20 January 2024 – 21st Anniversary of the Dedication of Cathedral of the Holy Spirit

by Cardinal Sebastian Francis

If there is one word that I could use to summarise this centrality of what God’s word is pointing to for the Dedication of our Cathedral, if I had to use just one word, because today we are bombarded with endless images, visuals, words and almost everything can get diluted very easily, if there is one word that the Spirit is pointing us towards as we celebrate the Dedication, I would use the word ‘worship.’ WORSHIP.

Let us begin with the book of Chronicles. When was it written? About 500 years before Christ. What is the historical context of this book? This is the second time the people of God are sent into slavery. This time the superpower is no more Egypt. The superpower is Babylon and they have gone into exile and they are going to come out exile and return back to the motherland. And one of the first things they need to do in order to get their orientation back into focus is to rebuild the temple. No temple, no focus.

And the book of Chronicles, written in the 5th century BC before Christ, 500 years before Christ, is about this – rebuilding of the temple. I just want to draw you to one sentence in that Reading. You know the temple can be very distracting also because there are all kinds of things there but there is a centrality in the temple. And the centrality is called the Holy of Holies and it is nothing but the Ark of the Covenant. And we are told in the First Reading there was nothing. and the word is NOTHING in the Ark except the two tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb. When did Moses do that? 500 years before this moment. That means about 1,000 years ago Moses had placed that two tablets in the Ark of the Covenant which becomes the Holy of Holies which becomes the centrality of the worship of God’s people. And where is all this? In the temple of Jerusalem.

Of course, fast forward 70AD, the temple will be totally destroyed. And this time, by a third superpower, the Romans. Totally destroyed. But something is happening in God’s plan. Today, for us Catholics, what would be the Holy of Holies? In other words, yes it is this, that and everything else but get to the crux, to the core. What is the Holy of Holies in God’s temple in the church, in today’s dispensation?

It is the altar. The altar of sacrifice has become for us in the new dispensation, the Holy of Holies. Of course, what happens at the altar is connected to the tabernacle and what happens at the altar is what happened at Calvary. So the three are connected, the Cross, the Tabernacle but the centrality is the Altar of Sacrifice.

There is nothing on the altar of sacrifice in the Holy of Holies today except the Word of God. But something radical has happened after Jesus. And there is nothing in the Holy of Holies today, on the altar, in the tabernacle except the Word become Flesh. The Word made Flesh. It is no more about two tablets of stone on which were written the Ten Commandments. Now it is the Word made Flesh, the Body of Christ.

Are you there? Are you part of that Body of Christ?

In the New Testament, in the new era, in the new dispensation, there is a major breakthrough. And Paul introduces us to that major breakthrough. And the major breakthrough, yes it is the Body of Christ in the tabernacle, it is the Body of Christ on the altar, but you and I are now part of the Body of Christ. So are you in the tabernacle? I would say ‘Yes’ if you believe that you are part of His body then you are with Him in the tabernacle.

And what is the first instinct, the first disposition when you enter into the Holy of Holies? It is not to run and start serving people. No. The first instinct, the first disposition is, as we are told in the book of Chronicles, to give praise to the Lord as you come into the Holy of Holies. Why? Because the Lord is good. For God’s love is everlasting and the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord five hundred years ago, one thousand years ago, today and forever. And the Psalm puts it beautifully and says:
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord.

How lovely is your dwelling place. It is a lovely place where the Body, Jesus, is present and you are there with Him. That is why it is lovely.

Now comes the major breakthrough and Paul introduces it to us in the Second Reading. Paul tells us: “Well, look here. You are God’s building.” And those of you who are architects and in the building and construction industry may appreciate better what Paul is saying.

“You are God’s building”, and he dares to say “I, Paul, am the architect.” And you know Paul never built a single temple or a single church, physical, material. Paul says “I am the architect. You are God’s building and I am the architect. And I laid the foundations” (and before we can almost finish his sentence) he says: “For the foundation, no one can lay any other than the one which has already been laid, that is Jesus Christ.” And here comes the big breakthrough, between the old and the new. And he says: “You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. You are God’s temple and the Spirit of God is living among you.” And he gives actually a very big warning to all who worship God. He says: “If anyone should destroy (not the physical temple or the church), should destroy the temple of God (and we are the temple of God. You are the temple of God), God will destroy him.”

