Eucharistic Adoration

Loving and Worshiping Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament

Eucharistic Adoration is loving and faith-filled worship of the Lord outside of the Mass. Christian faith from the very beginning of the Church's history has been that the Lord Jesus is not only spiritually present but substantially present (that is, the whole Christ: Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity) in the consecrated Host (the Blessed Sacrament or Eucharist). It is like the difference between reading a friend's letter (so that your friend is spiritually present) and having that friend actually in front of you (so that your friend is substantially present); that fullest presence is what is meant by Christ's "Real Presence," the living, resurrected, glorified Christ is completely and substantially present, but hidden in the sacramental "species" of what looks like Bread and tastes like Wine.

In Eucharistic Adoration, the consecrated Host (the Lord Himself) is shown in a special "frame" called a "monstrance" (from a Latin word meaning "to show"), so that we can look upon the Blessed Sacrament and ponder the profound humility of a God who becomes Man and makes Himself fully present in what only appears to be mere Bread. Eucharistic Adoration nurtures our relationship with Christ because He as God chooses to make His influence upon a soul dependent on the depth of that person's faith, just as in the Gospels His miraculous healings depended on people's belief in Him. Eucharistic Adoration is also the most effective prayer outside of the Holy Mass because it is linked intrinsically to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which in fact makes present the whole Christ in the consecrated Host, and after the Holy Mass, He remains alive and full of love for you to visit Him either "exposed" for Adoration in the monstrance or reposed in our tabernacle and in every Catholic church around the world.

St. Alphonsus Liguori said, "Certainly amongst all devotions, after that of receiving the Sacraments, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament holds the first place, is the most pleasing to God, and the most useful to ourselves.

Do not then, O devout soul, refuse to begin this devotion; and forsaking the conversation of men, dwell each day, from this time forward, for at least half or quarter of an hour, in some church, in the presence of Jesus Christ under the sacramental species. Taste and see how sweet is the Lord."

The Church's Teaching

(based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1377-1381):

The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ [like seeing the same reflection in several shards of a mirror].

Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord, and in other ways. "The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the worship of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it..."

The tabernacle was first intended for the reservation of the Eucharist in a worthy place so that it could be brought to the sick and those absent outside of Mass. As faith in the real presence of Christ in his Eucharist deepened, the Church became conscious of the meaning of silent adoration of the Lord present under the Eucharistic species.

It is highly fitting that Christ should have wanted to remain present to His Church in this unique way. Since Christ was about to take his departure from His own in His visible form, He wanted to give us His sacramental presence; since He was about to offer Himself on the cross to save us, He wanted us to have the memorial of the love with which He loved us "to the end," even to the giving of His life. In his Eucharistic presence He remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave Himself up for us, and He remains under signs that express and communicate this love:

The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship. Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of love. Let us not refuse the time to go to meet Him in adoration, in contemplation full of faith, and open to making amends for the serious offenses and crimes of the world. Let our adoration never cease.

"That in this sacrament are the true Body of Christ and His true Blood is something that 'cannot be apprehended by the senses,' says St. Thomas, 'but only by faith, which relies on divine authority.' For this reason, in a commentary on Luke 22:19 ('This is My Body which is given for you.'), St. Cyril says: 'Do not doubt whether this is true, but rather receive the words of the Savior in faith, for since He is the Truth, He cannot lie.'"

Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore

Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,

See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart

Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.

Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived;

How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;

What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;

Truth Himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.

OTHER QUOTES ON EUCHARISTIC ADORATION:

"The Blessed Virgin is our model of what our adoration of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament should be." (Servant of God, Fr. John Hardon, SJ)

"Christians will gladly and seriously think of all other mysteries and be devoted to some saint; but they will do nothing for our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament." (St. Peter Julian Eymard)

"Communion only reaches its true depths when it is supported and surrounded by Adoration.” (Pope Benedict XVI)

Click on the following links for more on Eucharistic Adoration:

‘Fully alive’ NCYC youth challenged to celebrate mysteries of faith, science and self

30 Nov, 2023

by OSV News (OSV News) — Grace Stecker of the Diocese of Helena, Mont., pulled out her cell phone and called her dad, right in the middle of a talk during the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC). In fact, teens all around her were talking on their phones, even as the speaker stood on the stage. But they had his permission. “I want you right now, in one minute, to just make a call to somebody in your life whom you love, who’s pretty special, whom you appreciate,” Scripture scholar and astrophysicist Father John Kartje asked of the more than 12,000 NCYC participants. The request came as part of his talk on the oneness of God and the universe — faith and science — that served as the topic of the opening session of NCYC in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Nov. 16. He began the talk echoing words spoken by Archbishop Charles C. Thompson just moments before. “The line that really struck me amongst everything he said is this,” Father Kartje noted: “You’re not a problem to be solved, but you are a mystery to be encountered.”

New book explores how Our Lady of Guadalupe sparked millions of conversions

30 Nov, 2023

by Katie Yoder Joseph Julián and Monique González still remember the moment they decided to write a book shedding new light on Our Lady of Guadalupe: May 10, 2016, the month of Mary and the date of Mexico’s Mother’s Day. “After years of initial research, we were sitting in a coffee shop and looked at each other and made a formal commitment to see the book’s writing through to the end, no matter what that meant,” the husband-and-wife team told Our Sunday Visitor. Today, that book presents a new interpretation of Our Lady of Guadalupe by delving into the past ahead of her feast day on Dec. 12. “ Guadalupe and the Flower World Prophecy: How God Prepared the Americas for Conversion Before the Lady Appeared ,” published on Nov. 21, explores how Our Lady’s encounters with Juan Diego at Tepeyac Hill in Mexico in 1531 marked the culmination of thousands of years of evangelical preparation of the people of Mesoamerica.

Advent trust

29 Nov, 2023

“Trusting in God’s Grace” by Cathy Donovan in Family Faith on the Go The hardest prayer I have ever uttered was, “God, you know best; your will be done.” I immediately felt a sense of fear at having given over my control of the situation and asking God to take over. And then I felt a sense of acceptance knowing that God’s response would be better than anything I could manage. We have been surrounded with challenges lately: a tough economy, natural disasters of biblical proportions, political unrest and violence in many countries. Watching the news can be downright depressing! Maybe you feel a bit like Job right now, facing personal life challenges that rattle your soul and shake your faith. During Advent we are in the a liturgical season of hope. It is hope in our God, who loves us so much he sent his Son to join us in our humanity, in our challenges and triumphs, in our joys and in our sorrow. This is the season of “Emmanuel” — God with us. God does not promise to fish us out of our struggles. Rather, God promises to be with us in them. God stands ready, with arms open wide, to embrace us when we need it most. We need only trust and fall into God’s embrace. This content comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Intertwined priorities

29 Nov, 2023

Faith Focus for the Week What are my priorities? Do they reflect Jesus’ intertwined commandments of loving God and loving neighbor as self? What would our lives look like if we really took to heart the two intertwined commandments that Jesus succinctly places before us, to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves? (See Matthew 22:34-40) Would we reorder our time so that Sunday Mass, daily prayer and regular participation in the Sacrament of Penance are always on our calendar? Would we carve out time for serving others? Might we recognize our talents as gifts from God and discern the ways we might give the gifts back, with increase, at home, in our parish, in the workplace and in the world? Would we consider that the ways we spend time, money and attention are signs of our priorities? It is likely that most of us considering the list above would say “yes” to each question. As we hear and reflect on the Gospels, let us take Jesus’ challenge to heart and act accordingly: love God, love neighbor. This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.