April 26, 2005 The Most Important Monstrance in the World

by Fr. Kevin F. Lutz
This talk is available for download in MP3 format. When retrieving this, we request that you download the file rather than 'streaming' the sound file. That means right-click on the link below and choose "Save Target As..." or whatever similar option you have with your browser. Download Audio File.

(Start with a prayer).

Tonight we're going to talk about the most important monstrance in the world, I'm sure it didn't take much for you to figure out what this was about.

In the prologue of the Gospel of John. "He was not the light but he was sent as a testimony to the light." that's an important role to have, you and I have the same role. In other words, light is supposed to shine out of us. Our Lord said at the sermon on the mount that we are the light of the world. We are always supposed to give out some light. Is it a light that give Glory to God? A light that gives glory to ourselves or is it evil and sin. We are always to be the light of Christ. If we fail we are to be the light of repentance. And that shouldn't be anything we put off saying we'll get to that sometime. Repentance can be accomplished by falling on our knees (at least spiritually speaking) and saying we're sorry; God is always willing and anxious to listen to our prayer.

I like first communion very much, we had it last week at our parish. I relive my own every year. I remember that day I thought I owned the world, I had on a nice blue suit, a white shirt, a red tie, a little pin with a chalice and a host, new prayer book, a rosary, hair was slicked down. I remember my grandmother took me to buy the suit, I actually hated it, I didn't know the first thing how suits are made. In those days, you would fit them with the jagged edges and then it's tailored, but I thought it was going to be all jagged; looking like a pirate. After some assurances I was told it would be sewn up. That was the first time I was fitted nicely for a suit like that and probably the last time as well.

I knew in my own family I was regarded as someone special because I was about to make my first communion.

As a footnote to that. the follow Sunday we had Scapular Sunday. Now it's given the same day, in our parish it was given the following Sunday, and my little sister, a true daughter of Eve, tempted me with a saltine. In those days the fast was from midnight. You had to be careful not to swallow your toothpaste, they were really strict on that. My little sister offered me a saltine and I bit into it. Now as it happens the knowledge that I"m not supposed to do that comes after the bite, I think that's how it happened in the garden too. So, as soon as I bit into it I spit it out. That's spelled "pbttt".

I told my mother, it was like I had already committed my first mortal sin. She called the pastor and told him he spit it out. But the pastor said "for the sake of caution he shouldn't receive" so I was the only child on scapular Sunday who didn't receive. I was the only mortal sinner there.

I don't remember being traumitized by the experience because something much funner happened later that same day. When the Bishop, my pastor was the Bishop, great saintly man. When he put the scapular over me it caught on my ear. I thought it was too holy to touch so I left it there. I was getting lots of more smiles and my mother kept motioning for me to put it down. I shook my head no because it was too holy to touch. Finally my father went like this... and pulled it down as I went to communion. That's spelled "choinck".

It was a wonderful time, there was two parties, one for the Holy Communion and one for the Scapular but mostly it was all about drawing closer to Jesus. I remember that day vividly as a day where everything was directed towards our Lord and to me as a new initiate into Christ. I was related to Jesus through Holy Communion.

The bishop, who had heard my first confession, we were told not to bring in a sin list but I did. I left it in the pew because I knew I had memorized it but halfway through I locked up so I leaned forward and I said, "I'll be right back." The bishop, I'm sure, was quite amused. I went out, looked at my sin list and went back in and said, "it's me again." and continued my first confession.

In the bishop's old days when he was 94 years old, I was his health care appointee. I said mass for him and brought him Communion and all the rest. And I had a most unique privilege. As he was dying, I heard his last confession and gave him his last communion and I took my scapular off and put it on him and just to make the circle complete, for one brief second I put it on his ear and then lowered it. One of the greatest, after the sacramental administrations I've had in life, and the privileges I've had in Christ, that was one of the greatest things to attend to my spiritual father.

When my father died I couldn't give him the last rites. I was happy that my brother priest was there so that he could attend to my father. I did attend to my mother, but I attended to my spiritual father and that was one of the greatest honors of all.


I was talking to the children about first communion and I said "let's suppose you were the most talented acrobat in the world". And you could do everything and eveyrone was amazed at you. And Someone would look at you and said, "who was your teacher?" And I pointed to the next child and said "you were the most perfect speller, and people would say who was your teacher? I can see the teacher when I see you spell a word."

