If we could see just a fraction of the graces available before the Blessed Sacrament, we would flock to the nearest chapel each and every day. When I visited churches to deliver a speech, I could often sense when that church had Adoration. I could sense it because there was a feeling of peace and unusually high Mass attendance.
The Blessed Sacrament draws people. It imbues the church with an aura of holiness. It also draws vocations. A young man wants to feel the Holy Spirit –and if he doesn’t, he is not going to aim for a life that is priestly. Period. It is time to bring back the Holy Spirit.
READ MOREExcerpt from Michael Brown’s book “Secrets of the Eucharist”
If we could see just a fraction of the graces available before the Blessed Sacrament, we would flock to the nearest chapel each and every day. When I visited churches to deliver a speech, I could often sense when that church had Adoration. I could sense it because there was a feeling of peace and unusually high Mass attendance.
READ MOREWe are never alone, especially when we are in Adoration. Our guardian angels and patron saints are delighted to see the souls entrusted to their care come into the presence of the Eucharistic Lord. In fact, when you go to Adoration, you give a special gift to your guardian angel. Their whole mission is to bring your soul to Jesus. Well, we come into the presence of Jesus at every Holy Hour! Take a minute in Adoration to thank your angel for their prayers and their constant, steadfast help, and maybe even offer a prayer for their intentions.
If, after an initial period of silent Adoration, you feel a desire to pray, read or write, then you simply allow yourself to move naturally into whatever activity you feel led to do at each moment. Reading the scriptures, pamphlets, or books is always appropriate, and many people also like to pray the Rosary or make the stations of the Cross. Traditional prayers in preparation for Holy Mass or in thanksgiving after Mass can also be very fruitful, particularly when they are addressed directly to Christ in the Eucharist.
Like St. Faustina, we all need to spend times of silence in the presence of the Eucharistic Lord to let Him minister to us with His healing, merciful love. And we also need these times of silent presence to love Him and make reparation for our sins andthose of the whole world. It is a powerful and effective way to thank Him for His gift of mercy tous and, at the same time, to be “merciful to Him”since the Lord continues to suffer in His Body, the Church.
As we sit in silence before the Lord, we are irradiated by His Eucharistic presence. We all need "radiation therapy"— and to receive it, we only need to be present, just as in sunbathing we only need to be present to the ultra-violet radiation of the sun. Especially in our age, which is so heavily bombarded with words– reading materials, radio, audio tapes, videos, and TV– we all need times to listen to the Lord, who speaks in a very special language called silence.
How beautifully St. Maria Faustina describes her long, silent "talks" with the Lord:
Silence is so powerful a language that it reaches the throne of the living God. Silence is His language, though secret, yet living and powerful.
There is no single “right” way to begin a Holy Hour, but here are some suggestions. Start with body language, making some gesture of profound Adoration, such as genuflecting or bowing to the Lord as a reverent acknowledgement of His Real Presence. Then, ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with His gift of praise. Unite your heart with the Heart of Mary, so that you can praise the Lord with the Heart of His mother. Call upon the angels and saints to help you to unite with their heavenly praise and worship. Let your heart be aglow with the Lord’s radiant presence and then follow the longing of your heart. Love Him, thank Him, and praise Him, who is present and loves you. As He tells us through one of the psalm, “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46).
We are never alone, especially when we are in Adoration. Our guardian angels and patron saints are delighted to see the soulsentrusted to their care come into the presence of the Eucharistic Lord. In fact, when you go to Adoration, you give a special gift to your guardian angel. Their whole mission is to bring your soul to Jesus. Well, we come into the presence of Jesus atevery Holy Hour! Take a minute in Adoration to thank your angel for their prayers and their constant, steadfast help, and maybe even offer a prayer for their intentions.
The Eucharist is the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. There is no liberal or conservative view of the Holy Eucharist; it is Jesus incarnate God and man. Constantly He invites us to share in the abundant graces He bestows through the Eucharist to those with open hearts. He asks that we take time from our busy lives and the materialism of today. Spend one hour a day, not only to pray, but to LISTEN, silently with your heart.