Enhancing Your Encounter With Christ

Faith and the Eucharist

The truth which faith discloses to us is a truth centered on an encounter with Christ, on the contemplation of his life and on the awareness of his presence.  Saint Thomas Aquinas speaks of the Apostles’ oculata fides - a faith which sees! - in the presence of the body of the Risen Lord.  With their own eyes they saw the Risen Jesus and they believed; in a word, they were able to peer into the depths of what they were seeing and to confess their faith in the Son of God, seated at the right hand of the Father.  

We don’t see Jesus the same way the Apostles did; but we can say that as we mature in our relationship with God, our prayer transitions into seasons of simply looking at God as the Divine gazes at us.  This is what the spiritual masters call contemplative prayer.  St Teresa of Avila says “Contemplative prayer … is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking the time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us” (CCC 2709)

“The more time we spend face-to-face with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, the more we will long for a deeper intimacy with our Lord in Holy Communion at Mass.  Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is an invitation from our Lord for us to experience a spiritual union and a sacramental communion with Christ.”  (Pocket Guide to Adoration - Fr Josh Johnson)

Why not join the many parishioners of IHM and other parishes who have already made it a weekly practice to spend one hour with Jesus to deepen their intimacy with our Lord.  Jesus is waiting.

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

click on “Weekly Commitment”

What Held The Early Followers Of Jesus Together?

The Glue That Held The Early Church Together

Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead.  Yet, “this authentic, real body possesses the new properties of a glorious body: … able to be present how and when he wills” (CCC, 645).  And that is how we can be certain that the Resurrection is a fact that has happened: The Risen body of Jesus Christ has become present in us, the Body of Christ.  Nothing else could possibly explain what kept those desperate people - the first disciples - together in the days and years that followed Christ’s death.  It was not some idea of ideal that unified them; it was the event of Christ’s presence in their midst.  Even when threatened by perils and persecution, the early Church stayed together because of the undeniable fact that the Risen Jesus had made himself present bodily to his followers in all their weakness, confusion and fear.  He drew forth from them Holy Communion.  Only the bodily resurrection can effect such a miracle of unity, courage and fidelity.  (Jesus, Present Before Me - p106)

Jesus, gave totally of himself to the Father for our salvation.  We must do the same if we want to merit heaven for all eternity.  Pray that you have the courage to follow his example.  If you need help to do so … He is waiting for you in the Adoration Chapel and all you have to do is ask him for help.

To be a Christian is to let our dependence on Christ become the core of our being.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am”  (1 Cor 15:10)

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

click on “Weekly Commitment”

You Have The Power To Forgive

You To Have The Power To Forgive

As Jesus was on the cross, He looked at the men who had crucified Him with love.  He cried out to His heavenly Father and begged not for revenge, or even justice, but mercy.  We need to take a few moments to contemplate the words Jesus used because something of His power to forgive is imparted to us.  “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”  It’s very difficult to forgive by ourselves, but as we contemplate our Lord on the Cross, we can ask for the grace to forgive so that we are able to say, “Father, forgive them for what they have done.”(Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe, MFVA)

As we work this week to find a way to grow closer to Jesus you’re encouraged to spend time in the Adoration Chapel. Jesus is present body, blood, soul and divinity and waiting for you.  This is the same Jesus who celebrated Passover Thursday night, the same Jesus who hung on the cross Friday, and the same Jesus who rose from the dead Sunday.  Think about it … get your heart around it and know ~ God is here.
                                                   “Blood of Christ, that flowed at the scourging ~ Be our salvation”
                                                                         www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi
                                                                                                 click on “Weekly Commitment”

Finding Right Relationship

“God is the creator of life and the living substance.  God is the creator of existence; therefore everything lives under God.  The logic of this is that the individual is under obligation to let their life flow out from their center.  This center has its core the yielding to the will of God, so that the action that flows out from this center that is always accessible to the will of God will be right action, the relationship will be right relationship.  When Jesus announces that the kingdom of God is at hand, this is the announcement he is making.” (Howard Thurman, Sermons on the Parables)

Right relationship begins with prayer, so if you find it hard to pray because of your busy schedule, go to the Adoration Chapel where you will find quiet and our merciful God eager to listen.  Prayer, as Pope Benedict has explained, is an expression of our ‘personal relationship with God.’ And that relationship, the Holy Father went on the to say, ‘is what matters most.’ … Jesus is waiting.

“one cannot know the Lord without the habit of adoring, adoring in silence.”  Pope Francis

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

click on “Weekly Commitment”