 80th birthday. My brothers and I got together to give him  a big surprise: a new house, totally new, that we were going to give him as a present. When he found out what we were planning on doing, he became very sad, for he feared that he would feel lost in a new house and that he wouldn’t feel at home in something new. That’s when we decided to renovate his old house where he lived for nearly half a century. Once the work was done, he invited his neighbors, beaming with joy, and said to them, “Have you seen the renovation work I’ve done? I threw out everything I didn’t like and that was useless and the house stayed the same as ever”. I believe the same is the case with our church. Here we have it completely renovated but we haven’t lost any of the essentials.
Today, at this most important and meaningful moment for all of us, especially for our diocese, on this day when we celebrate the rededication of our cathedral church and erect it as a shrine in honor of Our Lady das Grotas, I am inspired by my father St. Augustine.

“The solemnity which brings us together is the dedication of a house of prayer. This church is the house of our prayers, but we ourselves are the house of God. And if we are the house of God, let us continue to build this house in this world, so that we may be dedicated at the end of time. A building, or rather the construction of that building, demands hard labor; but its dedication and the accompanying celebration elicit only joy” (Sermon 336, 1-2).

What happened here as this house was being restored is what happens now when those who believe in Christ gather together. In fact, when you embrace the faith, it is like wood being carved and stone being shaped, all of it modeled in the hands of carpenters and masons.

Let us be clear: the materials only go into building the house of the Lord when they are brought together in love. If all the wood and all the stones used in this renovation had not been placed together just right, in the proper order, no one would be able to enter here. However, wherever one sees a building where the stone and the wood fit perfectly together, then one can go in without worrying whether it will come crashing down.

Similarly, the Lord Jesus, desiring to enter our houses, to live within us, said, as if he were a master-builder, “I give you a new commandment: love one another” (John 13:34). It was as if he were saying to us: You were old, living in ruins, unable to be a home to receive me. Therefore, in order to arise from your old age, love one another.
What we see here materially, in these walls, is what is happening to us spiritually within. What we see completed to perfection in wood and stone is also accomplished in our bodies, thanks to God’s grace.

Above all, we give thanks to our Lord God, from whom comes everything that is good and every perfect gift. Let us praise his goodness with all the joy of our hearts. So that our own houses may be renovated, may he enlighten our minds, enkindle love within us, grant us his aid, inspire those who are far from him, in all things bringing to perfection his plan of salvation. So it is that “God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work”  (Phil 2:13). He is the on who began an the one who completed all this. (Sermon of St. Augustine. Sermon 336, 1-6).
From this day forward, our Mother and Patroness has her shrine here. Here thousands of pilgrims will come to honor and venerate Our Lady das Grotas. Let us look toward her statue and, trusting, say:

Oh Virgin,  Mother and Lady “das Grotas”,
help us to sing with our lives
a beautiful hymn of love and gratitude
of hope and praise
to divine and eternal Love.

Today we stand in your shrine
close by to your river San Francisco.
Care for your river, care for your people.
Keep them in the peace of Christ and the love of God.

Pray for us, holy Mother of God! Amen.

Most Rev. José Geraldo da Cruz, A. A.
Bishop of Juazeiro – Bahía, Brazil

Juazeiro, June 21, 2014.