2nd Sunday of Advent
Blessing of Renovated Old Church
St. Joseph-on-Carrolton
December 7, 2025
Divine Renovation
I am delighted to return to St. Joseph-on-Carrolton, and on this occasion, to bless the venerable church that has been renovated with skill and loving care. I wish to thank you, Fr. John, for your leadership and to thank all of you for your generosity that made this project possible. My warmest thanks also to those whose skill and artistry brought new life and beauty to this precious and historic church.
The newly renovated church is a metaphor of our Advent journey. Like our reading from Isaiah, it is a link to times past, indeed, to the original church built on land that once belonged to Charles Carroll. Although the renovated church dates to 1871, its walls were construct with stones that were part of the original structure built in 1822. When the first church and its successor were built, the nation was young and full of promise. The Catholic Church was taking root in a new nation, a nation whose Constitution and Bill of Rights guaranteed religious freedom. Nonetheless, there would be many challenges and struggles ahead, but the old church and this community of faith have stood the test of time.
Yet, in spite of the care and promise with which it was built, time took its toll on the venerable structure. For many years it has stood in need of restoration, just as the people in the days of John the Baptist stood in need of restoration and just as we ourselves stand in need of it. The thorough restoration of a building demands that engineers and architects be brutally honest about the building’s needs. Does the foundation need to be shored up? Is the roof still intact? Are the beams capable of holding up the walls and the roof? It does no good to restore a building cosmetically if the building itself is not sound. The same is true of our interior renovation during Advent.
When John the Baptist came on the scene, preaching a message of reform and offering a baptism of repentance, he minced no words. “Repent,” he said, “for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” When he saw the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him for baptism, he was even blunter: he called them “a brook of vipers” because, in their self-serving legalism, they undermined and disfigured God’s promise of mercy to Abraham and to his descendants.
The imposing presence of John the Baptist and the newly renovated church prompt us to look into our own hearts as we prepare to celebrate Christmas and to welcome the Lord when he comes again in glory as our Judge. If we would worthily celebrate Christ’s first coming so as to be ready for his second coming – what needs to change in our lives? Do the foundations of our faith need to be shored up? Is our faith study enough to withstand the storms of life? Is our soul made beautiful by God’s grace or disfigured by sin? As we prepare to bless the newly renovated “old” church, we ask for the grace to heed the call of St. John the Baptist “to repent and believe in the Gospel”, to undergo in our lives and homes a kind of “divine renovation” . . .especially by making use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation during Advent.
Justice Shall Flourish in Our Time
After Mass, when we shall bless to the venerable church made new, we will be struck by its noble simplicity and beauty. The stained glass windows gleam as never before. The altar, the tabernacle, and the ambo shine forth. The walls themselves are once again bright.
As we behold the beauty of the renovated church, we may recall Isaiah’s prophecy, our first reading, in which the prophet foretells the restoration of Israel. The restoration that God promises through Isaiah and for which we earnestly hope is indeed a thing of beauty. It is to shine forth with truth & life, holiness & grace, justice, love, & peace. It is to be a state of harmony with God and with one another, and where creation is at peace with itself – where wolves and lambs, cows and bears get along! Is this not the justice, peace, and harmony we are longing for? Truly we sang of this in our Responsorial Psalm, “Justice shall flourish in his time and fullness of peace forever!” This indeed is the renovation we seek, deep within ourselves, within the church, and even in our Nation. This renovation is the goal of our Advent journey.
Journeying Together
And just as the renovation of this church was the work of many and required consensus among all those involved in the project, so too the divine renovation we are to undergo is the work of many – To be sure, it is something very personal but also something we do together. St. Paul points us in this direction in the reading from Romans: “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one another . . . .”
Our forebears built the original church and the succeeding structure because they realized the importance of being together as a community of faith, and the importance of supporting one another on our journey of faith – walking with one another and helping one another along. And as you seek to build up the Body of Christ, unanimity of faith, hope, and love is crucial. Jesus said as much when he prayed for his disciples: “May they be one, O Father, as we are one, that the world may believe!” Thus, the venerable church stands as reminder that the Catholic Church which has come together on this property for more than 200 years, still gathers here as a living, breathing place of faith, worship, and service, a community where the process of divine renovation is continually underway until that day when in glory there appears the Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.