Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
"My child, do you fear the God of mercy? My holiness does not prevent Me from being merciful. Behold, for you I have established a throne of mercy on earth, The Tabernacle, and from this throne, I desire to enter into your heart. I am not surrounded by a retinue or guards. You can come to me at any moment, at any time; I want to speak to you and desire to grant you grace." [Entry #1485, Kowalska, S. F. (2005). Divine Mercy in my Soul: Diary of St. Faustina. Marian Press]
Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is present Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
Even when no one is present, Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist waits patiently in the Tabernacle to show his immense mercy and love to all who seek him.
Let that sink in for a minute. Our Lord, Redeemer, and Saviour has an open-door policy; anyone, whether baptised or not, can approach him in the Tabernacle. Most Catholic Churches have a Tabernacle accessible, often in a small chapel, during the daytime for quiet, contemplative prayer. All you have to do is drop in for a personal one-on-one encounter with Christ.
You read that right, there is no right time to visit him, come early to Church, stay behind after Mass, or drop in for an unscheduled visit when doing errands and chores. Remember that Christ remains always in us, we too need to carve out time in our busy schedules to remain with Christ.
Our Lord Jesus knows what's in your heart but the very fact you are carving out a part of your day means you go with humility, seeking comfort and grace. And Jesus is waiting for such a personal encounter.
Pope Francis said, "The Eucharist is the beating heart of the Church. It gives her birth and rebirth; it gathers her together and gives her strength. In the consecrated host, Jesus prepares for us a meal, food for our nourishment. The Eucharist is simple food, like bread, yet it is the only food that satisfies, for there is no greater love. There we encounter Jesus really; we share his life and we feel his love. There you can realize that his death and resurrection are for you. And when you worship Jesus in the Eucharist, you receive from him the Holy Spirit and you find peace and joy."
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist in the Monstrance
A monstrance is a liturgical holy vessel used in the Catholic Church to display the consecrated Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, usually placed in a transparent centre made of glass.
Typically made of metal, a monstrance often features intricate designs that include angels and rays of sunburst - allowing worshippers to focus on the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist by enhancing reverence and devotion.
Usually, a priest will place the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist in the Monstrance and keep it on the altar with appropriate prayers and often with a censer or thurible to distribute the fragrant smoke of incense throughout the chapel, symbolizing the prayers of the faithful rising to God.
Quite often, a kneeler is placed in front of the Monstrance so that the faithful can have a more intimate encounter with Christ.
What is the appropriate way to adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament?
To adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist means to worship, hallow, honour, respect, revere, venerate and pray to the living Lord Jesus reserved in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.
Jesus told this to St Faustina Kowalska, "Act like a beggar who does not back away when he gets more alms [than he asked for] but offers thanks the more fervently. You too should not back away and say that you are not worthy of receiving greater graces when I give them to you. I know you are unworthy, but rejoice all the more and take as many treasures from My Heart as you can carry, for then you will please Me more. And I will tell you one more thing: Take these graces not only for yourself but also for others; that is, encourage the souls with whom you come in contact to trust in My infinite mercy. Oh, how I love those souls who have complete confidence in Me. I will do everything for them." [Entry #294, Kowalska, S. F. (2005). Divine Mercy in my Soul: Diary of St. Faustina. Marian Press]
There are four levels of prayer - use the one that comes naturally to you, and with time you will get comfortable praying at level 4
Level 1 = Talk to God: present your intentions to God by reciting prayers - the Rosary, the Lord's Prayer, The Apostle's Creed, or The Chaplet of Divine Mercies etc.
Level 2 = Talk with God: Have a dialogue with God, and bring your troubles and petitions to him. Remember he knows what is on your mind, even before you ask him but you are focusing all your faculties on seeking his blessings. Remain silent in contemplative meditation and let the Holy Spirit guide you.
