Why I think the Church should sell its stuff

A few years ago, the New Orleans Museum of Art held a John Paul II exhibit displaying memorabilia from his visit to New Orleans. This was the summer I became a catholic missionary and although I had come to believe that the Church’s teachings really are the fullness of truth, I had my criticisms. As my friends and I walked through the exhibit, there were pictures of JPII in New Orleans, vestments from the visit, local New Orleans art and all kinds of other cool Louisiana catholic things.

I eventually walked into a room that displayed an obnoxiously extravagant monstrance (for those who don’t know what a monstrance it, it is a structure that displays the Eucharist during adoration, see picture). This thing was all precious metal and covered entirely in jewels.

“Seriously?” I thought. “Isn’t that a bit over the top, aren’t there better uses for that money?” 

My mind however was moving faster than my headphone tour guide and I was slightly ashamed as I listened to the story behind the monstrance. This particular monstrance was built for the 1935 Archdiocese of New Orleans Eucharistic congress. Now for those of you who don’t know what a Eucharistic Congress is, I don’t really either, but I know it involves holy people and adoration. Prior to the congress coming to town, the archdiocese sent out a request to the laymen and women of the diocese to help construct a holding place for the Eucharist. At this request, the Cajuns in the land sent in gold, precious stones, family jewelry, even wedding rings to be melted down to become a resting place for our Lord present in the Eucharist. The monstrance cost nothing; it was a generously donated act of worship by a people who believed that our God deserves the very best.

Feeling a bit shameful, I think I actually teared up as I did this year when I saw the extravagant beauty of every single church into which we walked in Italy. When a people in society worship God, the most beautiful art is created because it all reflects true beauty itself. In modernity, many of us, faithful or not, are asking the question of why the “church” isn’t selling much of this extravagance for a more useful purpose but much of this extravagance was never meant to be useful, it was meant to be worship. We are mistaken in our logic.

The “church” is not “those holy hierarchical people who run the business of church stuff”. I am the church. We are the church. A building cannot worship and Jesus did not die for only priests and religious. He died for the entire world of humans. He desires to make every single one of us holy. He seeks worship from all of us. This was once understood. The purpose of the riches displayed in churches were meant to create a beautiful dwelling for the living God, a genuine sacrifice from humanity.

We adorn what we worship.

But what about today? Where is the adornment? Where is the worship? Where do we put our money? Gyms. Malls. Hotels. Spas. Home renovations. That would be in order, us, us, us, us, and us. The idol that we adorn the most is the idol of self. Generosity, while in existence is merely a faction of what it could be as we hold onto our money, our time, our talent for comfort, afraid of what we would do if we put most of our resources to work for the kingdom of God. But, if we no longer worship God as a society, if we no longer believe in Him, then it does not actually make sense to make a beautiful home for Him. If we worship ourselves, however, then it does make sense that we should lavish our resources upon ourselves, and we do.  

My friends, we are living in such an important time. It is no longer the responsibility of the religious to be holy while we get by on mass attendance. Worship of the living God is not meant for a Sunday service or a brief “nature experience.” True worship occurs when one gives of his ENTIRE self. It occurs when we finally recognize that we were not meant for self-preservation and were not made for comfort. If we were, then we would be the happiest society in the history of the world but we are not. Depression, anxiety and suicide are way higher here than in much poorer countries because in the midst of our mass self-worship, we neglect to make ourselves a gift to the world around us.

We are the church. We should be the emptying myself for the sake of a hurting world in every fashion and for the worship of a real living God. Our time, our money and our gifts were given to us by our creator to be used for His purpose. Our lives should be as extravagant towards God as the beautiful cathedrals meant to give Him everything even if it means letting go of more money than we would like, more time than we think proper and more of ourselves than we would like to give. Yes, the church should sell its stuff and we should leave the buildings alone, they are acts of worship from a wiser generation and we should wake up and follow in their legacy.