Support On Our Spiritual Journey

Help Through Our Spiritual Journey

Last Thursday our Lord Jesus Christ gave to us the greatest gift He possibly could have while  on earth, Himself.  This gift is meant to carry us through our spiritual journey on earth, and prepare us for meeting Him in His heavenly home.

To take full advantage of this gift we must embrace it and use it to experience “the greatest peace, calm and joy that comes from being in the presence of the Bridegroom of our souls.”  No one, certainly nothing else on this earth, will ultimately satisfy our deepest longings.  In all creation, in all the beautiful things and people He has made, we see something of Him.

In the Eucharist, we see Him.  Not as we shall see Him when we leave this world, not as He wants to be known by us in eternity, but in the form in which He has chosen to come to us on our earthly journey.  Someday, when this present darkness ends and God is “all in all,” we shall see His beloved face, and we shall be embraced by and love the One Who made us out of love, redeemed us, gave Himself to darkest death for us.

For now, we gaze up at Him as our food encircled by light.  The Eucharist we adore is the window to heaven, the true Body of Our Lord truly present.  “Oh come let us adore Him.”

    (Father Raymond T. Gawronski, S.J.)

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

A Worthwhile Change In The New Year

 Looking For A Change?

Every moment spent in the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus Christ increases His divine life within you and deepens your personal relationship and friendship with Him.  “I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly.”  “I am the Vine and you are the branches.  Whoever remains in union with Me shall bear much fruit for without Me, you can do nothing.” (Jn 10:10; 15:5)  We’ve all heard those words many times, but for many it’s like water off a duck, they simply don’t sink in.  This new year why not make a concerted effort to sincerely try to grow your relationship with God?  If you ask Him; He would love to help you.

There is no 11th Commandment that says if you visit Jesus in His Eucharistic Presence you have to spend this amount of time.  Nor is there a recommendation as to the proper way to pray.  Jesus is happy when you simply stop by for a visit and let Him do the work.  You can start with just a few minutes; but if you start with that, it won’t be long before your heart will be rewarded and you will want to spend more time with Him.

Starting this new year may be your ‘right time’ to step up and show God you want to better your relationship and will make the effort to visit him often in the chapel.  Chapel time is not the only way to show God how much you love Him, but it is a way near and dear to His Sacred Heart.  The harder it is for you to find time to visit, the greater the benefit.  God knows how precious our ‘time’ is, and when we offer a portion to Him its repaid a hundred times.  Give it a try and see for yourself.

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

click on “Weekly Commitment”

Jesus Invites You!

 Did You Get Your Invitation?

If in tomorrow’s mail you received an envelope addressed to you and postmarked from ‘Vatican City’ I bet like most of us you would be extremely excited?  Right?  When opened you find a letter from the Pope inviting you to spend an hour with him praying before the Real Presence in our chapel - would you move heaven and hell to meet him there?  I bet you would go to any length to make sure your schedule allowed you to meet the Pope and pray with him in our chapel.

Now expand your thinking and realize that it’s not the Pope inviting you; but Jesus Christ Himself.  Jesus is calling you by name to come and pray with him.  Contemplate that for a moment and let it sink in.  Would you agree, an invitation from Jesus would have a higher priority than one from the Pope?  Jesus offers you an ‘open’ invitation to meet Him for prayer in our adoration chapel.  Why do so many of us hide that invitation in the kitchen junk drawer?  Have we lost our sense of sacred?

We’re so fortunate because we still have the opportunity to improve our relationship with God, and take advantage of all the gifts and blessings he wants to give us.

Ask any soul in purgatory if they would have done anything different while on earth.  I bet they would say ‘Yes’, and their answers would revolve around the desire to have spent more time in the Real Presence of God.

To be honest I wouldn’t expect an invitation in the mail from the Pope.  But I can honestly tell you the invitation from Jesus is REAL and it’s extended to you at this very moment and never expires and automatically renews.

