Pius XII on the Missing Red Lamp of the Real Presence

I don’t know about you, but since I’ve become Catholic, I have been alarmed by the “dislocation” of the Holy Eucharist within Catholic churches. Sometimes I go into a church and I can’t find the tabernacle. It’s scandalous and heartbreaking. Why must He be hidden? “Where have they taken Him?”

I recently came across this quote from Eugene Cardinal Pacelli in 1931, the future Pope Pius XII. It’s profoundly prophetic and worth quoting and full:

“I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a Divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul…I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the true Faith of the Church, reject Her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past.”

“A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, ‘Where have they taken Him?’”

Wow. Very powerful words. “A day will come when…Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them.”

If we claim to have Jesus at the center of hearts, isn’t it time we made sure that He is at the center of our churches? Return the tabernacles to the high altars!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!