Chalices/Why thank God

Q Several weeks ago you described what tabernacles are made of. What about chalices?

A Sacred vessels that hold the body and blood of Christ should normally be made of precious metals.  This is true, not only for the chalice that holds the blood of Christ but also for the ciborium that holds the consecrated hosts, the body of Christ, as well as other vessels.  This is because the consecrated bread and wine are truly the body and blood of Christ and just like any earthly king who sits on a beautiful throne, Jesus, our heavenly king, should also rest in a beautiful vessel.  The General Instruction of the Roman Missal states:
327. Among the requisites for the celebration of Mass, the sacred vessels are held in special honor, and among these especially the chalice and paten (a small plate used for holding the bread during the Eucharist and sometimes as a cover for the chalice) in which the bread and wine are offered and consecrated and from which they are consumed.
328. Sacred vessels should be made from precious metal. If they are made from metal that rusts or from a metal less precious than gold, they should generally be gilded on the inside.
329. In the dioceses of the United States of America, sacred vessels may also be made from other solid materials which in the common estimation in each region are considered precious or noble; for example, ebony or other harder woods, provided that such materials are suitable for sacred use. In this case, preference is always to be given to materials that do not easily break or deteriorate. This applies to all vessels that are intended to hold the hosts, such as the paten, the ciborium, the pyx, the monstrance and others of this kind.
330. As regards chalices and other vessels that are intended to serve as receptacles for the blood of the Lord, they are to have a bowl of material that does not absorb liquids. The base, on the other hand, may be made of other solid and worthy materials.
331. For the consecration of hosts, a large paten may fittingly be used, on which is placed the bread both for the priest and the deacon and also for the other ministers and for the faithful.
332. As regards the form of the sacred vessels, it is for the artist to fashion them in a manner that is more particularly in keeping with the customs of each region, provided the individual vessels are suitable for their intended liturgical use and are clearly distinguishable from vessels intended for everyday use.

Q Thanksgiving has come and gone, but we still have many problems.  The threat of the coronavirus is still out there.  Our world seems like a mess.  There is no peace among our politicians.  The world appears to be full of hate.  So, I was wondering: What do I really have to thank God for?  
A First of all, thank God for yourself.  He created you because he loved you.  He did not have to create you, but he did it to share his love with you.  And remember, all that God created was (and is) “good” (Gn 1:31).
Thank God for his love and mercy.  Without his love and mercy, we would be doomed because we are all sinners.  But Jesus instituted the sacrament of reconciliation to unburden us from our sins, regardless of how often we turn our back to him.  What a wonderful gift this sacrament is.  
Thank God for the memories.  J. M. Barrie, novelist and playwright, once said “God gave us memories that we might have roses in December.”
Thank God for the sufferings you have and will have.  You might say “what?”  Why should I be thankful for my sufferings?  Because you can “offer them up,” uniting your sufferings with Christ’s sufferings, making your sufferings a prayer to help you or someone close to you.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church helps us understand what “offering it up” means when it says, “The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the ‘one mediator between God and men’ (1 Tim 2:5). But because in his incarnate divine person he has in some way united himself to every man, ‘the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery’ is offered to all men” (CCC 618). 
Christ’s suffering was redemptive suffering.  St. John Paul II showed us how our suffering is part of Christ’s suffering: “In bringing about the redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised human suffering to the level of the redemption. Thus each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ” (Salvifici Doloris, 19).
So, all of us have something to be thankful for.  Pray that you will recognize the gifts God has given you.

Deacon Hooper is a deacon assistant at Immaculate Conception Church in Denham Springs. He can be reached at ghooper@diobr.org.