Five years.  It’s really amazing, isn’t it?  Five years ago the vast majority of us had never heard of Barack Obama before.  Today he’s in charge of our country.  We didn’t know who Sarah Palin was.  I’m not sure that I even realized that Alaska had a governor, before that.  We had no idea who Taylor Swift was.  With a name like that, she could have been a “he” and he could have been a NASCAR driver.  Instead, she, Taylor Swift is one of the best-selling musical artists of 2009 and she’s only like nineteen, or something like that.   Nor had we ever heard of Lady Gaga, or Adam Lambert, or Susan Boyle.  We may wish that we still had never heard of some of those folks.  We didn’t know about Somali pirates, which still sounds to me like the name of a baseball team.   We had no idea what an economic stimulus package was, nor did we know how much it was going to cost us.  We didn’t know what HINI was, or how much it would change our lives in the fall and winter of 2009.  Five years ago, we didn’t have smart phones.  I guess you could say now that we had “dumb” phones.  Back in 2004, we did think that we would have a new bishop by 2009.  We don’t.  Don’t worry.  I don’t have any announcements to make tonight.  We are still waiting.  Many things have changed in five years.  And many things have stayed the same.  But five years ago tonight, we gathered together for the first time in this magnificent building, for its dedication and first Mass.  It was a big night for all of us.

      Now, we know that this is just a building.  The real Church, is not a building, the real Church is all of us, who happen to gather together inside of this particular building.  This community learned that lesson in a very valuable way as we built Church community first in the Parish Hall, long before we built and moved into our new church building.  And yet, this building is different.  This building is even more special.  This building belongs to God.  It is God’s home and it is our place to come and meet God.  And making it even more special, this is a home for God that we built, we sacrifices for, we worked on, and that we made happen, and continue to make happen as we pay down our debt.  This building is a big deal and not because of it’s size.  This building is a big deal because of all the hope and Faith that went into it when it was built and dedicated, and because of the fulfillment of that hope and Faith, that we have seen inside these walls, in the last five years.  Tonight, we also celebrate our hope for the future, for the next five years, for the next fifteen years, for the next 50 years!  The possibilities of what God is going to do inside these walls, and what He will inspire each one of us to do outside these walls, are limitless! 

       Five years ago, we sat in this building for the first time, not having any idea of how much good God was going to do with our efforts.  But we had incredible hope.  Most especially, we had no idea of the wonderful people that God would bring to our community AFTER we moved into our new church.  Nearly one-third of us never attended a Mass in the Parish Hall.  God has blessed us with so many new families, that to be honest, we would never have had room for before we moved into the new church.  We are now looking forward to several first Masses from several seminarians, including Josh Bennett’s first Mass as a transitional deacon next June.  We look forward to Heather Smith’s return visits as a professed Franciscan sister.  We look forward to all the Baptisms, as this community welcomes new life and new hope in our new children, and to the many upcoming weddings, and beginnings of new families and new love, that will take place within these walls.  While we don’t look forward to the “good-bye” that we are going to say to friends and family, this building gives us a beautiful place to send home to Jesus’ Kingdom, all of us, eventually, to that Kingdom that we helped build every time we gathered within these walls.   This sanctuary, this church building was designed to give us all a preview of where we are all one day going.  There will be many more speakers and concerts.  There will be even more Masses and celebrations.  And long after we’re gone, this Church will continue doing God’s work.  And we did this with God!  This is our church.  This sense of belonging and ownership, really, is so important to what we are about as a Parish family.  Yes, we are all Catholics.  But we are Catholics and we are a community, of a particular Parish family that has accomplished some pretty amazing things with God, in this former soybean field.  We need everybody to be part of this.  We need everybody to stay connected.  We need everybody to take ownership of a family of God to which we all belong, the Parish of St. Maria Goretti.  This is not just about a building tonight.  But the building and the Parish are now intrinsically linked.  This is God’s home in Westfield.  And it is also our home with God.  And all of us need to be very, very proud of that fact.

        We cannot conclude tonight without acknowledging that this is also Mary’s Great Feast.  The first Mass back in the 1995 and the Dedication Mass five years ago, were both put on Mary’s Feast of the Immaculate Conception, so that we would always remember how important Mary is as Model for being Church.  Nobody loved Jesus more.  Nobody wants to see Jesus’ Church succeed more than Mary.  The truth is that we can’t be Church without her, and without the other saints praying for us, most especially St. Maria Goretti.  As we celebrate Mary’s purity from the very beginning of her life, we pray tonight that as we go forward, that God will help all of us to be and to remain pure, and holy, and unified in our efforts to build His Kingdom.

         The Kingdom of God is not far away.  It’s not down the road.  It’s not in the future.  The Kingdom is here now.  We must continue to work with God to make it even more a reality, especially at our Parish.

         Congratulations on your 5^th Anniversary!  This is a great night.  And it’s only going to get better!

         May God bless us on this Feast Day,  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…AMEN !!!

                                                    St. Maria Goretti…Pray for us !!!