ADORATION in LENT

When I was in Hawaii, I was fortunate to have many hours free for adoration in the small chapel in Waimea.  Every Friday there were 5 hours of adoration with the Blessed Sacrament exposed.  The day before I left Hawaii, father decided to have 24 hour adoration, and my friend and I were blessed to go the hour from 9-10 P.M. This was the last thing I did before I left the island. How blessed!

"The Church and the world have a great need of Eucharistic adoration… Jesus waits for us in this sacrament of love." (St. Pope John Paul II, Dominicae Cenae)

Eucharistic adoration may be performed both when the Eucharist is exposed for viewing and when it is not. In Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, the Eucharist is displayed in a monstrance, typically placed on an altar, at times with a light focused on it, or with candles flanking it. Most days I was alone in the chapel, and while father offered to expose the Eucharist for me anytime I asked, I was just as happy to be quiet with the Lord.

"Christ is reserved in our churches as the spiritual center of the heart of the community, the universal Church and all humanity, since within the veil of the species, Christ is contained, the invisible heart of the Church, the Redeemer of the world, the center of all hearts, by him all things are and of whom we exist." (Bl. Pope Paul IV, Mysterium Fidei)

Just as you can’t be exposed to the sun without receiving its rays, neither can you come to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament without receiving the divine rays of his grace, his love, his peace.

When I as growing up, Catholic churches were always open for a visit to the Blessed Sacrament.  Today, (they claim for safety reasons) churches for the most part are closed except for Masses. When in Hawaii, I noted that many of the churches in the small towns were open for visits.  Almost weekly, one reads of the Blessed Sacrament being attacked- or one of the priests in the church- the latest in Argentina, where a man came in during Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and stole the monstrance.  In such cases, the Bishop of the city, says a Mass in reparation. My feeling is, yes, it is a sacrilege, but the Lord can take care of Himself! Meanwhile, His people are being prevented from time with Him. "Christ is truly the Emmanuel, that is,God with us, day and night, he is in our midst. He dwells with us full of grace and truth. He restores morality, nourishes virtue, consoles the afflicted, strengthens the weak." (Bl.Pope Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei)

More and more places are introducing daily or weekly 24 hour adoration.  Father told me in Hawaii, that where there is perpetual adoration, the increase of priestly vocations rises dramatically. "The Blessed Sacrament is the ‘Living Heart’ of each of our churches and it is our very sweet duty to honor and adore the Blessed Host, which our eyes see, the Incarnate Word, whom they cannot see." (Bl. Pope Paul VI, Credo of the People of God)