t it entirely dissolve in your
mouth, for if you do not swallow it you will not receive Holy Communion
at all.

Here I might tell you what Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is. The
priest sometimes consecrates at the Mass two large hosts, one he
consumes himself, as I have told you, and the other he places in the
tabernacle in a little gold case. When it is time for Benediction, he
places this little case--made of glass and gold, about the size of a
watch--in the gold or silver monstrance which you see on the altar at
Benediction. It is made to represent rays of light coming from the
Blessed Sacrament. After the choir sings, the priest says the prayer and
goes up and blesses the people with the Blessed Sacrament; that is, when
he holds up the monstrance over the people Our Lord Himself blesses
them. Should we not be very anxious, therefore, to go to Benediction? If
the bishop came to the church, we would all be anxious to receive his
blessing; and if our Holy Father the Pope came, everybody would rush to
the church. But what are they compared to Our Lord Himself? And yet when
He comes to give His blessing, many seem to care little about it.
Because Our Lord in His goodness is pleased to give us His blessing
often, we are indifferent about it. The holy teachers and fathers of the
Church tell us that if we could see the sanctuary at Mass and
Benediction as it really is, we would see it filled with angels all
bowed down, adoring Our Lord. These good angels must be very much
displeased at those who are so indifferent at Mass or Benediction as not
to pay any attention; and above all, at those who stay away. The large
silk cloak the priest wears at Benediction is called the cope, and the
long scarf that is placed over his shoulders the humeral, or Benediction
veil. At the words of consecration, you must know, the priest does not
say "This is Christ's body," but "This is My body"; for at the altar the
priest is there in the place of Our Lord Himself. It is Our Lord who
offers up the sacrifice, and the priest is His instrument. That is why
the priest wears vestments while saying Mass or performing his sacred
duties, to remind him that he is, as it were, another person; that he is
not acting in his own name or right, but in the name and place of our
Blessed Lord.

I have given you in a general way a description of the Mass: let me now
mention its particular parts by their proper names, and tell you what
they are. At the foo