Read: 2 Chron. 9:3-4 Mt. 7: 6

"Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces." (Mt. 7:6)

The way we dress really says a great deal about us to others. It can make or break our personal presentation. Just ask any teenager!

What surprises me (and I speak from experience) is that when I would mention proper dress in Holy Mass, I would get a real strong AND NEGATIVE reaction.

If you and I would go through great effort to dress nicely for a party, a dance, a dinner engagement... then why would we not WANT to take that care for THE ULTIMATE DINNER ENGAGEMENT: the Last Supper? I have seen so many of my own parishioners take care when they go to any social gathering, yet those same folks DRESS DOWN to attend Holy Mass.

Behavior has its roots in respect as well. If I care about where I am at, I am going to take into account what the proper behavior and decorum is in that locale.

I also would not consider walking into Church as though Jesus Christ Himself were not living there and that the sacred building weren't a place of worship and praise.

I am shocked, and at times appalled, at the behavior of some Catholics who do not instruct their children in the easily acquired art of genuflection (we genuflect with our right knee touching the ground -- NOT THE LEFT!). Much less do they acknowledge Jesus Christ's divine Presence in the reserved Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle. And then, the respect due Him in the length, type, cut, looseness... of the clothes we wear inside or outside church.

The most important reason that we go to Holy Mass is to be sinners going to the school of life and holiness, to praise and thank Almighty God and seek His pardon.

Don't give the world more due, respect, favor and effort than you are willing to give your God!