From a fifth grader: "Is the Mass still Valid?"

I brought the fifth graders into the sacristy today to talk about the different vestments the priest wears during mass and the colors of the different liturgical seasons and feasts.

One of the young girls asked, "if a priest doesn't wear his chasuble, is the Mass still valid".  A good question.  I recalled how Fr. Maximillian Kolbe would celebrate Mass in the concentration camp.  He probably did not have the proper vestments.  I then told them of Cardinal Văn Thuận from Vietnam: how while in prison, since he had no altar, he would take a crumb of bread, and three drops of wine, in the palm of his hand and celebrate Mass.  Pope John Paul II said, "this was his altar.  This was his cathedral."

"Why would he celebrate Mass without anyone else there?" one boy asked.  When a priest celebrates Mass, he is never alone.  All of the angels, all of the saints and souls in purgatory, and in a mystical way, the entire church is gathered at the sacrifice of Christ.  The priest offers it for himself and for the whole world with the whole Church--the whole Christ.

Now, this doesn't mean I am going to celebrate Mass in shorts and a t-shirt on a picnic table.  We must give God the best we have.  For the Cardinal, it was three drops of wine in a prison cell.  For us, so blessed with religious freedom, we wear the finest vestments and use the finest vessels we can afford.

(This is why I cherish my time with our wonderful students).