The village of Emmaus, the scene of the encounter with the Risen Jesus on the first Easter evening, has never been definitively placed on the map of the Holy Land.  And this allows Emmaus to point to every place on earth where Jesus Christ, alive and risen, makes Himself present to us in the Eucharist.  So, it can be as truly said: “their eyes were opened, and they recognised Him”.   As Pope Benedict reflected, Emmaus now represents everywhere the Risen Jesus becomes our companion on the road of life.   And this church set on a hillside, has become an Emmaus for us.

The town of Stockport, little more than a sabbath’s walk from the centre of Manchester, was first built we might say around the Eucharist.  A church was raised-up on this hill, dedicated to the holiness of Mary and built to make a place for the Eucharist at the heart of this town.  Even when Eucharistic faith seemed lost, a new church would rise on the same hillside where new generations would come to recognise Christ’s abiding presence among us.

This ‘new Emmaus’ would expand its mission through the upheavals of the industrial revolution.  If the co-founder of Communism came to Stockport and saw only a people in a dark, industrial abyss, the people of Saint Joseph’s glimpsed something more in the miracle of love that is the Eucharist.  Through global wars and social change, the doors of this church remained open, and hearts too were opened as renewed faith and hope was rekindled within these walls.

In 1983, on another October day Bishop Gray entrusted this historic church to the Sacred Heart Fathers, inviting them to renew this town centre mission with their Eucharistic charism.  And today we give thanks for all their work and witness, as we dedicate this church anew, as a place of continuous Eucharistic adoration with a special mission to intercede for new and generous vocations to the Priesthood and the sanctification of priests. This new Eucharistic mission stands in the long continuity of the witness of this church set on a hilltop.

Father Sean Davidson was led to Saint Joseph’s along a path as unexpected as the fulfilment of my own hope that a church might be dedicated as a ‘Eucharistic Shrine’ fostering renewed love for the Holy Eucharist, worthily celebrated and continuously adored.   This mission of adoration and intercession is a response to Pope Francis’s invitation for the young to be attentive to the silence of the Eucharist in order to discover their unique vocation in life.  And that of his predecessor, Saint John Paul II, whose memory we celebrate today, who invited the whole Church to rekindle “Eucharistic amazement” at the dawn of this new millennium;  and to understand the Catholic Priesthood in the light of the Eucharist declaring that “Without the Eucharist we do not exist, we are reduced to lifeless shadows. The priest can never reach fulfilment if the Eucharist does not become the root and centre of his life …”

Today, I ask you to pray that Saint Joseph’s will continue to be the Emmaus we have always known, a church with open doors. In Pope Francis’s words, may all come through these doors also come to a new and personal encounter with Jesus Christ. For here we ask that all eyes may be opened to recognise Jesus Christ anew in the Sacrifice and Sacrament of the Eucharist. And many heart burn once more in responding to their unique call, especially the call to the Priesthood, the vocation on which all other Christian vocations depend.

On this hillside where the holiness of Mary was first venerated, we entrust this mission to her Immaculate Heart and to the protection of Saint Joseph, Guardian of the Holy Family, that in the memorable words of Pope Saint John Paul II, whose prayers we also ask on this day, “May our adoration never cease!” Amen.