Happy Birthday Jesus!

 Happy Birthday Jesus! 

When you look upon the Sacred Host after the consecration at Mass, or you kneel in front of the Sacred Host displayed in the Monstrance in the chapel, you look upon Jesus Himself, the Son of God.  We believe the bread and wine have ceased to exist after the Consecration, so that it is the adorable body and blood of the Lord Jesus that from then on are really before us under the sacramental species of bread and wine, as the Lord willed it, in order to give Himself to us as food and to associate us with the unity of His Mystical Body.

During this season of gift giving please take a few minutes to find a quiet place to sit and free your mind of all the clutter of secular Christmas; sincerely thank Our God for the priceless gift of His Divine Son.  It’s a gift the true value of which cannot be fully appreciated this side of Heaven.

So if you’re asked ‘What did you get for Christmas?’; I hope you would respond ‘I received the gift of greatest value anyone on earth could hope for!’  (originally published Dec 25, 2022)

Advent Is A Time Of Preparation

 Time of Preparation

“The notion that we must be ever prepared to meet the Lord when He summons us into His presence is not absent in these days of Advent and that thought is not to be frightening, but it is a call to open-eyed preparation in every day of the journey that is ours.”  
   Archbishop Timothy Broglio

Eucharistic Adoration is one of the better ways to prepare for the journey that is ours.  You do not have to be a ‘committed’ adorer to spend time in the chapel.  If you’re not a regular … Jesus would love to see you stop by the chapel and spend as much time as your schedule allows whenever it’s convenient.

Prepare For Christmas

Advent Is A Time Of Hope 

Dear Jesus, you are the hope in our messy world.  This Advent, help us slow down, listen to your voice, and focus on what's really important.  We place our hope in you as we prepare our hearts to celebrate your birth on Christmas.

Amen

Eucharistic Adoration helps prepare our hearts for Christmas!

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

Adoration and Advent

 Adoration and Advent Go Together

Advent is that beautiful time of year that helps us focus on the spiritual preparation for Christmas and on the coming of Our Lord.  It’s that time of year when every Christian publication we subscribe to, every Christian radio station listened to, and perhaps every homily heard, will all be encouraging us to “prepare” for Jesus’ coming into the world and to remember the real meaning of Christmas.

One of the best ways to “prepare” is to pray.  And one of the best ways to pray is Eucharistic Adoration.  A popular definition of ‘prayer’ is ‘relationship with God’.  Have you ever been able to establish a relationship with someone, or improve upon a relationship, without spending time with them … of course not.  Same holds true with God.

Advent presents an opportunity to start or improve your ‘relationship’.  And our beautiful Adoration Chapel is the perfect place for more “face time” with God.

You don't need to be a scheduled adorer - you don't need an appointment - simply drop-in and spend time with God.  If you find the visit improved your relationship with Him why not schedule a weekly appointment to be together in a special way.  He would like that!

** Become part of the Adoration Movement **

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

Adoration Is Magical

 Feel The Magic

Having celebrated Thanksgiving last week I hope we all were able to spend time consciously thanking God for His many blessings and demonstrate our faith in His continued support and the gifts He bestows on us.  

At the time, immersed in busy holiday schedules, we may not have been thinking: “can we ever thank Him enough; can we ever out give Him; or ever love Him to the same level He loves us?”

As you head to Adoration this week remember how blessed we are to live in a place and at a time we do.  In spite of our troubles, our misguided direction, and the selfish movements of entitlement and relativism, there is still one practice that will nourish and help you grow in this world and prepare you for a better life in the next … and that is the gift to simply sit in His real presence.  It’s magical - you don’t have to do anything in Adoration - just sit in His presence and He does the work, and you leave a better person.  When was the last time you did nothing and became a better person?  God can make this happen.

Advent starts next week … why not make a commitment to spend time each week in His presence in preparation for Christmas.  It doesn’t have to be the same block of time each week and you don’t have to sign-up to be a permanent adorer.  Choose a time convenient for you and go sit in His presence and feel the magic.  On Christmas morning you will be able to give Him a gift He truly appreciates - your time!

What’s the Secret?

 What’s the Secret?

Father Jose’ Calveras, was a Jesuit priest who had a reputation of teaching people how to pray.  Fr. Jose’ is quoted as saying:  “The key to the art of prayer is the prayer of petition.  Many people never learn how to pray because they have never learned to make effective use of petitionary prayer.  The hand outstretched to beg obtains what the hand pressed against ones’ head to think does not.”

If you have not succeeded in prayer it’s not because prayer does not work.  It may be because you’ve not learned how to pray well.