And to another, "Suppose you were a great violin player and you played beautifully. People would say who taught you this? Who gave this to you?" On and on I thought of a different thing for each child.

I said all these things I said either you had a great teacher, coach, parents, etc. But when you go to the final judgement it's not going to be like this. He's not going to say "Do three somersaults and you can get into heaven." because that isn't the contest to get in. And God isn't going to ask you to spell a word or if you were always polite. He wouldn't ask you to play songs. He is going to look at our hearts and see how much we loved Him, our neighbors, enemies, and everyone the whole way we lived our lives. I said, "Today, Jesus is living in you the first time in a way Has never done before."

At that point I brought out the monstrance. I said, look at this, it is beautiful and clean. You'd be very sad if you saw your church was dirty and ugly. God doesn't need gold and beauty, those things are precious to us, that's why we use them for God. But the real place where God wants to live is not in the monstrance; He wants to live in your heart. Your heart is right about 'here' on you, which is about the same place on the monstrance. Some people will never see Jesus, except through you, therefore, you have to be like this monstrance, and if it gets dirty, we clean it, that's what confession is all about. It doesn't matter how dirty something gets. It can be cleaned.

I asked them questions the day before, they were very excited about this day. And when they received, that sweet innocence was great to behold as they received Him for the first time. And now begins a relationship in which they will receive Christ and they will begin to understand a mystery that they barely understand right now.


How many of us understand the mystery as God wants us to understand t? I daresay, none of us. No priest in the world, and when we think of holy priests in the past we think of John Vianni, John Bosco, Thomas Aquinas, and the list goes on. But which of those priests, if they were standing here right now, if we ask, "Which one of you, while you were on earth, appreciated your priesthood in it's fullness." and they would all laugh like a Greek chorus. And I would say, "Which one of you fully understood the mystery" and they would probably look at me and say "We don't even fully understand it in heaven."

Because God is so incomprehensible that who can evern know the mind of the Lord, who has been his council? To know God as He is something is something we won't even be able to do fully in heaven. We will know Him much more than we know Him now. We will know him face to face but even in that intimacy there will be a mystery in God that we won't fully understand. And life is full of mysteries. Whenever I talk about mysteries I mention how I can't figure out how three-way switches work. And someone will come up to me and explain it to me and I just know that he's lying.

You see the point here, this mystery of the Eucharist is something we will grow in all our lives. You can spend your entire life in adoration of God and being impelled to live perfectly for Him in obedience to His Commandments by the grace of the Eucharist but in the end, you will find that you stil understand so little of so great a mystery.

That can also be said of Earthly Love. A beautiful marriage that has gone on 50 years. I was in the emergency room about three weeks ago I had three different rooms in a row. One was a couple I had just married, in between was one of my street people who got beat up like crazy. And third one was a couple married 54 years. Every time I came, I was bouncing from room to room, in I thought it was an intrusion because I felt that they knew each other so well, they just liked to talk to each other. It was as though they had mysteries that have continued to unfold even though they've been together over 50 years. You'd think one would say, "I've heard that before. Say something new." What could you possibly say?

And I've told them many times, in fact I saw him earlier today and I just had to say. "It is just so nice to see your good marriage." and he said "Father, we have been so blessed by God, we just love each other so much" and my every marriage have an ending that theirs will undoubtedly have after 54 years and that much love, they have sealed their love in this world and my God protect them into everlasting life. But there is still a mystery in their lives, why do they love each other? "Oh I don't know." there are certain things that are beyond words. Poetry tries to capture it because poetry takes words and refines them in a great way but there is still a mystery. If there is that much of a mystery between a man and a woman, how much more is there between us and God?


There is a Eucharistic element that I want to speak about this. In my museum, how many have been there? Show of hands. Not enough of you. In our museum, there are probably a dozen monstrances, some of are badly damaged some are restored, some are on loan. 40 chalices, old and new, broken and lovely, all kinds of styles. For those there, each one has been used during the mass, and the monstrances have had many years of use and some still go on use occationally. Once or twice I have found things in pawn shops, how did they get there?

