Well, the Gala Week and Official Blessing of the new Cathedral is now a thing of the past. What an incredible celebration of our diocesan and local community! It was a true joy to see so many people from so many communities in our diocese gathered for prayer, praise, good food and true fraternity. We were blessed to have so many good natured folk who accepted leadership responsibilities and the result was that everything went off without any major glitches, save for the fact that on some evenings we were surprised by how many people attended.

To say that the experience exhausted us would be the greatest understatement of the year. So much time and energy went into the week.

Now that it is over I almost wonder what I should do next. I don't have a list of "things to do" in preparation for a big event. Even our celebration of Confirmation this week will be a breeze. Thinking I had overlooked getting musicians I was reassured by Andy that he had already taken care of things.

That is one of the greatest blessings that I have seen in the past number of months since we took over this space: the desire of the people to lend a helping hand. Be it barbecuing steaks for a traveling choir, organizing an event, decorating the worship space or welcoming people into our home; I have been overwhelmed by the good will of people.

Sometimes I sit back and wonder what we have created. I wonder why we are so blessed. And yet, when I can find no real answer I lose myself in the mystery of it and just accept the fact that we are doing nothing more than what God would ask of us. In simple terms, we are simply living as disciples. It is not to say that we have everything figured out and it is not to say that even what we have figured out is being done to the best of our abilities. Rather, it is this sense of good-natured and good-willed people who see the task before them and offer themselves for the sake of building up the Kingdom on earth.

The most eveident thing in the past few weeks have been the numerous smiles of people who relish in the fact that they have had a part, large or small, in this wonderful chapter of our Church history. I was most moved on May 6th when the pilgrims from St. Paul's Co-Cathedral arrived with the Ark carrying the Sacred Chrism that would be used to anoint the altar at the Mass of Blessing. While the torrential rain prevented them from making the trek by foot, they nevertheless stood in solidarity with us as a community of believers thanking God for his faithfulness. Maybe that is something we all-too-often forget in what we do as disciples - that God is so good to us. As I watched the people from St. Paul's walk down our main aisle I was filled with the great spiritual presence of the late Bishop James Mahoney, who I believe smiled more brilliantly than anyone else during our week of celebrations. As the Ark was placed on the altar and the Sacred Chrism enthroned, it was almost like you could hear the voice of the good Bishop stating his simple, yet profound

motto: "God is Faithful." How true indeed.