By the way, the answer to that first question is YES.

Jesus and Our Mother Always Ready To Help

 Calling on Jesus and Mary for Help!

“O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore you profoundly.  I offer you the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, scarileges and indifferences by which he is offended.  By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners”.    (The Angel of Peace at Fatima, third apparition)

The prayer of quiet is just ‘resting’ in the Lord’s presence, and is a good start to asking for the conversion of sinners.  See   
                         you in the chapel.

                                                www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

Eucharistic Peace of Heart

“The most powerful means of obtaining peace of heart is from Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.  What are we saying?  We are saying that in order to obtain that self-mastery which is the precondition of internal peace, we need nothing less than God’s miraculous grace.

Today’s world is so filled with confusion that nothing less than supernatural grace can provide us with the peace of mind without there can be no peace of heart.  Where do we go; to whom do we turn; whom do we ask to give us that peace of mind which is so tragically wanting in the modern world?  Who alone can give us the serenity of spirit which is another name for peace of soul?  Who, but Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace.

We do not normally think of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament as food for the mind and the will but we should.  To be at peace, what we first need is to know the truth; what we next need is to do the will of God.  On both counts, Jesus in the Holy Eucharist is our principal source.”

    (Fr John A. Hardon, SJ - Perpetual Adoration, True Peace in the World)

Lent is that time of the Church year when we are encouraged to work for supernatural grace that will give us peace of mind, leading to peace of heart.
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Become one of our 'Committed Adorers' by signing up for an hour of Adoration each week thus showing God your love through action.

Listen to God in the Silence

 Silence is the Language of God

“There is nothing like the atmosphere of a quiet chapel and the splendor of the monstrance to help you understand the truth of what is happening in Adoration. We are truly before Jesus Christ, His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. The more you sink into that silence in front of the Host, the more you’ll realize that the only response is awe and wonder at the greatness of our God.”   (Ruth Kennedy - CatholicLink)

If you don’t spend time in our chapel you may be missing a life altering event.

All are welcome!

Window to Heaven - 5

A Window to Heaven - 5

This past Thursday our Lord Jesus Christ gave to us the greatest gift He possible could have on earth, Himself.  This gift is meant to carry us through our spiritual journey on earth, and prepare us for meeting Him in His heavenly home.

But before we do that; each and everyone has to embrace His gift and use it to experience “the greatest peace, calm and joy that comes from being in the presence of the Bridegroom of our souls.”  No one, certainly nothing else on this earth, will ultimately satisfy our deepest longings.  In all creation, in all the beautiful things and people He has made, we see something of Him.

In the Eucharist, we see Him.  Not as we shall see Him when we leave this world, not as He wants to be known by us in eternity, but in the form in which He has chosen to come to us on our earthly journey.  Someday, when this present darkness ends and God is “all in all,” we shall see His beloved face, and we shall be embraced by and love the One Who made us out of love, redeemed us, gave Himself to darkest death for us.

For now, we gaze up at Him as our food encircled by light.  The Eucharist we adore is the window to heaven, the true Body of Our Lord truly present.  “Oh come let us adore Him.”

    (Father Raymond T. Gawronski, S.J.)

Window to Heaven - 4

 Window to Heaven - 4

“The doctrine of the Real Presence means that Jesus is no less present in the Eucharist today than He was at the home of Martha and Mary.  “Oh”, someone might say, “we have the Eucharist on earth: the historical Jesus lived back then; the risen Jesus is in heaven.”  But don’t you see?  In Jesus, earth and heaven became fully one, fully wed: the risen Jesus is earth taken up into heaven.

