Eucharistic Adoration
By Mike Lambrecht
Most of you probably already know that Eucharistic adoration has been taking place at Saint Therese parish for several years now. What you may not know is the extent to which adoration has been happening. Adoration is available each week, continuously, from Tuesdays after the 8 am Mass until Saturdays at 4 pm. This means that you can find people from dawn until dusk, and even in the middle of the night, showing up to spend some quality time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. If you do the math, this gives us a grand total of about 104 hours every week that there is at least one individual spending time in prayer before the Lord in our parish adoration chapel.
For those who may be unfamiliar with this practice, Eucharistic adoration is when Jesus is exposed in the consecrated host, inside a monstrance, in direct sight of people for their prayer and adoration. As Catholics, we know that He is fully and really present; body, blood, soul, and divinity. Indeed, “the mode of Christ’s presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as ‘the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend.’”1 The Eucharist is not a symbol or representation of Jesus; it is Jesus Christ physically present in the world.
Furthermore, it is the teaching of the Church that Jesus should be adored in this sacrament. In fact, Pope Paul VI wrote in 1965 that, “The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful and carrying them in procession.”2 In Eucharistic adoration we are given the great privilege of kneeling face to face with our Lord and God to express our hopes, dreams, prayers of petition, thankfulness and praise to our God.
We are blessed to have many faithful individuals who show up to adoration very consistently. They are truly a powerhouse of prayer and a vital part of our community. We also have those who stop by the chapel from time to time but are not scheduled to do so. While it is good for people to stop in to pray, I would encourage them to take the next step. There is still a need for volunteers that are willing to substitute for individuals who may be sick, out of town, or unable to make their scheduled holy hour. Even more pressing is the need for individuals to volunteer to take an hour of adoration themselves. There are several one hour time slots that are still available and in need of filling at this time.
There are many excuses that people give to avoid spending time in adoration—I’m not holy enough, I’m too busy, or I don’t know what I would do for an hour are just a few of them. To these people our Lord answers, “…I did not come to call the righteous but sinners …So you could not keep watch with me for one hour? …Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart;”3
The point is that all of us can come up with 101 excuses as to why we shouldn’t spend time in adoration. Yet, we do not hesitate to set aside time in our daily lives for the things that matter most to us. With the season of Lent fast approaching, now may be the moment that our Lord is calling you to spend some additional time with Him in prayer. I hope, that in reflecting on this article, you will find at least one reason as to why you should. If you are able to help out please do not hesitate to call Liz Wiskowski at 359-2651 to volunteer.
1 Catechism of the Catholic Church 1374.
2 Catechism of the Catholic Church 1378; see also Mysterium Fidei paragraph 56.
3 Mark 2:17, Matthew 26:40, and Matthew 11:28-29.