Once I took a ciborium into the pulpit and I told them I bought this in a pawn shop. There are only two ways it got there, either it was stolen, or a priest forgot who he was and sold it to an antique dealer. Either way, someone needs our prayers. If it was a thief, we must not hate him but pray for him. If it was a priest, we need to pray for him even more because he would be far more guilty. You expect a thief, who in many cases doesn't know much better, to steal things, but a priest should know how precious it is.

There are a few of them that have a level of tarnish and the plating has long gone and they're aweful looking but you can see by their shape that they're very noble and beautiful. One time I set a monstrance down and it looked like it came from the coal mines. But the shape is very beautiful. At one point it held the body of Christ, it may well again, but right now it would be deemed unworthy of the alter. It's kinda like a sinner. It needs a cleaning, but made in the divine image.

We couldn't forget the divine image is in every person. People have this attitude towards sinners that "Well, they're going to hell anyway" or "They're wicked" and that's a very intolerable attitude. I sometimes really resent the smugness of some Christians who will say they are sure they are going to heaven, but they may say at the same time (now this is not characteristic of all but of some) that you know, "I'm the real McCoy, the one God loves, you're steeped in sin" and I'm sure there are Catholics who think this way too. "How dare you approach me." That's kinda like a person on a sinking ship saying, "I know where the lifeboats are and the life jackets are" and you say, "I don't, where are there?" and you walk away. If you know hte Truth, it's not for you to hoard, it's something for you to share. When the Truth becomes "I'm going to heaven, unfortunately, you're going to hell." that's not the attitude that any Christian should ever have, or to rejoice that they're saved.

Attitude towards sinners; the more Eucharistic your life is the more you should love every sinner. My neighborhood is quite bad. There are people waiting to be picked up by cars, people on the corner selling drugs, they have their whole little signalling that they do. Now when I'm driving through even at 2am when I have a sick call they recognize my car and I'll get a friendly wave. But early on there was almost a certain signalling going on "Are you looking for drugs" or whatever you're looking for, "We've got it." So, some people would look at that and say that's disgusting. In fact, the benches in front of our church many people that are waiting there are not waiting for a bus. People say, "you should take those benches away". I say, "put more out there!" I like the sinners there sitting in front of the Church hope that somehow God's grace will radiate out of the walls and somehow touch their hearts. I'm hoping someone who may pickup someone in front of a Church may have a twinge of conscience and if it keeps twinging like that maybe it will turn into reformation.

For now, we have to have this attitude that when we see a person who is a sinner, we must love them. And it's not a suggestion, it's a command of Christ Himself. So, if I were to bring in that tarnished monstrance. I would say, this thing is beyond repair, it would cost 2,000 to take it apart and put it back together and I don't want to pay that so I will make sure it's thrown out, and I toss it in the trash. You would be horrified. We should be much more horrified by sins like gossip, in which we take a very person who is a monstrance made in the Image and Likeness of God, and no monstrance on an alter is made in the Image and Likeness of God, it's made in the image of a monstrance because that's what it is. They come in many styles and shapes but you would be horrified if a broken one is disrespected by me how much more should we be if a person is, as tarnished or broken as they may be for whom Christ has died.


I read one time in a book called Vigil, a book written by a nun book in the 20's. And God bless this nun, Bishop Sheen could have taken lessons from her and he was one of the greatest authors of the 20th century. She goes on and on about the secrets of the mysteries of the spiritual life and the growth and Christ. Many of her phrases were very pointed. And as I speak of that reverence that we must have and that love we must have for sinners because Christ, what His mind on the cross? Sinners! That's who He came for. He said I did not come for the healthy, it's the sick that need the physician. Our Lord always had the most tender love for sinners never did He reject them. And there's always hope for the worst of sinners to be the greatest of Saints.

I'm reading a great book right now, it's just a book of biographies from the apostolic age to the present, it has 15,0000 entries, so they are relatively short. But I'm reading one, it irks me I can't remember his name, This one young man who was very arrogant and mocking of religion, he went up and mocked St. Philip Vencini, I think his name was. To taunt him, he slapped him. and I'm reading and I said to myself, "Didn't it say 'Saint' at the beginning of this entry?" and then I'm reading a little farther and it said he was so converted by the forgiveness and the look that St. Philip gave him, he fell on his knees, asked for forgiveness, and became a devout Catholic and eventually became a priest. I love a good story like that. Too often we don't reflect the image of Christ when we're hurt, but rather the ugly image of our hurt selves. It's import that we reflect the image of Christ.

