Mary Is Our Model Of Faith And Our Perpetual Help

Mary Is Our Model Of Faith And Our Perpetual Help

The Blessed Virgin lived in such physical proximity and loving intimacy with her divine Son as no one ever has or can hope to experience.  She was with Him, near Him and close to Him physically and emotionally as only a loving mother can be close to the child whom she brought into the world. Mary was always thinking of Jesus.

She believed that this Infant, this Child, this young Man was no mere human being. She knew He was human, but she believed in His divinity because her mind penetrated beyond the veils of what her eyes and ears and hands could experience. Faith penetrates. Faith sees. Faith knows what the senses cannot perceive and even the human reason cannot comprehend. Mary saw. It cannot be too strongly emphasized or too often insisted that Mary had to live by faith. She saw only a helpless, speechless baby, yet she believed He was the almighty Word of God.

This is the first foundational lesson we learn from Mary in our veneration of the Holy Eucharist. Like her, we must come before the Blessed Sacrament with total undiluted faith. We believe that which the pagan, sophisticated, over-educated world tells us is a dream. When we come before the Blessed Sacrament, we need to break through the crust of what the senses perceive and what the mind rationally would tell us, believing more than we can see, believing more than we can touch, believing more than we can experience with our senses or even fathom with our minds. This is why we speak of Our Lady as the model of our faith. “Oh Mary, Virgin most faithful, pray for us that our faith may become more and more like yours.”

If you need to grow your faith visit the Adoration Chapel and ask Mary for her help.  As our heavenly Mother she is committed to help.  Our Adoration Chapel is available to everyone.

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

More Time Spent .. Greater Reward

 More Time Spent .. Greater Reward

“Do you want the Lord to give you many graces?  Visit Him often.  Do you want Him to give you few graces?  Visit Him rarely. 

Do you want the devil to attack you?  Visit Jesus rarely in the Blessed Sacrament.  Do you want him to flee from you?  Visit Jesus often.  Do you want to conquer the devil?  Take refuge often at the feet of Jesus.  Do you want to be conquered by the devil?  Forget about visiting Jesus.  My dear ones, the visit to the Blessed Sacrament is an extremely necessary way to conquer the devil.  Therefore, go often to visit Jesus and the devil will not come out victorious against you.”  (St John Bosco)

Heed St John’s advice by visiting Jesus in our Adoration Chapel.  Sign up as a committed adorer and let Jesus know you will do your best to visit Him same time, same day, every week and begin to have a greater appreciation of how God helps you conquer the devil.

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

"Come Away ... and Rest"

 “Come Away … and Rest”

Jesus said to the apostles, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” (Mark 6:31)  He realized that the apostles, having just returned from a long and tiring trip of evangelization, needed time to rest and be rejuvenated.  That was good advice at the time, and is good advice now.  Jesus knows how busy and demanding each of our lives have become, and He offers us respite when we visit Him in the Adoration Chapel.  Give it a try … you might be surprised and very grateful.
                                                      www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

“Let us with Mary Immaculate adore, thank, supplicate, and console the most sacred and beloved Eucharistic Heart of Jesus!”  (St Peter Julian Eymard)

What Do You Have To Lose?

 What Do You Have To Lose?

Time, not money, is our greatest commodity.  It’s also the gift we most often squander or channel in the wrong direction.  We lose perspective amid our busyness.  Making even little pockets of time each week to stop by the chapel to adore the Lord in Adoration can radically change not only the course of your week but your very life.  As you reap the benefits of Adoration you go from something reactionary - something that will help you get through current challenges - to something you yearn for; even to the point of missing it if you are not able to spend regular time in the chapel.  Remember, you can’t ‘out give God’, so you have nothing to lose and the reward will be far greater than any effort extended.

Most Powerful Source of Grace

 Most Powerful Source Of Grace

“We know adoration is due to God alone because He alone is worthy of veneration as the source and destiny of our being. We have also seen that since God became man in the Person of Jesus Christ, our adoration of Jesus is really the adoration of God in human form. Since Christ in the Blessed sacrament is here on earth in the fullness of His Divinity united with the humanity He received from Mary, we are to adore Him in the Holy Eucharist. This is the highest form of worship we can render to God and the most powerful source of grace we have on earth in our journey to a heavenly eternity. On all these counts, the Blessed
                   Virgin is our model of what our adoration of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament should be.”  (Father John A Hardon, S.J.)

Christ's Real Presence

 Christ’s Real Presence

“The simplest way to express what Christ asks us to believe about the Real Presence is that the Eucharist is really He.  The Real Presence is the real Jesus. 

We are to believe that the Eucharist began in the womb of the Virgin Mary; that the flesh which the Son of God received from His Mother at the Incarnation is the same flesh into which He changed bread at the Last Supper; that the blood He received from His Mother is the same blood into which He changed wine at the Last Supper.  Had she not given Him His flesh and blood there could not be a Eucharist.  We are to believe that the Eucharist is Jesus Christ - simply - without qualification.  It is God become man in the fullness of His divine nature, in the fullness of His human nature, in the fullness of His body and soul, in the fullness of everything that makes Jesus Jesus.  He is in the Eucharist with His human mind and will united with Divinity, with His hands and feet, His face and features, with His eyes and lips and ears and nostrils, with His affections and emotions and, with emphasis, with His living, pulsating, physical Sacred Heart.  That is what our Catholic Faith demands of us that we believe.  If we believe this, we are Catholic.  If we do not, we are not, no matter what people may think we are.”  (Father John A Hardon SJ)

Eucharistic Miracle showing the Pulsating Host

“Come Follow Me” - Christ Awaits You In Adoration

“Christ invited the people He came across in His ministry to, “Come Follow Me” (Luke 18:22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 9:59).  Some took Him up on the invitation and their lives were forever changed (Mark 1:17).  Some, sadly, walked away, never fully realizing the potential in that invitation (John 6:66).

Today, Jesus is still inviting us to “Come, follow Me”.  Perhaps you are thinking, “I have never heard this invitation from Christ.  I am not even sure that I believe in Him.  I have been to church, given alms or donations, and volunteered, but I have never heard His voice”.

Do you ever wonder why?

There is a profound awe and humility to the Divine - with Him there is no need for spoken words.  The invitation He offers is more heart to heart.  And yet, trying to pray can be so challenging in this modern age.  The world can infiltrate our spirits with a cacophony of sound.  Making prayer a priority in light of so many other requests on our dialy schedule can seem insurmountable.”   (Serafina - St Joseph’s Shelf)

Maybe it’s time to put more effort into hearing God’s voice within your heart, and to develop a stronger relationship with Him.  This can happen in Eucharistic Adoration.  So if you are ready, go to:  www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi and click on ‘Weekly Commitment’. 

“Don’t ask God to guide your footsteps if you’re not willing to move your feet”  Dale Partridge