OPEN THE DOOR …

“Loving and irresistible God, you draw me into your flame of love, and yet I resist.  I pray for the courage to surrender my whole self to you, as St. Francis of Assisi did, so that like Francis, I might experience the joy of life without control, a life that brings the unexpected delights of sweet surrender.  Loving God, help me to stop counting the costs and to overcome my fear of loss, so that through your communing love I may find my true self, transformed by love, ready to share that experience of pure joy through loving service to the world around me.  Amen"
(Eucharistic Adoration - Reflections in the Franciscan Tradition p.13)

Eucharistic Adoration opens the door that allows us to become more like the One we contemplate and to continually make room for the mystery of God within our lives.  If you currently are not a regular weekly Adorer I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit for advice and support to begin the practice.

“You must propagate veneration of the Most Blessed Sacrament with all your might, for the devotion to the Holy Eucharist is the queen of all devotions.” (Pope Benedict XVI)

Endless Flow of God's Grace

 Time Well Spent - Endless Flow of Grace

St Alphonsus Liguori reminds us that among all devotions after that of receiving the Sacraments, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament holds first place, is the most pleasing to God and the most useful to ourselves.  He encourages us to spend some time as often as possible in the presence of Jesus Christ under the sacramental species.

St Alhonsus assures us that the time spent in devotion before this divine Sacrament will be the most profitable to us in life and the source of our greatest consolation in death and in eternity.

We must be aware that in a quarter hour of prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament gains for us more than all the other spiritual exercises of the day.  It is true that in every place God graciously hears the petitions of those who pray to Him, having promised to do so: Ask, and you shall receive (John 16:24); yet the disciple tells us that Jesus dispenses His graces in greater abundance to those who visit Him in the Most Holy Sacrament.

Join your fellow parishioners as they take advantage of this continuous flow of God’s grace by spending time in His presence.  Sign up for a regular Adoration hour on the web site:

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

“A Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament is worth more than a thousand years of human glory.”  (St Padre Pio”)

Jesus, Let’s Get Together!

Jesus, Let’s Get Together!

If one of your goals for 2023 is to improve your relationship with Jesus, it’s important to realize any serious attempt requires time and patience.  It’s impossible to experience significant progress in prayer without a daily commitment to meet with God.  It doesn’t have to be a lot of time - but daily dedicated ‘time’ is a requirement.  Set aside a small amount (as little as 10 minutes) every day to simply sit in silence and mentally ask Jesus to help you improve your relationship with him.  He not only will help because he answers every prayer, and he sees the effort you’re willing to put into improving the relationship.  God rewards effort.

As you become more familiar with this practice you naturally will add more time to each prayer session because you realize that Jesus is speaking directly to your heart and you want to get the most you can from the encounter.  It is he who is the true answer of life that we all seek.  We begin to fully appreciate that he is God with us, and we should be seeking him without tiring, welcoming him without reserve, and loving him without interruption: today, tomorrow, forever.

As we continue to build our relationship and to improve from the inside out, we realize the next step in satisfying our desire is to experience his True Presence.  The only way to do that is at Mass or in Eucharistic Adoration.  If you’re serious to get closer then it’s time to commit to an hour of chapel time every week. 

Five Reasons Your Resolution For 2023 Should Include Adoration

Five Reasons Your Resolution Should Include Adoration

1. To spend time in Adoration is answering a personal invitation from Jesus to you!  Pope John Paul II in the Encyclical Letter ‘Redeemer of Man’ says “Jesus waits for us in this Sacrament of Love.” Knowing that, how could you keep Jesus waiting?
2. Jesus wants us to do more than go to Mass on Sunday!  Our communal worship at Mass must go together with our personal worship of Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration in order that our love may be complete. (1)
3. In Adoration by way of transforming mercy, Jesus makes our heart one with His.  “Jesus teaches those who come to Him to be like Himself, gentle and humble of heart, and to seek not their own will, but the will of God.” (2)
4. Jesus is infinitely deserving of our unceasing thanksgiving and adoration for all He has done for our salvation.  “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honor, glory and praise.” (Rev 5:12)  
5. The best time spent on earth is with your Best Friend, Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.  Pope Paul VI in his Apostolic Letter ‘Credo of the People of God’ says, “How great is the value of converse with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, for there in nothing more consoling on earth, nothing more efficacious for advancing along the road to holiness.”

    1 Encyclical Letter - Pope John Paul II - Redeemer of Man

         2 Apostolic Letter - Pope Paul VI - Credo of the People of God

Begin this year by resolving to take your relationship with Jesus to the next level.  You will find that an hour of weekly Adoration gets easier and more rewarding with each passing week.  Don’t under estimate the heavenly rewards, God’s gifts and graces are endless, and you begin to enjoy them simply by spending time in His Presence.