Bu I love the idea of a saint slapping a saint! It's kinda neat to know that someone you may think that some person is such a sinner but you may be looking at the greatest saint of the next century. The saints did't walk around with halos. And many saints if they were walking around today would see our pictures and statues and tip them over saying, "Oh, that's creepy, I didn't look like that!"

I don't like the false biographies where at age 3 so and so had his first and last impure thought and immediately took a vow of chastity and persevered in it until 91. I don't believe those stories. The saint himself wouldn't believe it. That's just bad writing. We shouldn't be afraid of sin insofar as it can harm us, but if we have the grace of Christ, then we have overcome sin. and that's why repentence is such a grace and such a gift.

Two weeks ago the city of Columbus had a crew out power washing the sidewalks. Our sidewalk looked fine but I'm not going to argue with them. I just happened to be out when they did it. And I looked and was amazed, at first I thought someone was doing it as a courtesy for us. I asked what it was about and the guy said the city was cleaning it. The sidewalk looked clean before, but there was an even layer of dirt on it that when it went away and I could see it was really dirty before. When the dirt is even, we don't notice it but when it's a big splotch we notice it.

But in a certain sense, we tolerate a level of dirt on ourselves, a level of sin. You know what this sin turns us into? Mediocre Christians. We really need that purification, that cleansing. We need to get rid of that mediocrity that allows a certain level of sin. and try to seek always that perfect holiness that would make us live in such a way that we're never afraid of eternal life, God's judgement or anything else. We may fail in that but we must all strive for it. How odd that was that a sidewalk being cleaned made me examine my conscious yet again.

When God walked in the flesh, he used the parables of everyday life, you know, birds of the air, flowers in the field and different things like that, all these things to teach us lessens and if they make you a better person, then there's your lesson for today.


In the mass, sometimes incense is used, when it is, the alter, the chalice and the host and then the people. People don't pay attention to that, we're used to that. All they know is when the alter boy comes up, you stand, bow, etc We don't understand the significance of very dramatic moment.

When I was a newly ordained priest, I had a lot of false humility as opposed to the true humility I have now. (Laughter) Sometimes we can be diluted by, often, what we think is our own humility. When I was newly ordained, I would do the normal routine, but when it came incensing me by the server, I would think "I didn't want to draw attention to myself" and I would wave him off "Skip it." Later, I felt I was such an ass. (That's spelled "ASS".) I was reading the old books and the 'why of it.' and now when it comes to insence, I load that sucker up and let it come puffing up at me. There's a great reason my friends. Because Christ is in us. It's not for you. We've all seen those movies where the nerd comes into the room and everyone cheers and he thinks they're cheering for him and it's really the person standing behind him that they're cheering. The fool thing is that he thinks the applause is for him. That was me, I thought the insence was for me and it's not.

The Alter is incensed because the holiest thing in the world takes place upon it; the Sacrifice of the Mass. The chalice is holy because it holds His precious blood, the paten holds his precious body, the ciborium, the Body of Christ again. All these things are holy because of their usage, but on the last day, the monstrance, the alter, the chalice and others will not rise, but we will. Either to live with Christ forever or apart from Him forever, those are the only choice. We will either rise in glory or in horror. So, It is important to realize who we are now. As in a symbolic way understanding it with the monstrance, we are to be the very vessels, the living vessels out of which Christ radiates and shines.

Now, in the mass, the priest is incensed first, if there is a deacon, then he is second, then the ministers at the alter, then finally that moment, that you never really looked forward to, but you should. When the server comes and bows at the end of the sanctuary. Stand up and smile the biggest smile and realize, this is because divinity dwells in you!

In my museum there is a great painting of Our Lady she's going to Bethlehem, she's pregnant and St. Joseph is in the foreground seen picking up a flower for her. There are Angels in the top of the painting, it's a very large painting. There are three angels before her. Two are holding hymn books and singing it's kinda an artistic/poetic way to depict it and the third angel is swinging incense, who is that for? It's for Jesus who is inside, as though in a monstrance, as it were, for nine months. Because Christ dwells in us, because we are made in the divine image because we have the baptismal character in our soul, those reasons, you could walk around with inscense and swing it at every person on the street saying, "Do you realize who you are?" We don't realize who we are.


