My brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad!  

Thank you, Father Joy for welcoming me and all of us here today. I know you have been waiting patiently for this day and so have I! Now it has arrived! We have not waited idly. We have waited faithfully and with a boatload of patience andperseverance. From the very beginning, the people of Most Merciful Jesus Parish have gathered, prayed, given sacrificially, and kept their eyes on a horizon of the fulfillment of a dream they could not yet see: a permanent home that institutionalizes this community’s faith in Jesus Christ in a more permanent home where those who come can encounter Jesus in a very personal way. Through that encounter, they could transform their lives into living witnesses of Jesus Christ in the world. Slowly yet deliberately, by inching your way toward the goal, I am here to celebrate with you the beginning of the next phase of the dream. Today, we break ground and a new chapter of the dream will unfold in God’s time.

As we do so, I begin with a question, because I think it is the foundation of everything that we do here today: What is this place going to be?

To the naked eye, it will be, first and simply, a building of stone and steel and glass that will one day rise from this ground like a phoenix. But that is not really the answer, is it? A building is only a shell, even though its architecture can give clues and hints about what its purpose is. 

So, let me try again: What is this place going to be? Let’s look at how God’s Holy Word and the storied history of our faith describe it.

It is a place where the mercies of the Lord are remembered

Our psalm today prays it plainly: "Remember Your mercies, O Lord." Not our own merits, His mercies. Every parish, at its best, is a kind of “memory bank” for the compassion of God where the story of salvation unfolds. People will walk through the doors of this church building for decades after we are gone, carrying, in a similar way, grief, guilt, gratitude, and joy, the same as we do, and they will find here a community that remembers: “Remember Your mercies, O Lord!” Yes, here is a community that remembers that God is merciful, that God forgives, that God does not deal with us as our sins deserve. That is God’s mercy that embraces us totally and completely. I suggest to you that it is more than coincidence. It is providential for this parish's name, Most Merciful Jesus Parish suggests even something more - more fundamental, more encompassing. Indeed, it is the whole reason for her being.

In addition, it is a place where every tongue proclaims: “Jesus is Lord!”

St. Paul gives us, in the letter to the Philippians, one of the most beautiful hymns in all of Scripture: “Christ Jesus, though He was in the form of God, emptied Himself, took the form of a slave, and became obedient to the point of death.” (cf Phil 2:5-6) And because of that obedience (not in spite of it), God greatly exalted Him. This new church will be, in a very real sense, a building shaped by that self-emptying love. Every parishioner who volunteers instead of being served, every family that gives beyond their comfort, every hour spent in a folding chair discerning how to build a permanent home is living the very attitude Paul describes: "Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus."

It is a place where we learn the Father's will, and learn to do it even when we are, at times, stubborn, blind, or deaf

Here the Gospel meets us with real honesty. Jesus tells the parable of the two sons who are told by their Father to go to the vineyard. One says "I will not," and later changes his mind and goes. The other says "Yes, sir … [I’ll go]," Right away! Yet, he does not go. Jesus is not interested in who said the nicer thing. He is interested in who actually went into the vineyard. Ezekiel, in our first reading, tells us something wonderfully hopeful about this: “But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life.” (cf Ez 18:27) You see, turning back is never too late. God does not require a flawless record from us. He asks for a converted heart that finally goes and does the work.

This parish knows something about that kind of conversion of intention into action. It is easy to want a church building. It is much harder, over years, to actually gather the resources, to be patient through delays and obstacles, and to keep showing up when the timeline stretches on and on, longer than anyone anticipated. You are the son who, in the end, went into the vineyard. Today's groundbreaking is the fruit of that "yes," lived out, not just spoken.

Here’s another point: What is this place going to be? Above all, it is a place of welcome.

The place to be constructed facing Segers Road should subtly but directly invite people in for a look. Who comes here? Why do they come here? What is waiting for me here? For the seeker who isn't sure what they believe, here is a place of personal exploration and discovery of our very nature. For the believer whose faith burns bright and steady, here is a place of companionship and encouragement. For those who want to follow Christ more fervently, here is a place of communion with the Master through hearing His Sacred Word in Scripture and living it in community as missionary disciples. In faith, we believe together; in hope, we encourage one another; in love, we tend to the spiritual and corporal works of mercy that Christ entrusts to His Church. This building, when it rises, will exist not merely to be admired. It must be attractive, beautiful, and inviting. It will exist to be entered by one, by many, by all, by everyone to experience the unique presence of Jesus contained there. For me, it will be a holy place that touches deeply in my soul and gives me life and a place that waits for the rest of the people of God to gather to become truly the Body of Christ visible here living in unity!

May it never be said that someone came here and did not hear God’s Holy Word – contained in the Holy Bible – proclaimed and broken open for His people. May it never be said that someone came here and did not feel welcomed. May it never be said here that the lives of those who come here do not give witness to an encounter with Christ in which one’s direction in life has been transformed for the good. Christ is here, present in the tabernacle, in God’s Word that we hear, in the Eucharist we consume, and in the lives of those who profess themselves and bear the name “Christian!”

So, after Mass today as we in formal ceremony turn the soil, we are not merely starting construction. From the dirt, something new will arise. Today, we are fulfilling a dream, we are planting, quite literally, the next chapter of a story you have already been writing faithfully for years: a story of patience rewarded, a story of a community bound together by "a strong bond of Christian witness of a Most Merciful Jesus, that lives its faith boldly here in Madison and the greater Huntsville, Alabama area."

Christ Jesus emptied Himself for us. In gratitude, may this parish, in its new home, empty itself in loving service for others so that one day, every tongue that enters these doors will confess what your patience and generosity have already professed: Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

May God bless the ground we break today, bless the hands that will build this new church to honor God, and bless this parish family that has supported sacrificially this noble endeavor as you grow, brick by brick and heart by heart, in witnessing the mercy of God to all. After all, we have been looked upon with mercy, chosen to bring God’s mercy to a world that needs it now more than ever. Amen.

To learn more about Most Merciful Jesus Parish and its building efforts, please visit mostmercifuljesuschurch.org.