In the True Presence of Christ, I fall to my knees.
I am humbled to be so near Him in the form of the Eucharist.
A feeling of peace and joy comes over me.
I start to pray in earnest because our Lord hears our prayers.
I offer Him my sincerest gratitude for the many blessings in my life.
I ask His forgiveness for the sins I have committed.
I promise our Lord that I will go to Reconciliation soon.
I unburden myself to Him and share all of my stress and anxiety as He asked us to in the Gospel.
I pray for others-family, friends, co-workers and anyone who is struggling or suffering.
I pray for the Church, the Holy Father and our Bishops, Priests and Deacons.
I pray for our country and for our leaders to have moral courage and wisdom.
I pray for a world that will respect all life.
I pray that I will be a channel for His will today and every day.
Then I stop praying and I listen.
I listen for His voice.
Maybe He will speak to me through the friend I will encounter that day or possibly in the meditation or scripture passage I am reading.
I go to Eucharistic Adoration out of love and devotion and my passionate belief that this prayer time before the Blessed Sacrament is the catalyst for my ongoing renewal and conversion.
Go and spend time with Jesus today…He is waiting for you.
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Quiet time before the Blessed Sacrament is an important and necessary part of a healthy prayer life and a critical part of our faith journeys as Catholics. To be in the same room with the True Presence of our Lord and be humbled by His love and grace is an indescribable feeling-you have to experience it for yourself to truly understand. Our parish is blessed with perpetual Eucharistic Adoration and we should take full advantage of this incredible access to Christ and humbly seek Him out at every opportunity for worship, prayer and to unburden ourselves to Him.
The Catechism #1418 says: ”Because Christ himself is present in the sacrament of the altar, he is to be honored with the worship of adoration. To visit the Blessed Sacrament is . . . a proof of gratitude, an expression of love, and a duty of adoration toward Christ our Lord” (Paul VI, MF 66).”
In Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Exhortation, On The Mystery and Worship of the Eucharist (Dominicae Cenae), he lays out the case for Eucharistic Adoration:
Adoration of Christ in this sacrament of love must also find expression in various forms of Eucharistic devotion: personal prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, Hours of Adoration, periods of exposition–short, prolonged and annual (Forty Hours)–Eucharistic benediction, Eucharistic processions, Eucharistic congresses.
The encouragement and the deepening of Eucharistic worship are proofs of that authentic renewal which Vatican II set itself as an aim and of which they are the central point. And this, venerable and dear brothers, deserves separate reflection. The Church and the world have a great need of Eucharistic worship. Jesus waits for us in this sacrament of love. Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him in adoration and in contemplation that is full of faith and ready to make reparation for the great faults and crimes of the world. May our adoration never cease.
As a convert to the Catholic Church, one of the first aspects of Catholicism that I had to understand and accept was the teaching on the Eucharist. As a Baptist in my teen years, we treated the Eucharist as a symbol and not the real body of Christ. As I was thinking about joining the Catholic Church, I was directed by a Catholic friend to read Christ’s teaching of the Eucharist to his Disciples in John 6:25-28, 48-58 and the Last Supper as told in Luke 22:14-20. As I read and re-read these passages, I came to the obvious conclusion that Jesus was not speaking symbolically. He meant that the bread and wine were truly his body and blood. As this realization sunk in, so many other Catholic teachings began to make sense, but it was the recognition that the Catholic Church taught the true doctrine of the Eucharist that opened the way for me to convert. I share this with you because as Catholics we must believe truly and deeply with all our hearts that the Eucharist is the Body of Christ. This belief will allow us to more fully appreciate the blessings and gifts we have in Holy Communion and Eucharistic Adoration.
Pope John Paul II pointed out in a homily he gave in 1979:
It is only by means of the Eucharist that we are able to live the heroic virtues of Christianity, such as charity to pardon one’s enemies, the love which enables us to suffer, the capacity to give one’s life for another; chastity at all times of life in all situations; patience in the face of suffering and the apparent silence of God in human history or our very own existence. Therefore always strive to be Eucharistic souls so as to be authentic Christians.
I have been a Eucharistic Guardian for over 2 years and this is the best hour of my week. To come into the True Presence of Christ and thank Him, pray to Him, humble myself before Him and unburden myself to Him puts my mind and heart at ease and prepares me for any challenge. I strongly encourage Eucharistic Adoration for everyone as a way to connect with the Lord in a deeper and more meaningful way.
Thank you and God bless you.