I had a great lesson in that about two years ago I guess. I took these kids on a "Rosary walk". We would say the Rosary but I would stop every once in a while and say on this corner this happened or here's where so and so lived and we would talk things, try to give them a little lesson about how rough some choices people make in life can turn out in hope those are seeds that will keep them away from getting in trouble. We were under a bridge and the smell of urine is very strong because it was just an outdoor sewer. And a few guys were sleeping on mattresses and we're coming by and they're used to us coming by in groups singing songs. And while we're talking I said, "Do you have a good lesson for these kids?"

A guy, God bless him, looked up and said, "Be good, listen to your parents and stay in school", what they're telling them is everything they didn't do in life, "Say your prayers and go to Church" and whenever I do that, in some way that's what we hear every time. And after we talked a little bit, this one guy, who, I think, was really filled with the Holy Spirit. And these kids, I think they were from like Mayonaise, Ohio. Oh and what a pure little down this must be, I don't know where it is on the map but if I saw it I would have to say, "This has to be Mayonaise" because it's so creamy pure and, you know. Well, this was a whole different experience for these kids they were 7-12th graders. And they are spellbound by everything and some of them were nervous. This is just very different, so while we were there, the final thing this guy says is, "Father, I'm not a bum". Now, there was a very long silence after that, what do I say to that? I didn't call him one or even intimate that. I don't know why he chose to say it. Perhaps he thought he was an object of pity although were were not pitying him we were just talking and praying.

I looked at him with no idea what I was going to say next I truly believe the Holy Spirit gave to me, "All I see is the Divine Image." He smiled at me the biggest smile ever and we went down the street. But I really believe that conversation encapsulated a real real moment of grace. I think he wanted to say that to declare, in case someone though otherwise, he is a person, a man, because a lot of people just see a bum. That is not a bum, a person made in the Image and Likeness of God. And I'm so grateful that conversation went exactly the way that did, I really believe the Holy Spirit choreographed that. Much like that monstrance tarnished and broken but not beyond repair, no sinner ever is.

We have many little journeys like that and they have been fruitful and pray for those kids always and pray for people on the streets are God's special children in many ways.


Now I want to talk a little bit more about the Church in relation to the Eucharist. The Church finds it's strength in the Eucharist. Although the Church could theoretically live without it, like in Japan when all the priests were killed, they were told that there would come priests at sometime in the future. This was passed on for hundreds of years when Japan was opened up and missionaries were allowed back in they where surprised to find these Catholics living there who had lived for several hundred years generation after generation teaching the articles of hte creed and baptizing and marrying because that's all they could do without a priest. They had no priest or Eucharist. The only way they could be forgiven of sins is through repentance because God hears every prayer, but they had persevered in the faith. The real strength comes from the Eucharist and the priesthood, which are ever present within the whole church, even if some part of the church is temporarily deprived of those gifts.

If we were to take a look at all the centuries and find out what was the belief in the Eucharist and in the Church in it's relationship with itself. As it looked upon itself, what did it have, what did it undestand. We could certainly say here at the beginning of the new century we have a Church and in that Church we have the Eucharist, priesthood, there are Bishops, the pope, the alter, there is that one True same Sacrifice, which our Lord Himself offered and in which we are united in the representation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, there it is. Let's look at the beginning of the 20th century, the same things I named are all there. The same things are there in the 19th, 18th, 17th, no matter what century. we could speed things up and go back to the second millenium.

When it began, 1,000 years ago, there was a Pope, priests, bishops, the Eucharist was the central mystery of the Faith, it is found in the writings that are many but still survived from that time. The sacraments were clearly defined there. And we can go back, century by century by century. Long before many of the religious controversies that rage today ever were thought of. There was the Church plodding along made up always as it was from the last supper table to the one you're at now; made up of sinners, the broken, those who Christ though of on the cross.

