EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

Come, taste the sweetness of being in

He makes Himself a prisoner of

as He awaits our presence before Him.

Come and sit before our Lord,

He is always there in the Tabernacle.

What is it like to spend time in adoration

of Jesus in the Eucharist?

Here is my personal explanation for this Heavenly experience:

When you see the Pope on TV, that is really the Pope. When you read the writings of John Paul II, that is really him. When you see a picture of the Holy Father, that is really the Pope. But, what if you have the experience of sitting right next to the Holy Father in his private apartment. Just quietly holding his hand and quietly knowing that he is there just with you and just because he wants to be close to you, his beloved child. Wouldn't this be a unique and different encounter?

If your most precious friend, or beloved spouse, or parent whom you miss and long for from afar, calls you on the telephone or sends you a letter, isn't that quite different from seeing him in person or sitting right next to your beloved, whispering sweet nothings that only the both of you can hear and understand?

Well, that is what it is like to spend time before Jesus in His Real Presence in the Eucharist.

When you read scripture, you DO encounter the real Jesus. Where two or three are gathered in His Name, you DO encounter Jesus in your midst. When you pray in the quiet of your home, you DO encounter Jesus, God the Son.

when you spend time gazing, listening, feeling, loving and just being with Him, the real Person, in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, True God and True Man, there is nothing on earth that can match this intimate love encounter. Love for God becomes real and tangible. Your understanding of the depth of His Love becomes present in the silence of the most secret place in your heart and He allows you to experience His burning desire to love you and to have you love Him.

You need only come to Him and sit before Him. You can ask His Holy Spirit to empty

you so that He may fill you to overflowing. You can ask Him to help you to surrender in trust and to pierce your heart so that He may immerse it in His melting, consoling, healing warmth that can only be experienced personally. You can keep coming so that He can help you to trust yourself more and more to open your heart to the Love that He so desparately desires to share with you.

If you are happy and excited about someone or event, let your enthusiasm bubble over in your praises to Him. If your heart is grief stricken with lonliness or depression, let Him embrace you in His consolation. When you are outraged at someone, something or yourself, let Him diffuse it and fill you with the peace that only He can give. If you are puzzled and confused in matters of importance, let Him instruct and sort things out. When bored and lathargic, let Him pump you up with zeal in your desire to serve. When you are so filled with fear and remorse that your stomach aches with anxiety, let Him calm you and fill you with an unshakeable trust in His Divine Providance over and over again.

AND then the paradox; the more you come and taste His sweetness, the more longing and thirst there will be for His Presence. The more time you spend, and the more often you come, the more desire you will have to come back to Him, to be with Him. Your love for Him will blossom and your heart will also burn; you will truly be in-love with Him.

He is a personal God. If someone of another faith were to ask you, "Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?" You could say, "My dear brother, it doesn't get any more personal."

Won't you come and taste this sweetness?

Suggestions for Structuring a Holy Hour

Thank Jesus. First for His living presence in the Eucharist. For the gift of your faith, the priesthood which makes His Eucharistic presence possible. For His willingness to offer Himself up over and over again for our sins. For the many personal blessings He has bestowed upon you – especially the little things you so often overlook – right down to the gift of your very next breath.

Offer Him your comfort and profound sorrow -- for the great disrespect that is shown Him, for His loneliness in the Blessed Sacrament, for the rejections and blasphemies He suffers every hour of every day. For man’s defiance in the face of His creator. For the lukewarm state of many hearts today. For failure to recognize sin any longer. For the insults against His beloved Mother. For the widespread disobedience against the church and the Holy Father. For sins of the flesh, sins of murder (especially abortion), sins tied to a failure to ‘Love one another’ – as He taught us. Enter into an examination of your own conscience, express your sorrow, and beg for God’s pardon and mercy.

Just be with Him -- in the presence of your Best Friend, your creator, your King, your Savior, your Brother, and your Lord. Speak to Him as you would your closest, most trusted friend. Share with Him your joys, your sorrows, your hopes and your disappointments. Speak to Him from your heart. Offer Him the gift of your heart!

Be still and allow the Lord to speak to your heart. Imagine the Lord as the greater healer of hearts. Open yourself up to Him completely. Imagine your chest opening, and your heart fully revealed before Him. Ask Him – Who is all knowing – to take possession of your heart, to heal you in whatever is keeping you and He apart, and to speak to you in the deepest place in your soul. To shower you with the graces you need to live in perfect union with Him – in accordance with His Divine Will.

Ask for the Lord’s help. Lay before Him all of your petitions. Pray that you will one day be joined with Him in heaven. Pray for the petitions of your family, and especially for the salvation of each friend and family member. Pray for your enemies – for their conversion of heart. Pray for the conversion of the most hardened sinners. Pray for individuals you may know who are away from the sacraments, or the Church. Offer petitions for the sick, the lonely, the discouraged, the young, the unborn, priests, religious, political leaders, your nation, etc… Pray for the petitions of the Blessed Mother – her personal petitions for you and for the world. Pray for the petitions of the Holy Father. Pray for the souls in purgatory. Pray for peace. Pray for God’s will to reign in all hearts – on earth as it is in heaven.

Give Him your love and adoration. Marvel at the wonders of your Jesus. His boundless love and mercy. His complete unselfishness and willingness to suffer for the least of us in His passion and death, so that we could one day be united with Him in heaven for all eternity. His extreme patience and shyness as he waits for us to reach out and accept His offer of love. His humor which is found throughout the scriptures, and in the universe around us. The reality of Christ – the God-Man, 2nd person of the Blessed Trinity – truly present in His divinity as well as His humanity – body and soul. Present in the substance of bread and wine changed into the body and blood of Christ --present there for each of us.

Or pray your favorite structured prayers – ie: rosary, divine mercy, consecration prayers, litanies, etc… And remember, Christ Himself said, "Do not prattle on… in sheer multiplication of words…" (Mt. 6, 8) Above all else, speak every prayer – formal or informal – from the depths of your heart.

If you cannot get out and physically go to the Church in town, then simply