Something I never understood as a Catholic is why God is kept locked up

At the local level, Jesus is locked in the tabernacle and the parish pastor has the key. At the global level, God is locked in Heaven and the Pope has the keys to the kingdom.

So I wonder, is God locked up to keep Him from getting at us, or to keep us from getting at Him?

When I attended a Catholic college, I saw a priest transporting God from the campus chapel to a large auditorium for an all-student Mass. God, manifest in a wafer of unleavened bread, was in a small glass case in the middle of a monstrance, an elaborate gold vessel worthy of transporting the Almighty. To believers like myself, this is the real presence of Jesus and of the Lord God of the Universe.

It was the middle of winter when the snow is just right for making perfect snowballs. You know the kind where you can pack them tight and they become almost like ice.

This would not be an act of disrespect, but rather done with full, soulful respect for God. I wanted to smash that little window and say, “Go, Holy Spirit, go see the world you have created and sustained. Go, fly free, my little dove. Men of little brain cannot lock you up in glass and gold. Bring your peace into the world. Bring peace to Watts and to Vietnam.

By now the snowball was good and ready I took aim, dead center of the big target. Ready to fly. Only then did I noticed the altar boys with the priest were all football players. It is one thing to be a martyr for the Faith. Another thing to be a martyr to the Faith. I would bide my time.

© 2019, Thomas Mahon