The first law of prayer is: FAITH.  Have you noticed the habit Jesus had of saying to anyone who came to Him for a favor: Do you believe I can do this?  In other words, He always insisted on faith in His power to heal and cure and work miracles.

This teaching of Jesus is no different today than it was 2000 years ago.  So if you are questioning the effectiveness of your prayer heed His teaching when He said, “Have faith in God.  I tell you this: if anyone says to this mountain …”  You know the story.  But there is an important point at the end where Jesus goes on to say “I tell you then, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.”  (Matt 11:20)

Jesus continues to work miracles in response to faith in our day.  Believe and expect only the best.  Chapel time builds Faith.

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

Mary Is Our Model Of Faith And Our Perpetual Help

Mary Is Our Model Of Faith And Our Perpetual Help

The Blessed Virgin lived in such physical proximity and loving intimacy with her divine Son as no one ever has or can hope to experience.  She was with Him, near Him and close to Him physically and emotionally as only a loving mother can be close to the child whom she brought into the world. Mary was always thinking of Jesus.

She believed that this Infant, this Child, this young Man was no mere human being. She knew He was human, but she believed in His divinity because her mind penetrated beyond the veils of what her eyes and ears and hands could experience. Faith penetrates. Faith sees. Faith knows what the senses cannot perceive and even the human reason cannot comprehend. Mary saw. It cannot be too strongly emphasized or too often insisted that Mary had to live by faith. She saw only a helpless, speechless baby, yet she believed He was the almighty Word of God.

This is the first foundational lesson we learn from Mary in our veneration of the Holy Eucharist. Like her, we must come before the Blessed Sacrament with total undiluted faith. We believe that which the pagan, sophisticated, over-educated world tells us is a dream. When we come before the Blessed Sacrament, we need to break through the crust of what the senses perceive and what the mind rationally would tell us, believing more than we can see, believing more than we can touch, believing more than we can experience with our senses or even fathom with our minds. This is why we speak of Our Lady as the model of our faith. “Oh Mary, Virgin most faithful, pray for us that our faith may become more and more like yours.”

If you need to grow your faith visit the Adoration Chapel and ask Mary for her help.  As our heavenly Mother she is committed to help.  Our Adoration Chapel is available to everyone.

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

More Time Spent .. Greater Reward

 More Time Spent .. Greater Reward

“Do you want the Lord to give you many graces?  Visit Him often.  Do you want Him to give you few graces?  Visit Him rarely. 

Do you want the devil to attack you?  Visit Jesus rarely in the Blessed Sacrament.  Do you want him to flee from you?  Visit Jesus often.  Do you want to conquer the devil?  Take refuge often at the feet of Jesus.  Do you want to be conquered by the devil?  Forget about visiting Jesus.  My dear ones, the visit to the Blessed Sacrament is an extremely necessary way to conquer the devil.  Therefore, go often to visit Jesus and the devil will not come out victorious against you.”  (St John Bosco)

Heed St John’s advice by visiting Jesus in our Adoration Chapel.  Sign up as a committed adorer and let Jesus know you will do your best to visit Him same time, same day, every week and begin to have a greater appreciation of how God helps you conquer the devil.

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

"Come Away ... and Rest"

 “Come Away … and Rest”

Jesus said to the apostles, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” (Mark 6:31)  He realized that the apostles, having just returned from a long and tiring trip of evangelization, needed time to rest and be rejuvenated.  That was good advice at the time, and is good advice now.  Jesus knows how busy and demanding each of our lives have become, and He offers us respite when we visit Him in the Adoration Chapel.  Give it a try … you might be surprised and very grateful.
                                                      www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

“Let us with Mary Immaculate adore, thank, supplicate, and console the most sacred and beloved Eucharistic Heart of Jesus!”  (St Peter Julian Eymard)

What Do You Have To Lose?

 What Do You Have To Lose?

Time, not money, is our greatest commodity.  It’s also the gift we most often squander or channel in the wrong direction.  We lose perspective amid our busyness.  Making even little pockets of time each week to stop by the chapel to adore the Lord in Adoration can radically change not only the course of your week but your very life.  As you reap the benefits of Adoration you go from something reactionary - something that will help you get through current challenges - to something you yearn for; even to the point of missing it if you are not able to spend regular time in the chapel.  Remember, you can’t ‘out give God’, so you have nothing to lose and the reward will be far greater than any effort extended.

