"For years I was stingy with my money. But every Easter Monday I meditated on Mary of Bethany spending 300 days' salary to anoint the feet of Christ. I didn't mind donating money to the poor, to the Church and to evangelization, but it seemed wasteful to me to spend it on liturgical objects. However, Jesus said in this passage: "She has done a good deed for me. For you have the poor with you always, and you can help them whenever you wish, but you do not always have me." (Mk 14:6-7).
So begins Father Justin Huang's story of why he decided to spend a year's salary on a tabernacle for his parish, St. Anthony of Padua of Vancouver (Canada), the starting point for the Eucharistic adoration chapel that has just been completed. Both were made by Talleres de Arte GRANDA.
This Gospel passage gave him pause for thought. "The Eucharist means everything to me, because Jesus is present in a true, real and substantial way. It is the Source and Culmination of my life and of the Christian life, and it has changed my life."
So, in his words, he began looking for a tabernacle that reflected this way of feeling. "In choosing it on [Granda's] website, I said to then-Deacon Lucius Choi, 'Look at these tabernacles. Don't look at the price. Just tell me which tabernacle says the Eucharist is everything'.. He chose the one you see in this picture, with its cost of 46.000$." And although he adds, with a great sense of humor, that Father Lucius has liked him somewhat worse since then, the truth is that he did not hesitate to acquire it, paying for it out of his own salary.
He offered this to his parish, St. Anthony of Padua (Vancouver) on the anniversary of his ordination in 2016, announcing the intention to renovate his chapel and inviting his parishioners to weekly adoration. Father Huang's goal is for his community to have a Eucharistic heart. "A Eucharistic heart is one that recognizes Jesus in the sacred form, that is drawn to Him in His joys and sorrows and wants to spend time with Him. The tangible expression of this and the challenge for our parish is that each person spends fifteen minutes a week with the Eucharist."
GRANDA Art Workshops has also been in charge of the design and execution of the chapel dedicated to Eucharistic adoration. Of it, Father Huang says that "it is designed for us to experience God's house: beautiful, sacred and comfortable." And he shares his hopes for the work it will enable: "I envision people coming in and out constantly, twenty-four hours a day. People will come to find sustenance, strength, peace and joy - then Jesus will send them out to love like Him!"
Father Huang's initiative is based on the firm conviction that "adoration can change the world. And, although it is very often relegated by the vicissitudes of everyday life, and can even fall into the error of considering it in some way incidental, it is, on the contrary, a priority in the Christian life. "When you get things right with God, everything else falls into place."
Father Huang ends his writing with a beautiful exhortation, "Imagine if every parish in our archdiocese had a beautiful chapel where everyone, even non-Catholics, could encounter Jesus. How can you spend more time with Jesus? Will you help spread Eucharistic adoration?"
This writing by Father Huang can be read as follows complete in English on the web site of The B. C. Catholic.
