Sanctuary Lamp


Question from Christine on 1/21/2008:  
At our church we have a Lady Chapel on the left of the main altar, and a St. Joseph Chapel on the right. The Blessed Sacrament is kept at another altar to the left of the Lady Chapel. It is beautiful with a large statue of Jesus above the gold tabernacle, and there are two elaborate gold candle vessels with red glass which are always burning, to show Christ's presence.

In addition, there is a red glass/gold candle burning in front of the tabernacle at the st. Joseph chapel, at the tabernacle, there. The Blessed Sacrament is NOT reserved there, ever.

When cleaning one day, I told a lady also working that we should remove this red candle as it indicates to someone that the Blessed Sacrament is reserved there, and they may mistakenly kneel and pray there, thinking He is there. She told me that it was going to stay because it doesn't matter because God is everywhere. I just stood there with my jaw dropped. What can I do about this, or as she thinks, does it not matter? It matters to me. Perhaps, I'm knitpicking... Thank you.
Answer by David Gregson on 2/15/2008: 
Your obvious recourse is to speak to your pastor. The sanctuary lamp is a symbol of the Lord's Presence, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, in the Blessed Sacrament. In His Divinity, God is present everywhere. Every Catholic knows that. But He is not present everywhere in His humanity, which is our bridge to His Divinity. So where He is in His humanity is not a peripheral matter.

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