Homily on the Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St Peter and the Basilica of St Paul
by Very Rev. Tony Gonoude, PP
18th November 2022
Holy Family Church, Drogheda
The Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
18-11-22.
Gospel: Luke 19:45-48
Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer.’ But you have made it a den of robbers.” Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.
As we reflect on the vocation to the Sacred Priesthood, let us take with us the line from this evening’s gospel, “My house will be a house of prayer.” This Church of the Holy Family is indeed a house of prayer for this community. As Christ’s priest, I was privileged to stand at this sacred altar for seven years, and through the Sacred Priesthood, bring people to God. This place of worship is dedicated to the great house of prayer, Nazareth; the home of Mary and Joseph. Within that workshop, God lived; His light shone out from the carpenter’s home into the world. That house speaks to every vocation, every priest of Jesus Christ. We are to be a light for others, a living house of prayer, and a person of simple work in the shaping of God’s kingdom. Yes, our call must be a home, where the Lord can live and shape those we encounter. We must be houses of prayer.
“My house will be a house of prayer.” The basilicas of St Peter and Paul in Rome, we remember today stand as testimony to the Apostles they are named after. Both have huge entrance doors that allow people to come in by the thousands to worship the one true God. Both act like open arms that extend all they way to heaven. To enter these great places of prayer, is truly to go into the house of God. Indeed, we could say that the two great saints were themselves a dwelling place for the Lord in this world. Peter, the one who betrayed and yet, loved Jesus so much, that he became his very shadow of healing for humanity (cf. Acts 5:15-16). He is the pillar of strength that the whole Church is supported upon. Then Paul, who originally supressed others in the faith, went on to become the Apostle, marked with the wounds of Calvary, as he was so like Christ in everything (cf. Galatians 6:17). Both great voices for Christ the Word, both witnesses to His resurrected life, both fed on the Blessed Body of the One who gave Himself for us on the altar of the Cross. These princes of the Apostles are an example for every vocation. They were homes for Christ, they were in themselves a dwelling place of prayer and allowed others to live in the Lord.
To every young man considering a call to the Sacred Priesthood, I say be a house of prayer, be a dwelling place of God. Work for the Lord like St Joseph, allow Christ to become flesh in you like the Blessed Mother, be shaped into another Christ like the wood of the workshop of Nazareth, be as the basilicas of St Peter and Paul, allowing all to come to the Lord though the door of your faith, be another Peter who is a rock for Christ and another Paul who is so close to Jesus that he reflects his image to others. In your vocation be a house of prayer and say yes to the Sacred Priesthood in Jesus Christ. Amen
Ordained in 2007, Fr Tony Gonoude is Parish Priest of Ballynacarrigy, Co. Westmeath and serves as Vocations Director for the Diocese of Meath.