Level 3 = Listen to God: Here you behave like Samuel, when God called him, Eli told Samuel to say, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." [1 Samuel 3:9-10]. Jesus never shames you, a feeling of guilt comes from the evil spirit. Jesus is ever ready to forgive a repentant sinner.
Level 4 = Being with God. Here, there is no need for words, no speaking, no thinking, no images - just focus on being present in the moment and even if you get distracted don't feel disheartened, pray to Mother Mary or Archangel Michael etc, re-focus and keep going. Think of a mother holding the hand of her very sick child to show her consolation and love - no need for words. Think of a couple happily married for decades, just sitting in silence, safe in their mutual love and admiration, with no need for extra words or gestures.
Pope Benedict XVI, in Sacramentum Caritatis, says in #66 and #67, "The act of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place during the liturgical celebration itself. Indeed, ‘only in adoration can a profound and genuine reception [of the Eucharist] mature. And it is precisely this personal encounter with the Lord that then strengthens the social mission contained in the Eucharist [carrying out works of mercy, peace and justice based on the Church's teaching on the dignity of every human being], which seeks to break down not only the walls that separate the Lord and ourselves but also and especially the walls that separate us from one another. I heartily recommend to the Church's pastors and to the People of God the practice of eucharistic adoration, both individually and in the community. (194) Great benefit would ensue from a suitable catechesis explaining the importance of this act of worship, which enables the faithful to experience the liturgical celebration more fully and more fruitfully."
Our consciousness of the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is manifested by external signs of our devout faith; a reverent silence in Church at all times, genuflections on entering and leaving the Church, bowing when the priest consecrates the bread and wine or raises the body and blood of Christ, and before receiving the consecrated bread and wine, and also a time of thanksgiving after Communion - and at all times in front of the Blessed Sacrament itself.
Why did the Saints love Adoration?
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is an ecstasy of love and it is the most powerful salvific practice in the apostolate of saving souls.
Christ is ever ready to share his Divine Mercies with us, but here on Earth, he lies patiently waiting in the Tabernacle, waiting for us to surrender ourselves totally and completely to his presence in the Most Holy Eucharist.
Many saints firmly believed that Eucharistic Adoration was the closest likeness to the Eternal Adoration in Paradise. These chosen ones, whose love was true, kept no count of the hours of fond adoration they spent day and night before Jesus in the Tabernacle.
Pope Pius XII said, "The Blessed Eucharist is for its adorers an inexhaustible source of light and strength. Those who gather together in adoration with the angels draw abundantly for themselves and for all the Church, waters from the fountains of the Savior."
Many saints have been ardent adorers of the Holy Eucharist, from the great Doctors of the Church (St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure), to Popes (St. Pius V and St. Pius X), down to humble souls (St. Padre Pio, St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, St. Dominic Savio, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Francis De Sales, St. Rita, St. Bernadette Soubirous, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Thérèse of Lisieux et al), all had one thing in common - they were all ardent adorers of the Eucharist.
Ah! The delicate, sensitive love of the saints! St. Teresa of Avila OCD (c. 1515-1582), taught that "in the presence of Jesus in the Holy Sacrament we ought to be like the Blessed in Heaven before the Divine Essence."
How some Saints venerated the Holy Eucharistic
So exactly why was Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist such a great passion for the saints? Their adoration lasted hours and hours, sometimes whole days or nights. There "at Jesus' feet" like Mary of Bethany (Luke 10:39), in loving union with Him, absorbed in contemplating Him, they surrendered their hearts in a pure and fragrant offering of adoring love.
Consider how St. Francis of Assisi (c. 1226-1230), founder of the religious order of the Franciscans, spent so much time, often entire nights, before the altar, and remained there so devoutly and humbly that anyone watching him was deeply moved by his devotion.
Consider how St. Benedict Joseph Labre (c. 1748–1783), called the "Poor Man of the Forty Hours of Adoration" spent days in churches where the Blessed Sacrament was solemnly exposed. For years and years, this Saint was seen in Rome making pilgrimages from church to church where the Forty Hours was being held and remaining there before Jesus, always on his knees absorbed in adoring prayer, motionless for eight hours, even when his friends, the insects, were crawling on him and stinging him all over.
