What is the Point of Eucharistic Adoration?

If you would like information on the meaning of Eucharistic Adoration click on the link below that will take you to a four and half minute YouTube presentation by Fr John Bartunek and Dan Burke that addresses 'What is Eucharistic Adoration and Why is it Important'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fy7nrWGy8w

To participate in Eucharistic Adoration at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parrish in Grand Rapids follow this link:

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

Adoration resources are available on the IHM Adoration Blog:

https://ihmadoration.blogspot.com

A Prayer for Living and Dying

"A wise person once said, “Find a spiritual practice and do it as if your life depends on it.” In my case, that practice is Centering Prayer. Centering Prayer is a prayer of intention, a prayer of consent, a prayer of surrender. It is a prayer that allows us to touch the Divine Ground of our Being, a prayer that helps us see our true self and get a glimpse of the Love that lives within us and in all creation. It is a prayer for living and a prayer for dying.

One comes to the practice of Centering Prayer with only one intention—to consent to God’s presence and action within. Because of that intention, commitment to the contemplative journey through a daily practice of Centering Prayer involves more than just setting aside time to pray; it also means opening ourselves up to a conversion of our will and total transformation.

When we first start Centering most of us are amazed at how busy our minds are. The silence we long for eludes us. We can't hear God. But as we continue to practice—time and time again letting our thoughts go and returning ever so gently to our intention—we realize that this is all an Ultimate Mystery and requires a graced trust. With committed practice, gradually we are able to embrace the Divine Dwelling within us. There is a knowing, a conviction, that we are with God.

If we stay faithful to the practice, our false self begins to be dismantled and we live more and more from our center, from that Divine Ground of Being, from our true self. We are transformed. As the beloved Thomas Keating, who spent his life conceptualizing and teaching this prayer form, wrote, “By consenting to God's creation, to our basic goodness as human beings, and to letting go of what we love in this world, we are brought to the final surrender, which is to allow the false self to die and the true self to emerge. The true self might be described as our participation in the divine life manifesting in our uniqueness.” . . . 

I once heard a patient say that her dying process was an “ego-ectomy.” The contemplative life through the practice of Centering Prayer can be an ego-ectomy, too. We come closer to our dying every day of our living, so let us live our lives to the fullest, for God's sake. Let us do our spiritual practice as if our lives depended on it—because they do. Let us welcome our ego-ectomy through the dismantling of the false self now—in life—in order to experience each day as a sacred gift."

Susan Rush / CAC Board Member

Begin your transformation by sitting in the presents of God in the Adoration Chapel

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

Gods' Merciful Love

Everybody needs God.  It's not a question of being worthy or not.  The issue is ... will you, come into the Chapel and sit down with the One who joins all of us?  It's that joint endeavor - that joint sharing of the human condition with its joys and sorrows, its ordinariness, its profane character, its endless waiting, its deprivations - and not just our suffering ... but the experience of Adoration prayer that gradually educates us in what this prayer type really is:  an education and union in undeserved mercy.

Join us as a regular Adorer!

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

Holy Hour Prayer Cards

 Holy Hour Prayer Card 

The offering of prayers for others is a valued expression of love and caring.

Let someone know you prayed for them while spending an hour in the Adoration Chapel by sending a beautiful prayer card.

Cards are available on the book shelf in the back of the Adoration Chapel along with mailing envelops.  A goodwill offering is asked to offset cost.

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

Open Your Mind and Heart

"We may think of prayer as thoughts or feelings expressed in words. But this is only one expression. . . . Prayer is the opening of mind and heart—our whole being—to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond thoughts, words, and emotions. Through grace we open our awareness to God whom we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than choosing—closer than consciousness itself. "
    Thomas Keating

Practice opening your mind and heart to God while spending an hour in Adoration at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Adoration Chapel.

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

used 121921 also

Holy Hour Prayer Card

The offering of prayers is a valued expression of love and caring to other members of Gods' family.  Show someone you love and care above the ordinary by obtaining and sending a Holy Hour Prayer Card from the Adoration Chapel.