I don't think I have said it publically yet, but I think the renovations done here since I left are extremely well done. I was part of the capital campaign, but not part of the design. You really did a wonderful job. Remember when we only had two dingy classrooms? Now we have 7 or 8, and they are often full. How did we ever do it back then?

Our worship space has a simple beauty to it that supports our liturgies very well. I remember our old tabernacle, which was just a small square box. I often told the students that if I ever thought my apartment was small, just look at Jesus' apartment. That is small!

Our new tabernacle is really beautiful. The idea of having a special dwelling place of God is not new to Chrstianity. In Judaism, there was the huge temple in Jerusalem. At the core of it was the Holy of Holies, in which dwelt the Ark of the Covenant. Only the high priest could enter there, and only once a year.

In our Tradition, our first tabernacle was . . . . Mary! Within her dwelt God in the person of Jesus. In today's Gospel, this is recognized by Elizabeth, who said "Hail Mary, full of grace . . . full of God." This is even recognized by the unborn John the Baptist, who leapt in his mother's womb.

Mary was the first tabernacle, but each of us is also a tabernacle if we have the eyes to see. This past weeks, I have helped with many communal Reconciliations in area parishes. I especially like First Reconciliation, when the kids come up, and they are excited and their legs wiggle back and forth as they make their confession. At St. Thomas Aquinas, we had 14 First Reconciliations, and at Sts. Peter and Paul, we had 11!

The penance that I give for First Reconciliation is this: Think of each person in your family, and one way that they show you something of God's love or God's goodness that is unique or special to them. Then say a prayer asking God to bless them. I do this to emphasize that each person is created in the image and likeness of God, even that brother who bugs you or that sister who gets on your nerves. Each of us is a tabernacle, and carry something of God in us.

The great Christian author, C.S. Lewis, once said that next to the Blessed Sacrament, the greatest revelation of God is the person sitting next to you in the pew.

These past few years, I have had four seminarians do internships with me. One gave a homily I thought was very well done. He spoke of how important it is to encounter the Real Presence of Christ in the tabernacle. But sometime we so focus on that, that we miss the Real Presence of Christ in the gathering space, especially in the least of our brothers and sisters.

This week we end our Advent season, and our waiting for the Coming of Christ. As we wait, I hope we also encounter him in each other. Because in some way, each of us is a tabernacle.