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Some Catholics are so impressed with the fervour of certain Christian groups that they think about leaving the Catholic Church, forgetful of what they already have, from God. It is the Holy Eucharist that makes the Church - not a charismatic founder, or a special healer, or huge numbers of new members. Jesus is Really Present in His one true Church. To go elsewhere is to desert Him.

A Mass can be offered anywhere appropriate, even in a private house, with due respect and reverence. But a domestic setting should not be an excuse for informality, or disregard for the rubrics. Jesus Christ is no longer a carpenter, but King of Heaven, and glorious in His Majesty. It is better if there is room to kneel, as we adore Him, and offer His praise and His sacrificial prayer to the Father in Heaven.

Most Catholics have heard the phrase, "The Real Presence"; but few have thought it through. Those who do so are aware the Almighty God, the Son of God, chooses to be Really Present in a special, sacramental way, in each of our Catholic churches! Those who know this kneel, bow, and adore Christ. Those who don't know, or don't care, chat and laugh as if in a pub or a cafe.

Though we cannot see them, the other members of the Church, of Heaven and Purgatory, are united with us in praise of the Father, through Jesus Christ, at every Mass. We can take comfort from the truth, that we are already doing, on earth, in our prayer, what we hope to do in Eternity, when we are perfectly joyful in God's Presence.

Christ sees every tiny act of charity that we do for love of Him. He sees each one as being like a personal gift to Him - or like a rose-petal thrown by a child in His honour, where He is Present in the Most Blessed Sacrament, as the Sacred Host in carried along in a monstrance, by a priest, for the faithful to venerate and adore.

Every Mass is a triumph of grace, no matter how weak we are. When we unite our thanks and praises, our sorrow-for-sin, and our petitions and intercessions, with Christ's great sacrificial prayer in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we can be confident that our prayer is successful, for it is Christ Himself, from our altar, Who lifts up our prayer, with His, and presents them to our all-holy Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

There were people who hoped to cast off ancient beliefs, customs and disciplines, after the Second Vatican Council. For two generations, many Catholics have built a new 'road' for themselves to walk on, with their modernist ideas, and lack of reverence both for the Sacred Tradition and for the Real Presence of Christ amongst His People - and for the Pope, who leads us, by the Will of Christ.

On the evening of Holy Thursday, when we have gathered to celebrate the Mass of the Last Supper, Christ becomes Present amongst us; and He is touched to the heart by our devotion. We were not forced to attend; but we are aware of what He once suffered in His Passion, for our sakes. He is pleased that we prove our love by coming to be with Him in this special way.

We should not stroll through church as if through a market. Every Catholic church is a holy temple for God, sanctified by having being consecrated by a Bishop as a place for solemn worship, and sanctified by the Real Presence there of Jesus Christ, in sacramental form. All who enter, therefore, should show respect both for God and fellow worshippers, so neither offending God by irreverence or immodest attire, nor distracting others.

An orthodox and fervent form of catechesis is badly needed. Things began to go wrong thirty years ago when many tabernacles were moved to unsuitable, make-shift chapels unworthy of our Divine Saviour. Christ's Real Presence is ignored or forgotten. Children were taught little about His Presence. Attention was paid, frequently, more to the community than to almighty God.

All who love Christ, and trust in His love as they pray before Him Who is Present in the tabernacle, receive many graces. He is our Divine Saviour, Sacramentally Present; and He cannot be out-done in generosity. If we show reverence and love towards Him, how can He fail to reward us?

Christ is deeply touched whenever we show devotion to Him in the Blessed Sacrament - and especially when we search out the tabernacle whenever we enter a Catholic church away from home, and cannot see our way to it. Christ would like to show us more delight and gratitude, but would completely overwhelm us.

Christ does not see many images of Angels or even Saints in many modern churches, though He would be pleased to see them; but He assures us that real Angels really surround Him at the altar, both at the Mass and during Benediction, or by the tabernacle. They are servants of Him, the King.

A Christian in a state of grace is intimately united with the Triune God. By Baptism, all sin is washed away from the soul, the person is made a member of the Church; Baptism brings the life of God to shine within the soul through the presence there of the Blessed Trinity: called the Divine Indwelling. No longer need people go to a special Temple in order to pray - though we have churches for our public worship as the Body of Christ: consecrated places where Christ is Really Present, in the tabernacle, in the Blessed Sacrament.

There are tragic consequences when people misunderstand the word 'ecumenism'. Some Catholics suppose that they can go where they choose, for Sunday worship; yet whenever a minister without valid orders presides at a service, Christ is not made sacramentally Present. No Catholic should miss Mass, by choosing non-Catholic prayer instead.

What is the message given to us by those who allow children in baseball hats to stand between some priests, at the altar, during the Eucharistic prayer? It is that it is more important to make children feel involved than to allow the priests to be close to the altar, undisturbed, as they offer the Holy Sacrifice of Christ! This is a tragic piece of evidence of flawed attitudes, today, to the Mass and the Priesthood.

There is nothing more important in our lives as Catholics than the Mass, where God praises God in God. In ancient times, God revealed Himself as fire, to His chosen people. In Christ, He has fully revealed Himself; and Christ, the Son of God, is truly, substantially Present on the altar, at every Mass.

What happens at Mass surpasses even those theophanies of the Old Testament times. God revealed Himself as fire in the burning bush, and on Mount Sinai, and in the desert, as Moses guided the chosen people. But we who are God's people today are privileged to have God Present with us: Jesus Christ, God-made-man, bodily Present, hidden under the form of bread and wine.

God has revealed Himself to His people in ancient times; yet from the first Mass, Christ has been made Present amongst His friends; and it is His love, His prayer, and His Sacrifice on our altar, that seem like a pillar of fire: a fire of love that reaches as far as Heaven. We who love Him and offer ourselves with Him, can be sure that our prayers reach Heaven.

St. Therese of Liseux was overjoyed that her relics had inspired people to have greater devotion to God; yet the gaze of the faithful should eventually turn from relics to the Church's greatest treasure: Jesus Christ Himself, sacramentally Present in the Blessed Sacrament, in the tabernacle, as here, in Westminster Cathedral.