Wow! Think about that. This is about worship because the temple of God is sacred and you are the temple and there is no physical temple. No, he did not build a single church or basilica or cathedral. Now this is something worth pondering about. Is the foundation of our churches, our cathedral, our basilica, our chapels, is it Jesus Christ? Can I stretch it and ask: “Is the foundation of your life the life of a disciple? Jesus Christ?”

And Paul left us with these words and we are still trying to figure it out two thousand years later:
You are God’s temple and the Spirit of God is living among you.

Now let us move to the Gospel. Remember I said if there is one word about the Dedication, it is about worship. Now Jesus is going to move us even further than Paul. And He is going to talk about the kind of worship that God desires. And we must thank the Samaritan woman, this Samaritan woman with a very colourful history. When you read the Gospel of John, you will understand her story. And she has no husband. And in answer to Jesus’ question: “Go and call your husband and bring him here”, she said: “I have no husband.” And remember we are going towards worship. But this is how it begins. And Jesus said: “Well, you know woman, you have spoken the truth. Why? You had five husbands. And the man you are living with right now is not even your husband. So, you spoke the truth.” Sure enough.

Worship, true worship, has everything to do with the truth. It is not just about nice feelings. It is not just about entertaining people. It is about the truth. St Edith Stein said: “Love and truth, one without the other is destructive.”

So we enter the Holy of Holies with the truth about myself, about ourselves, about our church, about our nation, about our society. You do not leave the truth out when you enter into the Holy of Holies.

And then Jesus gives us this bombshell about worship. And He tells that woman, she wants to distract Him and talk about worship being in this temple lah, that mountain lah, and then so on and so forth. And Jesus says: “The hour will come. In fact it is here already when true worshippers will worship the Father.” And He introduced two words ‘in spirit‘ and ‘in truth‘. The Holy Spirit, in the New Testament, has two major attributes. It is the Spirit of love and it is the Spirit of truth.

The Holy Spirit that Paul spoke about when he said “You are the temple of the Holy Spirit.”, the Spirit of love and the Spirit of truth. Please do not separate them when you come to worship. Do not be afraid of the truth, not only about the government and politics and who is in the right and who is in the wrong, and Ukraine and Russia and Israel and Gaza and so on and so forth which we need to reflect about. But do not be afraid about the truth about yourself.

And Jesus led that Samaritan woman to the truth, not only about the Romans and the Jews and the Samaritans and all the politicking going on but about herself so that she could experience what it means to worship God in spirit and in truth and enjoy worship. It is not a burden. It is more than an obligation. It is something to be thoroughly enjoyed like the Psalmist says: “How lovely it is to be in God’s dwelling place.” So do not be afraid. Do not be afraid of the truth about yourself before God and the truth of the realities in yourself and beyond yourself and bring it into worship.

So I hope and pray that this Cathedral that celebrates 21 years of being a Cathedral, not for itself but for the entire Diocese, will be a place where true worshippers, the prediction and prophecy of Jesus will come true, that true worshippers will gather in this Cathedral and in every church, chapel in Kelantan, Kedah, Perlis, Perak and Penang, to worship God in spirit and in truth. Amen.

Now I just want to share with you also today on a lighter note, that today I want to wish all of you who are called Sebastian and who are called Fabian a very happy Feastday. And it is my feastday and it is Fabian’s feastday and there are some Sebastians around and Fabians. And I want to share with you a message I received from Pope Francis. It is not for me, I should not keep it to myself, and he sent me a greeting and I want to read it out to you:-

Your Eminence,

As you celebrate the Feast of Saint Sebastian, I am pleased to offer my fraternal greeting and the assurance of my spiritual closeness. Praying that, through the intercession of your Patron, St Sebastian, our Lord will continue to abundantly bless your ministry (and my ministry is about you and not about myself), I joyfully impart my blessinga to you and all those entrusted to your pastoral care (which includes all of you).

Franciscus (our dear Pope).

Thank you.

Click below to listen to homily and watch video:-

Click to live-stream Mass on 20 January 2024