In His Presence - As Real As If You Had A Seat At The Last Supper

 In His Presence

“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)

The Lenten Season is a good time to broaden our personal encounter with Christ.  Instead of giving something up … let’s do something positive like an hour a week in the Adoration Chapel praying for our shepherds, our Church and world peace.

God Invites You ...

God’s Invitation

God extends an invitation to us to visit Him in Adoration, but He honors our freedom and will not push Himself where He is not wanted.  When we participate in the practice of Eucharistic Adoration, we put ourselves in direct contact with the God of presence and mission.  Our action as adorers pales in the face of God’s action to infusing us with the Spirit of the Divine Being.  We are changed dramatically just by being in this living presence and being open to the action of our gracious God.

Won’t you join your fellow parishioners who pray before the True Presence of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Give back just one hour a week where you can sit in His Presence and let Him work wonders in your heart.

Unique Power of Eucharistic Adoration

 The Unique Power of Eucharistic Adoration

“More good can be done in a single hour of Adoration than in a hundred days of uninterrupted preaching and apostolic labors, for when you are with Me, I am working for you.  Time spent in My presence is not time lost.  It is the multiplication of time and the magnification of your limited strength into an energy that comes from Me, an energy by which I will do great things through you.”

  (In Sinu Jesu  p.223)

“Every Christian needs half an hour of prayer each day, except when we are busy … then we need an hour.”    St Francis de Sales

Why Pray in His Presence?

 Why Pray in His Presence?

Why go to church or a chapel with the Blessed Sacrament to pray?  Why can’t I just pray at home?

The main reason is because it speaks volumes of love to Our Lord.  You know the saying about ‘actions & words’.  “Of all devotions, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us” (St Alphonsus Liguori).  Jesus made it clear in Gethsemane that the presence of His friends brought comfort. (Mt 26:38)  In His humanity, He likes to be with those He loves as much as we love to be with family.  Texting, phone calls, or face-time are all nice, but they don’t compete with actually being together.

Jesus manifests His great love for us by being Truly Present.  He humbles Himself to become our food, and by waiting patiently in the monstrance in the hope that we’ll come and visit Him.  He’s called the “Prisoner of Love”, for He’s chosen too imprison Himself thus for us.  This is the one corporal work of mercy we can perform directly for Jesus: visit the imprisoned.

(Eight Ways of Loving God - Jeanette Flood)

 The Theology of Worship

St Theophan the Recluse taught “The principal thing (about worship) is to stand before God with the mind in the heart, and to go on standing before Him unceasingly day and night, until the end of life”.  Many theologians teach ‘Prayer is relationship’, and the statement of Theophan “To stand before God” implies that worship is an encounter, a meeting between two persons, a relationship. 

St Paul taught earlier in his letter to the Thessalonians - “Pray without ceasing” (1Thes 5:17)  Our entire lifestyle should be one in relationship with God so that we are able to “stand before God … until the end of life”.

To pray is not necessarily to ask God for something; it need not even be to employ words, for often the deepest and most powerful of all prayer is simply to wait upon God in silence.  He knows our heart.

How do you move closer to praying always?  A good way to start is in the Adoration Chapel.  By sitting silently in the True Presence of God; ask the Holy Spirit to help you put your mind in your heart.  By putting mind in heart you enter a different level of relationship with almighty God that will lead to a life of praying without ceasing.

Don’t expect immediate results.  God works on us in His time and in His way.  I can promise that if you are sincere and persistent in your request, you will be successful in improving your relationship with God and your ability to pray without ceasing. 

See you in the chapel.

Present Before The Lord

Present Before The Lord

In Exodus 17, when the Israelites fought against the Amalekites, Moses interceded before God by raising his hands to ask for the victory.  As his arms grew heavy, he enlisted the help of Aaron and Hur to hold his arms raised up to God.  And the Lord gave a complete victory to His people.  In the same way, through Perpetual Adoration, we are ever present before the Lord in an unbroken chain of prayer and intercession.  The heart of the parishioner is lifted up to God without cessation; and God gives victory to His people, His Church.  He sends His mercy, His peace and light that chase the darkness from our hearts and the world.

You can be part of this ever presence before Our Lord by becoming a regular Adorer.  We have many prime hours that need to be filled in order to reach our goal of Perpetual Adoration 24/5.  Find a convenient hour that fits your schedule by going to
                           www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi and clicking on ‘Weekly Commitment’.

Chapel Changes

Chapel Changes

The question has been asked as to why we made the recent changes in the Chapel?  The number one reason was security of the Eucharist.  We have no idea how many people over the years have been given the combo to enter the Chapel.  Many times during a normal day a person in the Chapel finds themselves alone.  Once someone enters there’s no additional security for the Monstrance, the Tabernacle, or most important the Real Presence of Our Lord.  We had no way to verify that every time the Tabernacle was opened, the person doing that had authority; and it simply got to a point where we needed to manage risk better.

The acrylic case provides greater security while at the same time giving us the ability to expand Adoration because of the ease to Expose and Repose the Holy Eucharist by either opening or closing the curtain.  Our overall goal as a Parish is to Adore Our Lord 24/5 has not changed.  We hope to have someone praying in the Chapel every hour of every day Monday through Friday.  At this time we’re quite short of that goal in the six hours between midnight and 6AM as only 40% of those hours has someone praying.  Before Covid we were covering 24/5, and I’m sure we can get there again.

If you would like to join the Adoration Ministry as a committed Adorer please visit:

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi and click on “Weekly Commitment” to sign up for a convenient hour to spend in the Real Presence of Our Lord.