Why Sign Up For A Regular Holy Hour?
   (Amber Kinloch - St Joseph’s Shelf)

This question has been on your mind, perhaps, or maybe someone suggested it to you.  Maybe you already attend Adoration on a regular basis, but are reluctant to commit for any number of reasons: the length of time, the burden of other duties, the fear that you can’t keep up a regular commitment.

Maybe you find Adoration a chore.  You love God, but sitting there is so boring.  Nothing ever seems to happen.  Serving God in other ways feels more productive.

I have been a regular adorer for several years and have faced these difficulties firsthand.  Yet Adoration consistently remains a top priority for me.  Here’s why, along with some practical advice for overcoming different obstacles.

Why Sign Up Instead of Just Going?  What Difference Does It Make?

Adoration felt laborious for me in the beginning.  I cannot tell you how many hours I spent sitting in church waiting for the hour to be up just like St. Teresa of Avila.  Sometimes, I still feel this way.  Why do I keep at it then?

The answer is threefold:

#1  Time Matters

Time is our most valuable commodity.  As my dad says, you can always get more money. You can’t get more time.  To not only go to Adoration, but to block out a specific hour for it is to commit to Our Lord on a whole new level.  We tell Him, “You are a top priority.”  Jesus, infinitely generous, will repay such a commitment beyond measure just as He promises in the Gospels (Mark 10:28-30; Luke 6:38).

#2  Love is Manifest in Concrete Action

Love is an act of the will, not an emotion.  Adoration, therefore, is not always an emotional experience.  The hours I spend with Our Lord are not about how I feel.  They are about growing in a relationship with Him.  Adoration at any time is a good thing.  But committing to a particular hour and going then no matter how I feel demands spiritual maturity.

#3  It’s the Place Par Excellence for Prayer

Spending time with Jesus is essential if we’re going to possess the grace needed for fulfilling our duties.  He is the vine and we are the branches.  Without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5).  The place par excellence for prayer is with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament because “The Eucharist is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life.’ ‘The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it.  For in the Blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Paschal Lamb’” (CCC 1324).

Now that Lent has started; this may be a wonderful time to make a commitment and a weekly appointment with Our Lord because He so longs to spend ‘face time’ with you.

Sign up for an hour at: www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi