Homily for the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

Dedication and Consecration of the Church of St. Philip the Apostle

February 22, 2022
St. Philip the Apostle Parish
Flower Mound, Texas

Nehemiah 8:1-10
Psalm 19B:8-9, 10-15
1 Peter 2:4-9
John 4:14-24

Fifty years ago in 1972, this parish was established by my predecessor of happy memory, the founding Bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Bishop John Cassata, with the assistance of a financial grant from the Extension Society. The Extension Society requested that the parish be initially established under the patronal name of Saint Philip Benizi. There is very little known of this saint or for the reasons offered for this request. Yet, Bishop Cassata was confronted with a recently established diocese that had inherited a lot of debt and with a growing need for new parishes and priests to minister in them, so it was convenient and expedient to name the parish under the patronal title of Saint Philip Benizi.

Your founding pastor, then-Father Joe Scantlin, wrote to Bishop Cassata in October 1976, with the request of the parishioners that the patronal name of the parish be changed to Saint Philip the Apostle when the first church building and offices were to be dedicated. Father Scantlin wrote in that letter to Bishop Cassata, “I feel, as does our parish advisory council, that a much better spiritual adaptation could be made with Saint Philip the Apostle.”

Bishop Cassata responded to Father Scantlin’s request with his Decree of December 2, 1976, that reads: “Pursuant to the request of the People of God in the parish of Lewisville, Texas, and upon the recommendation of their Pastor, by our authority we hereby change the title of the parish community and its Church facilities, to be dedicated when completed, from Saint Philip Benizi to Saint Philip the Apostle.” Today, I am using the ordination chalice and paten of Bishop Cassata for this Mass of consecration and dedication so let us remember to pray for his soul’s repose as we are grateful for the sacrifices he made in handing on the faith in his ministry as our bishop and as a successor of the Apostles.

“I feel, as does our parish advisory council, that a much better spiritual adaptation could be made with Saint Philip the Apostle.” What do these words mean for this parish today, almost fifty years later as we dedicate and consecrate this new church and altar under the patronal title of Saint Philip the Apostle? It is appropriate for us to consider what we are about to do in light of the apostolic character of this parish’s patron on this Feast of the Chair of Peter.

We read in the Gospel of John that Jesus called Philip to follow Him the day after Jesus had called Peter and Andrew. Philip was from the same town of Bethsaida as were Peter and Andrew. The Gospel continues that Philip found his friend Nathanael and told him of his act of faith, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” But Nathanael said skeptically to Philip, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip simply replies with faith, “Come and see.”

Finally, we read in John’s Gospel that at the Last Supper, Philip asked the Lord, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” To which Jesus responds, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? He who sees me, sees the Father…Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.”

“We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” “Come and see.” “Master, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” These three quotes are the words of your parish’s patron, and it is appropriate for us to consider them along with the Word of God as proclaimed in this liturgy and the words and actions of the Rite of Dedication and Consecration that instruct us about the meaning, nature, and mission of the Church and of the Eucharist that makes the Church.

First, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” These words of Saint Philip the Apostle are words by which he evangelizes Nathanael. They are words born of the Word of God — the Word of the Old Covenant and of the Prophets recognized in Philip’s real encounter with the Word Incarnate — Jesus Christ. These are words of faith, not of a simple or novel spiritual experience. They are words that require conversion.

Faith has brought us to this building, not simply religious experience. Faith will transform this building to become a Church. In our first reading from Nehemiah, we hear of how the Chosen People of the Old Covenant wept when hearing for the first time in seventy years the words of the Law as read by Ezra and Nehemiah. They wept for two reasons. First, they wept because of the beauty of the covenant that had remained in their hearts where God had placed it and they again recognized it through faith. Secondly, they wept because during their time in captivity they had grown accustomed to a life lived without attention to the covenant and their faith prompted them now to grieve for their sins.

We hear the words of Ezra again addressed to us in this liturgy with ears of living faith: “Today is holy to the LORD your God. Do not be sad, and do not weep.” We rejoice because like Philip we are here because we have found the One about whom Moses and the prophets wrote. We are here today as the Lord’s faithful people who “desire to dedicate to Him, solemnly and for all time, this house of prayer, to worship Him devoutly, to be instructed by His Word, and to be nourished by the sacraments.”

Secondly, Nathanael replied skeptically to Philip, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip simply replies with faith, “Come and see.” The skeptical question of Nathanael is not a question of radical doubt as much as it is a question of cynical indifference. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” This is a question in its substance and tone that resonates with the assaults we as the People of God face from people who have no faith, who have rejected faith, or from people who have gradually decided to become indifferent to the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith amidst the shambles of postmodernity. Philip answers Nathaniel’s question simply with the invitation, “Come and See.” So must we do likewise as God’s People today.

Elsewhere in the Gospel of John we read that when Greek-speaking Jews wanted to meet Jesus, Philip brought them to Jesus and then got out of the way. Philip knew that he was the messenger and not the message. So must we. Argument and clever marketing will not suffice to conquer indifference. Gimmickry and punditry will not win over the skeptical and the cynical. This building and this table that will soon be dedicated and consecrated a church and an altar to be the place where the poor may find mercy, the oppressed attain true freedom, all people be clothed with the dignity of God’s children, and many may come and see Christ Jesus.

Finally, Philip asks Jesus at the First Eucharist, “Master, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Like the Samaritan woman at the well and like Philip the Apostle, we can at times overlook who Jesus truly is and we become preoccupied with our own private interests based in fear and we grow indifferent to Christ — overlooking who He truly is even to the point of not remembering who we worship. So, Christ responds at this Eucharist to our offer of conditions for faith just as he responded to Philip at the first Eucharist, “He who sees me, sees the Father…Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.”

Our first reading indicates that the Chosen People went about the mission of rebuilding the Temple in accord with the Old Covenant. They did not simply build a building — the Lord established the Temple in preparation for sending His Son who would tear it down and rebuild it in three days, the Temple of His Body, born of the tender Virgin, the Temple consecrated to the Father, in which the fullness of the Godhead might dwell.

The parishioners of St. Philip the Apostle and their priests and staff, the laborers and architects, the diocesan officials, have built only a building — it is Jesus Christ the cornerstone, who is the New and Eternal Covenant who builds His Church through the prayers and acts of consecration of our apostolic ministry. He accomplishes this eternally through the celebration of the Eucharist from which we are sent into the world for His work of salvation. You, the People of God in this parish with spiritual adaptation of the patronal protection of Saint Philip the Apostle will do so forward from now, as a people of faith who have found the One foretold by Moses and the Prophets, as the People of God who invite by your lives the cynical and indifferent to come and see Jesus, as the People of God who know Whom they worship and who see the Father in seeing His Son through the faith of the Holy Spirit, and as the Church, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own, so that you may announce the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”