And every one of those ages, people were told from the moment they heard the Gospel of John. He was not the light but came to give testimony to the light. They knew they were embassedors for Christ. They were representatives of Christ. They were the fulfillment of Jesus' own words, "You are the light of the world." With all those phrases, and all those teachings, the Church has marched with a pope, bishops, priests, alters, and sacrifices. So with that, we see that in every age, there is sort of two parallel movements the one where the Church presents Christ to us sacramentally through mystery of Baptism and Confirmation and Communion and other sacraments. Christ presents himself to us, and it's Christ who acts in the sacraments. It's not like God is up in heaven and looks down on us when we do a sacrament and kinda puts a stamp of approval on it. If any of you ever called upon to baptize, and you might because there may be someone dying who wishes it. And you have to perform the sacrament. In our catechism we were all prepared to do it even though we never did. Although some of us were baptizing our cats and dogs to make sure they went to heaven, or just because they were amazed they had such power. Our cat resisted Baptism, he died a heathen, unrepentant.

With the graces of a sacrament, it is Christ who acts. So, if you are the person who baptizes, Christ is there with you and in you perfectly united in that moment. Whenever a sacrament is effected, it is Christ who acts. It is Christ who forgives, blesses, unites, heals, etc.

He places these sacraments into our very unworthy hands into the Church itself who his often unworthy in it's membership and often forgetful of who it is. We often forget who we are in Christ. And you should take consolaton in the fact that there were saints who said "Lord, be with me for by nightfall I may be a pagan." I find great encouragement in words like that from the lives of the Saints. I find encouragement in one saint slapping another and then other one showing such compassion and forgiveness that the other one is converted. Isn't that great if we were to show that much compassion to one another, enough to bring them to their knees saying, "You really believe." I wonder if the world really thinks we believe because sometimes that monstrance that is us is far too tarnished and soiled. But with a reminder, we can be cleansed.

You mom used to hand you cookies as a child what did she say? She'd say "Let me see your hands." you know how many children have died from eating cookies from dirty hands (I did a medical survey)? Zero. But you made a cookie and you want the hand that receives it to be prepared, it has nothing to do with germs but it has to do with preparation and respect.


As a final thought, if there is a struggle in the heart of Christians. Many Christians ultimately have one deep struggle, self-hatred. Close your eyes, I will count to three and ask you if you now struggle or have ever struggled with is. That's good, both of you put your hands down. I'll give you a cure for that right now, STOP IT. It's a sin! It's a sin to hate your neighbor, sinners, and it is a sin to hate yourself as well. It is a sin that displeases Almighty God who loves you.

When I was a child one of the beautiful prayers we learned in the Act of love, "Jesus I love myself for love of thee." You can't give yourself a good reason to love yourself. (Well, I'm talented, I'm so good looking, I'm so beautiful) Well, you may win a local contest but once we expand it to two blocks, you lose. There can be lots of reasons, I'm skilled at this, but that's not a reason to love yourself. You should love yourself because God loves you. God commands that you love yourself and it pleases Him when you do. The more you take care of anything you love, (that first new car you ever got) every care is given to it, friends can't smoke in it and so on, friends aren't smoking well stop smoking too, just trust me on that one, alright? With all of that, if you love that car, you take good care of it.

After a while it loses some shine and later on you start to mistreat it, you don't love it as much, but you must always love yourself and if you do, you will take care of yourself. You will cleanse yourself and in that cleansing in that renewal and in that knowlege of who you are and how much you love yourself Christ can be the worthy dweller in your heart and soul and when you fail at that, you can be a model of repentance. The most important monstrance in the world is you.

God bless you and please pray for me.


Question: The saint that slapped the other Saint, was it Saint Peregrin?

I am not sure, I was just reading about St. Peregrin and I know he lead a very wicked life but I'm not sure if he's the one, you may be right and I will check that. You might have referenced that correctly for me.

By the way, if I could ask, please pray for my niece, Bridget. She's 19 at OSU and she just got diagnosed with malignant cancer in the thiroid, she has two cancers there. And while thiroid is the most treatable, she's got two of them so we're just praying like crazy. She's the calmest one about this, it's amazing. I can bearely, I just, I'm praying alot and I ask you to pray that all things be to the Glory of God. You know, when you're the uncle and you don't have children, these are your children.

Question: How frequently should one go to confession?