Most Powerful Source of Grace

 Most Powerful Source Of Grace

“We know adoration is due to God alone because He alone is worthy of veneration as the source and destiny of our being. We have also seen that since God became man in the Person of Jesus Christ, our adoration of Jesus is really the adoration of God in human form. Since Christ in the Blessed sacrament is here on earth in the fullness of His Divinity united with the humanity He received from Mary, we are to adore Him in the Holy Eucharist. This is the highest form of worship we can render to God and the most powerful source of grace we have on earth in our journey to a heavenly eternity. On all these counts, the Blessed
                   Virgin is our model of what our adoration of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament should be.”  (Father John A Hardon, S.J.)

Christ's Real Presence

 Christ’s Real Presence

“The simplest way to express what Christ asks us to believe about the Real Presence is that the Eucharist is really He.  The Real Presence is the real Jesus. 

We are to believe that the Eucharist began in the womb of the Virgin Mary; that the flesh which the Son of God received from His Mother at the Incarnation is the same flesh into which He changed bread at the Last Supper; that the blood He received from His Mother is the same blood into which He changed wine at the Last Supper.  Had she not given Him His flesh and blood there could not be a Eucharist.  We are to believe that the Eucharist is Jesus Christ - simply - without qualification.  It is God become man in the fullness of His divine nature, in the fullness of His human nature, in the fullness of His body and soul, in the fullness of everything that makes Jesus Jesus.  He is in the Eucharist with His human mind and will united with Divinity, with His hands and feet, His face and features, with His eyes and lips and ears and nostrils, with His affections and emotions and, with emphasis, with His living, pulsating, physical Sacred Heart.  That is what our Catholic Faith demands of us that we believe.  If we believe this, we are Catholic.  If we do not, we are not, no matter what people may think we are.”  (Father John A Hardon SJ)

Eucharistic Miracle showing the Pulsating Host

“Come Follow Me” - Christ Awaits You In Adoration

“Christ invited the people He came across in His ministry to, “Come Follow Me” (Luke 18:22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 9:59).  Some took Him up on the invitation and their lives were forever changed (Mark 1:17).  Some, sadly, walked away, never fully realizing the potential in that invitation (John 6:66).

Today, Jesus is still inviting us to “Come, follow Me”.  Perhaps you are thinking, “I have never heard this invitation from Christ.  I am not even sure that I believe in Him.  I have been to church, given alms or donations, and volunteered, but I have never heard His voice”.

Do you ever wonder why?

There is a profound awe and humility to the Divine - with Him there is no need for spoken words.  The invitation He offers is more heart to heart.  And yet, trying to pray can be so challenging in this modern age.  The world can infiltrate our spirits with a cacophony of sound.  Making prayer a priority in light of so many other requests on our dialy schedule can seem insurmountable.”   (Serafina - St Joseph’s Shelf)

Maybe it’s time to put more effort into hearing God’s voice within your heart, and to develop a stronger relationship with Him.  This can happen in Eucharistic Adoration.  So if you are ready, go to:  www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi and click on ‘Weekly Commitment’. 

“Don’t ask God to guide your footsteps if you’re not willing to move your feet”  Dale Partridge

Listen To The Voice of God

 Listen And You Will Hear

God always communicates with us, but to hear and understand the voice of God, you have to quiet your world and truly listen — “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:9)

If truly listening you would hear Jesus’ invitation to spend an hour with Him in Adoration.  He invites everyone to get to know Him better by spending time in His presence and to become fully aware that the benefit of time spent with Him in this manner is priceless.

Over the twenty-four years IHM has had Eucharistic Adoration, graces received by our parish and to those parishioners spending time regularly before the face of God have been innumerable.  Every parishioner should want to participate because if we could see what’s happening at the Divine Level there would be no room in the chapel for additional people (24-7).

God gives us 168 hours every week — one of those hours should be spent at Mass - and I challenge you to show me anyone who could not free up one additional hour that could be spent in Eucharistic Adoration.

Listed below the current Adoration hours we need help filling by someone who would commit to being there every week.  This just may be the opportunity that God wants to tell you about if you would stop long enough to listen.  Don’t be afraid of getting stuck with a commitment, for we have a very good substitute program of volunteers ready to step in when a committed Adorer cannot fulfill their weekly hour.

Get To Know God's Attributes

 Who are You?

On one occasion when St. Faustina was reflecting on the Holy Trinity she asked “Who are You?”  She heard a voice reply: “Who God is in His Essence, no one will fathom, neither the mind of Angels nor of man.  Get to know God by contemplating His attributes.”

