QUINCY -- Jesus Christ lives in Quincy.

Archbishop Richard G. Henning made this astonishing announcement at St. John the Baptist Parish in Quincy on June 14, after dedicating and consecrating the parish's Holy Family Perpetual Adoration Chapel. Inside the 700-square-foot chapel, once a horse stable and storage unit, Jesus will be present in the Blessed Sacrament 24/7.

"I've been a priest for 23 years, and this is one of the happiest days of my priesthood," Father Matt Williams, pastor of St. John's, told The Pilot. "I am so overjoyed that the Lord has chosen us to be a place where he can be loved and adored and worshiped."

The chapel was the brainchild of parishioner Tom Lester. Inspiration struck as he adored the Blessed Sacrament in the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth convent chapel in Quincy. With Lester, Stephen Wessling of Braintree's Wessling Architects, and John Barry of Hingham's J.S. Barry Development (Father Williams called the three men St. John's "Holy Trinity,") the abandoned stables became a chapel. The journey from Lester's dream to reality was not without hardship. The pandemic and the ensuing financial crisis forced some donors to back out.

"Satan absolutely did not want this built," Lester told The Pilot, but Jesus "put things in our path to keep us going to make this happen, and all for the glory of God."

Those who enter the chapel, whose doors are flanked by windows of the Holy Family and St. Michael, are greeted with a wall-sized mural of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A laptop in the vestibule allows volunteers to sign up for adoration slots. Behind that is the chapel's intimate sanctuary, lit by stained-glass windows depicting Blessed Solanus Casey and St. Peter Julian Eymard, among others.

The chapel, where Archbishop Henning celebrated the inaugural Mass, only has space for about 30 people. Hundreds of others watched on a large screen outside and listened to the archbishop deliver his homily from the balcony of St. John's main church.

Despite the day's heat, Archbishop Henning said the chapel's dedication was a "historic moment."

"In an archdiocese of our age, where many of our churches were built generations ago, it's not often that you get to see the very beautiful ritual of a new altar and a new church," he said. "I believe that your decision as a community to make this offering to God, not only of a beautiful building, but of your prayers, I believe that, from this offering, God will bring blessing, God will bring miracles."

He said he isn't sure what those miracles will be, but that when the faithful put their full trust in the Lord and adore his Body and Blood, miracles will surely follow. He said Jesus's institution of the Eucharist was presaged in the Old Testament by the manna, the heavenly bread God gave the Israelites. Every year in Jerusalem, the priests would take preserved manna out of the temple and parade it in the streets, a ritual echoed by Eucharistic processions in Catholic communities throughout the world.

"This gift of the manna was a prophecy of the Christ. For when Jesus spoke, he said, 'I am the bread from heaven,'" Archbishop Henning said. "He did not say, 'It is a symbol of me.'"

He said the Eucharist is itself like "mana from heaven," a gift of God.

Archbishop Henning returned to the crowded chapel to dedicate and consecrate it. The assembly prayed the Litany of Supplication so that all the saints may intercede on their behalf, and the archbishop prayed over the altar.

Every Catholic altar contains the relics of at least one saint, in honor of how they offered their lives to God. The relics the archbishop placed in the chapel's altar were those of St. John Neumann, who popularized 40-hour Eucharistic devotions in the U.S.; and Pope St. Pius X, who lowered the age of First Communion from 12 to seven.

The archbishop prayed the Prayer of Dedication, then anointed the top of the altar with sacred chrism oil. Incense was burned on the altar, and the archbishop used that incense on both the chapel interior and the people within it.

The altar was wiped down and prepared, finally ready for the Eucharist to be celebrated upon it. After Mass, the Blessed Sacrament was placed in a gold monstrance for benediction in the chapel, then taken by Archbishop Henning outside to be adored by the hundreds of faithful in the churchyard.

When the ceremony was over, Archbishop Henning greeted his flock to the strains of "God Bless America" (the chapel was dedicated on Flag Day, June 14). The faithful could take tours of the new chapel, enjoy a cookout with hamburgers and hot dogs and play cornhole. There was also a bouncy house for the children.

Lester said he was "emotionally drained" by seeing the completed chapel and adoring the Blessed Sacrament within it.

"Very emotional, just emotional talking about it, to have Jesus in front," he said, "and I know the fruits, the vocations, the healings, the healings of families that we know we need in this country. I don't think we know the scope of what's going to come out of this chapel."