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Father Feinstein's face was a strange crease across his left cheek. It was a lazy smile, the one of the

bully waiting for his sister to find the snake in her bed.

               "Good morning," Father Feinstein said.

               "Good morning, Father," the congregation responded in unison.

               "Today, we welcome Father Kevin and his parishioners to a very special Mass of Renewal."

Father Kevin stood at Father Feinstein's side, and gave a small, austere nod of acknowledgment.

               "We've come together today to solve the problem of sustaining our faith in a materialistic

world. How do we find a medium between a world dominated by money and material pleasures, and a

world in which material objects have no value? In God's world, the realm of the spirit, people are not

judged by their bank accounts. And God doesn't accept Visa or MasterCard.

               "No, to get into heaven, you'll have to pay with another kind of currency. The currency of the

conscience. After you die, God will read your soul like a magnetic strip on an ATM card. The most

ironic thing of all will be the rich man who owns a big-screen TV and sports car on earth, then stands

at the gates of heaven, reaches into the pockets of his soul, and finds nothing but lint. What will he say

then? That he didn't know? That he thoughthe was doing the right thing? That he thoughtit was

right to push aside the weak and the poor, and bow down to the hundred dollar bill instead of the

Lord?

               "I think to that question, we know the answer. But what about us? What about the trip to the

convenience store when we come back with a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, and one lottery ticket?

What about the summer day at the beach, on a day which is usuallyobserved as the Lord's day? The

Lord's day, that is, when we have the time.

               "My friends, the question at hand is whether the lottery ticket and a Sunday at the beach are so

bad that we must deny ourselves of them completely. Is it possible to partake of these material

pleasures and still have time for God? How do we reconcile these interests? How do we find the right

compromise? Ladies and gentlemen, that is why we are here today."