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”