As often as they seriously sins. I think devotional confession is good, monthly is good, even weekly is fine. You'll never be yelled at at my Church for a devotional confession. Now don't go nuts. We had four priests on Divine Mercy Sunday. Someone was saying, "Were you hearing real confessions or conversions or were you hearing confessions like this: "Bless me Father for I have sinned, my last one was two minutes ago down the aisle." I said I can't discuss anything I hear in confession at all but I said, "You can assume your joke was not the way it was." I think it's a good question, weekly, monthly, don't get into the habit of just Christmas and Easter. Think of it as a spiritual cleansing. We want to go often, for the sake of examining your life. Even the pagans said an unexamined life is not worth living. And the daily examination of conscience should be something you do on a regular basis.

Question: Can you say something about Our Lady being the first tabernacle?

A Tabernacle, in the original meaning of that word, really meant a dwelling place, a tent. That is echoed in the old Churches where there is above the alter, a Baldicino (sp) Most of our churches were not build in this style but St. Peters in Rome has a canopy, it's called a ciborium, actually like the vessel on the alter. But Our Lady had the greatest privilege of all in the sense that she had an intimacy with Christ far beyond anyone else. For 9 months He lived below her heart. And what an awareness of Christ. When we're back in our pew after receiving the Eucharist we may be praying very intimately to our Lord, but that moment will pass. For Mary it was 9 months for what must be sheer pleasure. Then He was born, she nursed Him and cared for Him, and all the while she had, as it were, perpetual adoration.

Adoration has become much more popular at parishes. We have it at our parish, Holy Family. Open Sunay's noon-4:30, Tuesdays 10am - 11pm, Thursdays 10am-Friday at noon, all through the night. Enter through the elevator door, it's marked on the Church. Adoration is a wonderful thing because just being in the presence of a person changes you. When you meet someone you think you're in love, just staring at each other changes you. You can take some of the wildest guys and some of you may be those wild guys who your friends wonder if there is hope for you here's coming the day of yoru chance, when you hold your first baby and it scares the life out of you when you hold the life you helped create. And many a wild-man has turned into a sober good man, just by the mere thought that he is a father.

Our Lady was truly the first tabernacle of the Most High. The Glory of God filled the temple, we're told that in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament it's referenced there when Jesus was brought into the temple. It references that Old Testament Glory but hte glory was there. But the glory lived more perfectly because at the end of the world, even the temple will not rise. But our bodies will. and of course, you will not let your faithful one undergo corruption, Mary was assumed, and our bodies will rise because they have been honored to be the dwelling place of the Most High. No one has ever appreciated communion for all it's worth and for all it signifies.

But Mary is especially the model of discipleship, some people don't want to hear about her but if you go to visit your friend Joe and his wife and he talks about his wife. If you say, I don't want to hear about her, she's your friend, not mine. That's rude. I can't believe anyone could love Christ and speak ill of His mother. She's a human being, she's not a Goddess, she's not a part of the Trinity except insofar as we are all part of the Trinity in the family of God. But she's His mother. if Christ was seated in the room and Mary walked in, Christ would stand for her as you should stand as your mother comes into the room because the commandment says honor your father and mother.

It's not a matter of taking away the Glory of God. The glory of God shown on Mary more than any of us. It is shining on us but there is no creature on whom His glory has shown more perfectly than on that women about whom these things were said: "I will put emnity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring." and in the New Testament, "Hail full of Grace" Nobody greeted us that way! and the words, "All generations will call me blessed." Those are all because she was the tabernacle of the Most High.

Question Can you speak on the value of daily mass? We should go everyday.

And I would second that. Many years ago, in my first church. This woman would come to mass everyday and I told her one day that she must have grown up in a devout family, she said, "Why father?", I said I see her everyday at masss and she looks so happy. But she looked at me and said the words that aren't any surprise at all, "I'm a convert." So, indeed she was a convert, but she looked at me and said, "What I can't understand is why more people are not at daily mass. If they only knew." Our Lord said those words to the woman at the well, "If you only knew who it is who spoke to you." There is a lot of treasures to be followed at daily mass. Holy Family Tuesday/Thursday 7pm, Friday 9am, first Saturdays 9am Latin, Cool, go to the Latin mass, see the Mass of the ages. Sunday 9 O'clock, sometimes solumn high. And if you can see the alter, we're not using enough insense.