She goes on to say: “The first attribute which the Lord gave me to know is His holiness.  His holiness is so great that all the Powers and Virtues tremble before Him.  The pure spirits veil their faces and lose themselves in unending adoration, and with one single word they express the highest form of adoration; that is “Holy”.  The holiness of God is poured out upon the Church of God and upon every living soul in it, but not in the same degree.  There are souls who are completely penetrated by God, and there are those who are barely alive.”

“The second kind of knowledge which the Lord granted me concerns His justice.  His justice is so great and penetrating that it reaches deep into the heart of things, and all things stand before Him in naked truth, and nothing can withstand Him”.

“The third attribute is Love and Mercy.  And I understood that the greatest attribute is love and mercy.  It unites the creature with the Creator.  This immense love and abyss of mercy are made known in the Incarnation of the Word and in the Redemption of humanity, and it is here that I saw this as the greatest of all God’s attributes.” (St Faustina - Prayer Book for Adoration)

Spending chapel time in the presence of the Lord helps us get to know and understand His attributes.  Go to the website below and commit to an hour of Adoration each week by putting your name on any hour convenient with your schedule.  You will not be disappointed.

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

Jesus Is Not Alone

Jesus Is Not Alone

There’s a world of difference between knowing God through study and knowing God through love - let your love shine by spending more time in His presence and the presence of so many others.  Jesus is never, ever, alone in our chapel … His Father is with Him, the Holy Spirit is with Him, His Mother is with Him, the patriarchs and profits are with Him, the Apostles are with Him, all the angels and saints are with Him … if you’re not a regular adorer, why aren’t you with Him?

As we transition from Summer to Fall this may be a good time to make a commitment to spend time with other members of the Body of Christ in committed adoration.  Simply go to www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi - click on “Weekly Commitment”, then add your name to any hour that would be convenient to your schedule.  Do it now while it’s on your mind.

Unique Love From All Eternity

 Unique Love From All Eternity

“My Heart is, at every moment, ready to welcome you.  I desire your presence.  I want the attention of your heart.  I want your friendship in response to the friendship I have offered you.”

“My Heart has a particular love for you, a love that My Father destined for you alone and for no other from all eternity.  How it grieves My Heart when the unique love I offer a soul is spurned, or ignored, or regarded with indifference!” (In Sinu Jesu  p26)

One way to express your love for Jesus is to offer Him an hour a week in the Adoration Chapel.  Become a committed Adorer by signing up for an hour through AdorationPro and show Jesus your love by your action.

                                                               www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

Adoration In Perfect Harmony

 Adoration In Perfect Harmony

Adoration is the act of religion in which God is justly recognized and worshipped as the only One worthy of supreme honor because God alone is supremely perfect, has supreme authority over the entire human race, and as our Creator, Redeemer and the One Who makes us holy, is the One on Whom we supremely depend.  Jesus told us in John 15, “Without Me you can do nothing.”

Mary was the first human adorer of the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, Who dwelt in her for nine months.  Mary adored Jesus with the perfect love of a virgin mother, the perfect adoration of a perfect charity. Our Lady’s adoration of Jesus was perfect because Her adoration of Jesus was always in perfect harmony with His will, His life and His thoughts.

We, like the Blessed Mother, should have such a longing to adore Jesus that we could not live without some daily adoration of Him.  If we respond to the divine invitation to Eucharistic Adoration, then both Mary and Jesus, Mother and Son, will watch over us in all our daily actions, trials and struggles. (Our Lady The Model and Teacher of Eucharistic Adoration - Louis Guardiola, CPM)

Become a “Committed Adorer” by volunteering to cover the same hour of Adoration each week and get to know Mother and Son better.

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

The Queenship of Mary

 The Queenship of Mary

August 22nd is the Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Mother.

"Mary was assumed into heaven and at the throne of the Holy Trinity the three Divine Persons received and welcomed her in a mystical embrace of eternal love, after she had bowed before Them in deep humility and reverence.  She was attired in a marvelous sparkling robe that trailed behind her and scintillated with multicolored iridescence.

Then the Eternal Father announced to all the angels and saints:

"Our Daughter Mary has been chosen by Our Will from among all creatures as the first in Our favor, and she has never fallen from the position of a true Daughter.  Therefore she has a claim to Our Kingdom, of which she is to be acknowledged and crowned the lawful Sovereign and Queen."

    The Life of Mary As Seen By The Mystics  p253

Our Lady was the first holy tabernacle of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, really, truly, wholly and entirely present in her by His incarnation.  Hope you are able to spend time this week in Eucharistic Adoration following the example of our Heavenly Mother.