Lessons from the Monstrance

On the night of New Year's Eve, my family and I went to a Mass that ended with Eucharistic Adoration. As the Mass ended and the congregation knelt to watch the priest prepare Adoration, the anticipatory joy leading up to Christmas was felt again in our awaiting the time we could spend adoring The Child of Christmas. Incense was used in front of the Host in the Monstrance, and then the priest and altar servers left quietly without a procession. Most people stayed at least for a moment, with my husband sneaking out the back to keep our noisy seven month old daughter from disturbing everyone. It truly was a wonderful blessing to end 2017 and prepare for 2018 in this way.

Before leaving to get my daughter to give my husband some time for prayer, I gazed up at the Eucharist and was struck by the beauty of the Monstrance, with it's glorious rays of gold seeming to shine forth from the Host. "Well, of course it's beautiful," I thought. "Think of what it's for and what it's holding." I did. The Monstrance contained God. In it was The Creator of the universe, and of everyone inside that church, and of the materials which made up the Monstrance. And suddenly, the beautiful Monstrance was very underwhelming. It paled in comparison to what it displayed: GOD! At that moment it was crazy to me that these measly metals were containing the God of the universe. They weren't cut out for the task! Of course, this task shouldn't exist. Nothing should contain God, because nothing is worthy. Nevertheless, Jesus humbles Himself in this way for our salvation. I found it very interesting to contemplate the fact that any attempt we make at creating beauty to glorify God, while very necessary and worthwile, will be nothing compared to His beauty and to what we will hopefully behold in Heaven.

Now I began to list in my mind other things which hold The Body of Christ to consider the care and beauty put into creating them: Tabernacles, and... us. I was struck again. This realization brings forth much to ponder about our creation and about Mary, yet these were not my focus. I'm sure you've heard it said that when we recieve Communion, we are living Tabernacles, and I believe it will do us well to regard this in the context of the Tabernacle's beauty. Do we polish our souls every day, preparing them to be a golden, radiant, beautiful dwelling for the Lord? In addition, I think we ought to take care to live not only as Tabernacles providing a home for the Lord, but as Montrances... putting Jesus on display and presenting Him to the world.