A Personal Encounter

“The Eucharist is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life’” (CCC 1324) 

Our worship of our Eucharistic Lord, Jesus - fully and completely present under the consecrated species of bread and wine - continues outside of the celebration of the Mass when the sacred Host is exposed for veneration in our chapel.  “This exposition gives us the opportunity for a deep personal encounter with Christ.  The holy and glorious God is constantly inviting us to come to him, to hold converse with him, to ask for such things as we need and to experience what a blessing there is in fellowship with him.”  (Archbishop Fulton Sheen - Originally published 2/28/22)

Time on earth is the only time we have to gain heaven.  Don’t waste it!  Take advantage of the unfathomable graces available through participation in Eucharistic Adoration.

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Happy Birthday Jesus

 Happy Birthday Jesus! 

When you look upon the Sacred Host after the consecration at Mass, or you kneel in front of the Sacred Host displayed in the Monstrance in the chapel, you look upon Jesus Himself, the Son of God.  We believe the bread and wine have ceased to exist after the Consecration, so that it is the adorable body and blood of the Lord Jesus that from then on are really before us under the sacramental species of bread and wine, as the Lord willed it, in order to give Himself to us as food and to associate us with the unity of His Mystical Body.

During this season of gift giving please take a few minutes to find a quiet place to sit and free your mind of all the clutter of secular Christmas; sincerely thank Our God for the priceless gift of His Divine Son.  It’s a gift the true value of which cannot be fully appreciated this side of Heaven.

So if you’re asked ‘What did you get for Christmas?’; I hope you would respond ‘I received the gift of greatest value anyone on earth could hope for!’

Power Of A Word - Don't Miss This ...

 The Power Of A Word

Pope Benedict XVI, in an essay written in the 1970s, said that transubstantiation is the act by which the Creator grasps the bread and wine by the very roots of their being and transforms them into pure signs, that is to say, into pure bearers of the presence of Jesus, so that they no longer speak of themselves of refer to themselves, but only to Christ.  How is this change brought about?  The Council of Trent said by the power of the words of consecration, which are nothing other than the words of Jesus.

This simple observation gives us a most important key to understanding the Real Presence.  In his How to Do Things with Words, the twentieth-century philosopher of language J. L. Austin observed that language has much more than a descriptive purpose, for at times it can be used to change and affect reality.  If a properly deputized officer of the law says to you, “You’re under arrest,” whether you like it or not, whether the officer’s judgement was sound or not, you are in fact under arrest.  His words have changed reality.  Or if a National League umpire shouts “You’re out” as Anthony Rizzo slides into third base, the  unfortunate Cub is, whether he likes it or not, in point of fact, out.  An umpire’s words can, quite literally, change the course of a game.  Now consider the case of the divine word.  God’s word is not simply descriptive but is rather, in the most powerful sense of the term, creative.  God says, “Let there be light,” and there is light; God says, “Let us make man in our own image and after our likeness,” and so it happened.  The prophet Isaiah reminds us that the divine word goes forth and does not return without accomplishing the purpose for which it was sent.  Now Jesus is not one interesting religious figure among many, not merely a sage or prophet, but rather, as St. John put it, the Word made flesh, Yahweh’s Word in person.  Therefore, what Jesus says, is.  When he said, “Little girl, get up,” she got up; when he said “Lazarus, come out,” the dead man came out, when he said, “My son, your sins are forgiven,” they were forgiven.  The night before he died, Jesus took bread and give thanks, and then said, “Take this all of you and eat it, this is my body.”  In a similar way, after the meal, he took a cup filled with wine and said, “Take this, all of you, and drink from it; this is the cup of my blood.”  The divine word, which creates the universe, can change reality in the most fundamental way.  By the power of the words of the consecration the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ.  The Eucharist - along with creation itself - is the most concentrated instance of a divine word event, and it is for this reason that the church has always insisted on the dense reality of what happens in the Eucharistic change.     Exploring Catholic Theology  Robert Barron  pp170-171

Jesus promises, “I will be with you always” (Mt 28, 20) Take him at his word … he’s waiting.

Fortunately for us he’s patient, but that doesn’t mean you should delay, because you really don’t know how much time you have.  Go spend time in his presence by visiting the Adoration Chapel. 

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.