A prison inside of a prison

Have you ever heard of a situation where a person did nothing wrong, gets sent to jail, and to make matters so bad, they put them in an isolation chamber? I’m sure this can bring to mind many examples of the US “justice” system, but in this entry, it has absolutely nothing to do with the justice system of the US. But rather, the Church. The situation that I am discribing with this anology is something you all better know as Blessed Sacrament Chapels. We put Jesus inside a prison (Tabernacle) and then we put him in an isolation chamber (the Chapel). (Well, many of the modern churches that have been designed have done this, the older churches don’t have this situation). Now I totally understand why we put Jesus in the tabernacle, because of the fact we don’t want anyone commiting sacrelige, and to protect him from those people without morals. Now what I don’t understand is the whole idea of a “Blessed Sacrament Chapel.” (You’re probally thinking, with the way that you think, it should make total sense to you). When we come to Church we gather to adore (worship) the Most Blessed Trinity, and the peak of this adoration is when we recieve the Eucharist inside of us, when Jesus physically dwells within us. The major thing is that we gather as the Body of Christ together when we do this. Acts of adoration are mostly done on a public manner. I do have a major problem with Jesus being in a Blessed Sacrament Chapel all by his little lonesome. What exactly is my problem that you ask? The fact that he’s NOT in the Place of PUBLIC worship at all (ie: the Church). When I went to Roger Stadium in Los Angeles (what?: You were expecting me to say Our Lady of Angels Cathedral, HA!), what’s the first thing that I noticed when I went inside the stadium? No Jesus! The focus of our worship as Catholic Christians is the Trinity (that’s another blog on how the Trinity is present in the Eucharist), and when he’s not there, it’s basically like walking into a musem. (Praphrasing: Pope Benedict XVI in Spirit of the Liturgy), or like an empty house. There’s chairs, an altar, a crucifix, but where’s the host? (both litterally and figuratively). Again, you can call me some old school traditionalist, but that wouldn’t be right, as Pope Benedict XVI has stated on many occasions that the prefered place for the tabernacle is “at the center” of the Church. So probally say, it’s easier if you have a chapel because you can spend one on one time with him. Well, I say, you can spend even more time with him, when he’s INSIDE OF YOU, when you partake in the EUCHARIST :)), and that there’s no need to isolate Jesus from his house. It’s kind of like taking the owner of a home, and keeping him out. This is what we are doing to Jesus when we put him in that little prison called a Blessed Sacrament Chapel. The question is how long are we going to continue to lock our Master out of HIS HOUSE? Amen!

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