Tag: adoration

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Review: The Art of Loving God

Blessed Sacrament Chapel

The Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration chapel in town has been open just over a month, and I’m blessed to be holding two holy hours. I had originally signed up as a guardian for one hour, but added an additional hour because no adorers had committed to that time.

I thought I’d drop the hour when others signed up. Now, a month later, I regularly see three or four people during this bonus hour. Meanwhile, I’m in no hurry to drop it.

No one familiar with Adoration is surprised by this revelation, right?

Building relationship with the Lord

There’s no prescribed way to “do” Adoration. It’s a visit with Jesus, so I’m of the humble opinion that “come as you are” is the best advice to give to someone new to this practice of adoring Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

There's no prescribed way to "do" Adoration. It's a visit with Jesus. Click To Tweet

In the fifteen or so years I’ve been going to to Adoration, I have kept silence, prayed, wept, laughed (quietly!), read, stared blankly, breathed deeply, rested, nodded off, written books, made lists, and worshiped, adored, and loved the Lord.

I’ve been focused and distracted, and everything in-between.

I have sometimes had a hard heart, and other times had my heart broken, remade, and refreshed.

God, however, has been constant.

Bring a book

These days I take a prayer journal and some spiritual reading. Sometimes I get to those items, sometimes I don’t, but it’s a good place to start if you’re new to Adoration.

I just finished reading The Art of Loving God: Simple Virtues for the Christian Life by St Francis de Sales. It’s a collection of teachings he gave to the nuns at the Visitation convent in Annecy, the teachings are timeless — perfect for meditating on one virtue a week. I often cycle back and reread this inspiring collection of wisdom from one of my go-to saints.

Do you take spiritual reading to Adoration? What do you recommend?

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come closer

adoration

Years of keeping a regular weekly holy hour has made it clear to me that I still don’t know how to do this right.

I’ve had a few very profound experiences in those opportunities for Adoration, but to be honest, it’s not a regular occurence. The more common experience is that I just show up. I never have to worry about Jesus showing up; he’s waiting for me. The weak link in the relationship is me.

Truth be told, I still, after all this time, struggle with what I think is the “proper” thing to do during Adoration. I teeter between going prepared with reading material, journals, and a list of prayers — things that I think are good and pleasing to the Lord — and showing up empty-handed ready to sit in silence and listen. More often than not, it’s a bit of a mix. I fear I am taking my agenda instead of being open to the Lord.

I fidget and get distracted in the silence.

I alternate between moments of sublime awe and spiritual desolation when I feel nothing at all. The latter would worry me if I didn’t also have moments of consolation like I experienced today. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at a cloister took me by surprise. The monstrance faced the nuns in the cloister. I had a perfect view of the side of the monstrance, and couldn’t see Jesus no matter where I  moved.

I felt like Zacchaeus hanging off the tree.

I thought of the hemorrhaging woman who wanted to get close enough to Jesus to just touch his cloak. And in the silence I heard come closer.

Closer to his Sacred Heart. Closer to his Love. I didn’t need to see to know my Lord was there.

 

 

 

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in search of peace

My quest for peace begins and ends with the Lord. Here, in Adoration, the hum of the fan melts away, and the friendly chirping of birds just outside the window becomes more and more distant until the only sound I hear is the swoosh of my heartbeat in my ears. I’m wide awake but my breathing is deep and regular, the way it’s supposed to be.

I seem to hold my breath a lot. The busier I get, the more noise confounds me — not just ambient sounds of the news on tv or sirens in the distance, but a kind of internal noise that distracts and constricts me.

The antidote is literally in front of me now. An hour spent with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament silences the noise. I enjoy just sitting with Jesus with no agenda, no plan, no pressing need for conversation — just presence.

It’s a gift I cherish.

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