In Him, the wedding feast has begun.  And Jesus is God, the Lord of heaven, made visible and tangible for us: seeing Him, we see the Father (Jn 14:9).  Our fleshly eyes see bread, for being earth all they see is earth.  But cloaked beneath that form of bread and wine is Jesus Christ, whose risen Body is the heart of heaven.  About Him dance all the company of angels and saints in mirthful adoration.  And some children of earth kneel and sit at the gate of heaven, looking up longingly through the circle of light that is heaven’s heart, and while they are there, all of earth gives way like husks that yield a flower: in His presence all is peace, all is light.

The Eucharist is a real, ongoing presence, not just a moment of communion, but an ongoing being with, and abiding, the eternal reality of the Incarnation, present “in every tabernacle of the world until the end of time,” as the prayer puts it.  In our day, Eucharistic Adoration has become an ever more popular way to be in the presence of Jesus, to adore Him: a way to be in heaven while on earth.”

   (Father Raymond T. Gawronski, S.J.)

Window to Heaven (2)

A Window to Heaven (2 of 5)

“Our world today is emerged in corrosive doubt.  Yet much doubt on the seemly lesser mysteries of our faith reveals a lack of faith in the central mysteries.  “Do you really mean to tell me that the consecrated bread is Jesus Christ?”  It flows from the question: “Do you really mean to tell me that this man, Jesus Christ, is God?”  “Yes,” witnesses the Church: “God has become man in Jesus Christ.”

And if we read chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, with the mind of the Church, it is perfectly clear that He, the Son of God, extends His incarnation in the world by transforming bread and wine into Himself for us.  The statement stands boldly and nakedly at the heart of Catholic worship: “This is My Body … This is My Blood.”  At that moment, heaven and earth become one in this bread and wine, which are God becoming food for His world.

Mystics throughout history have experienced tremendous graces in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.  And so have ordinary people, the eyes of whose hearts are opened by faith.”

    (Father Raymond T. Gawronski, S.J.)   

Discover God's peace in the Adoration Chapel.

Window to Heaven (1of5)

 A Window to Heaven (1)

“There is no monitor or video screen at Eucharistic Adoration, no figures or colors shifting across the screen.  We simply sit and look at a round piece of bread encircled by light.  That bread is the Body of Christ, the consecrated Host, before which countless Catholics gaze in rapt adoration throughout the world.

Why?  There is no action here: here the action is being, the very being of God.  Martha goes busily about, tending to all the needs of the world.  Here, before Jesus in sacramental form, Mary finds her place, seated at the feet of the Beloved.

“Jesus Christ: body, blood, soul and divinity.”  If anyone ever seems unsure about just what happens to the bread during Mass, I repeat this phrase taught Catholics from time immemorial, indicating precisely what-or rather, Who-is present in what appears to be bread, but is bread no longer.”

   (Father Raymond T. Gawronski, S.J.)

If you’re not a regular Adorer; visit our chapel and get a taste of what you’re missing.

Solemnity of Mary

Solemnity of Mary

This weekend we celebrate The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.  The word 'solemnity' is not used to define Mary's personality, but rather it's a designation used for certain days within the church calendar to designate the highest rank of liturgical celebration, higher than feast days or memorials.

By raising the celebration of Mary's motherhood to a 'Solemnity' the church is saying to us that it places the highest significance of her role in the life of Christ.  Jesus Himself tells us of the importance of Mary's role as He is reported to have said to Ven. Mother Mary of Agreda: "Many mysteries pertaining to My Mother ... are still hidden, especially the interior secrets of her life, and these I wish now to make known.  I desire to make known to mortals how much her intercession is worth.  If men would now seek to please Me by reverencing, believing, and studying the wonders which are intimately connected with this Mother of Piety, and if they would all begin to solicit her intercession from their whole heart, the world would find some relief."

     The Life Of Mary As Seen By The Mystics p24

You can add to your knowledge about the mysteries of Mary and how to solicit her help to improve your relationship with her Divine Son by spending an hour a week in our Adoration Chapel.  

All you have to do is go and sit quietly in His presence and listen ... God will do all the work

Can't think of a better New Year's resolution!