Once when it was proposed to do a portrait of St. Aloysius Gonzaga (c. 1568-1591), a discussion ensued about the posture in which to paint him. Eventually, the Saint was portrayed in adoration before the altar, because Eucharistic adoration was the most distinctive characteristic of his sanctity.
That favoured soul of the Sacred Heart, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (c. 1647-1690), one Holy Thursday, spent fourteen hours without interruption prostrate in adoration.
St. Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini MSC (c. 1850-1917), on a feast of the Sacred Heart, remained in adoration twelve continuous hours, absorbed and, as it were, so magnetized to Our Lord in the Eucharist that when a Sister asked her if she had liked the arrangement of flowers and drapings adorning the altar, she answered, "I did not notice them. I only saw one Flower, Jesus, and no other."
After visiting the cathedral in Milan, St. Francis de Sales (c. 1567-1622), heard someone ask him, "Your Excellency, did you see what a wealth of marble there is, and how majestic the lines are?" He answered, "What do you want me to tell you? Jesus' presence in the tabernacle has my spirit so absorbed, that all the artistic beauty escapes my notice." What a lesson this reply is for us who thoughtlessly go to visit famous churches as though they were museums!
Conclusion
Eucharistic adoration is truly that "best part" of which Jesus spoke when chiding Martha for busying herself with "many things" that were secondary, overlooking the "one thing necessary" chosen by Mary: humble and affectionate adoration [Luke 10:41-42].
"Jesus alone is All; anything else is nothing," said St. Thérèse of Lisieux OCD (c. 1873-1897).St. Pope John Paul II (r. 1978-2005) in his Dominicae Cenae: Letter to Priests, on Holy Thursday, 1980, said, “The Church and the world have great need of Eucharistic adoration. Jesus waits for us in this sacrament of love. Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him in adoration and contemplation full of faith. And let us be ready to make reparation for the great faults and crimes of the world. May our adoration never cease."
'Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me."' [John 6:30-38]
We should be mindful that one who adores, makes himself one with Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, endures oneself to Jesus who intercedes with the Father for the salvation of the brethren. This is the highest charity toward all men: to obtain for them the Kingdom of Heaven. Only in Paradise will we see how many souls have been delivered from the gates of Hell by Eucharistic Adoration done in reparation by holy persons known and unknown.
We must not forget that at Fatima, the Angel of Peace personally taught the three shepherd children this beautiful Eucharistic Prayer of Reparation in 1916 before Our Lady visited them, which we also ought to learn: "O most holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He is offended. And through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners."
References
- Kowalska, F. (2005). Divine Mercy in My Soul: Diary of St. Faustina (M. E. B. McGowan, Trans.). Marian Press
- Storey, W. G. (1971). A Prayer Book for Eucharistic Adoration. Loyola Press. https://store.loyolapress.com/prayer-book-for-eucharistic-adoration
- Manelli, S., FI, STD. (n.d.). Eucharistic adoration exemplified by the Saints- Fr. Manelli, FI, STD. Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from https://www.piercedhearts.org/eucharistic_heart/eucharist_heart_saints.htm
- Benedict, XVI & The Vatican. (2007, February 21). Sacramentum Caritatis: Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist as the source and summit of the Church’s life and mission. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20070222_sacramentum-caritatis.html
- Holy Mass on the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. (2018, June 3). The Vatican. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2018/documents/papa-francesco_20180603_omelia-corpusdomini-ostia.html
- Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration Association. (n.d.). Pope John Paul II - Defender and Apostle of Eucharistic Adoration. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from https://www.therealpresence.org/johnpaul.htm
- St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church. (n.d.). The 5 Prayers of Fatima. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from https://sumtercatholic.org/fatima
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