For the second time this month we celebrate the dedication of a Roman Basilica. While Church buildings are necessary and important for the practice of our religion, we realize that the Church is really the community of those whom God has guided through grace to faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. A church building is dedicated to the worship of God and the liturgical needs of the community. On the level of the individual believer, dedication and commitment are necessary elements of our faith. In the dedication ceremony the walls of the Church are anointed with holy oil and the spots where the anointing is done are marked with a cross. In Baptism and again in Confirmation we are anointed with holy oil and so our lives are marked by the Cross. This is a mystery which we acknowledge each time we make the sign of the cross at the beginning of prayer.