Follow Me ... Now!

 Lent Is A Time To Follow Him

“As Jesus walked on from there, he noticed a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth.  Jesus said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.”  (Matthew 9:9)

“Follow me,” Jesus says, and Matthew does so at once.  What a radical response!  Would you and I do the same?  Would we drop everything straightaway to follow a man we knew little or nothing of?  Probably not.  Yet Matthew does so, as do Andrew, Peter, James and John.  (Matthew 4:18-22)

Every day, Jesus passes through our lives and calls us to follow him in ways both big and small.  The example of the Apostles challenges and encourages us to respond promptly to Jesus’ call.  Do we?

You might ask, “Where do I meet Christ in my daily life?  I do not perceive his presence or hear him calling me.”  Yet he is there.

He calls us to be faithful to our daily prayers when we don’t feel like praying.  He speaks to us through Sacred Scripture or a passage from some spiritual work.  He invites us to grow in the spiritual life through an invitation to spend time with him in the Adoration Chapel.”

 (Amber Kinloch - St Josephs’ Shelf)

How will you respond to his invitation?

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

Motivation Reinforced

 Motivation Comes From Being In His Presence

When we visit Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration he rejoices over all that we are doing for him.  He never says, “It’s not enough. 

You need to do more.”  He never says, “You need to serve me more.”  He never says, “You’re not faithful enough to me.  You need to work harder.”  Rather, he blesses us and pours out his love on us, knowing that this is enough to compel us.  He tells us how pleased he is with us, and that experience of God’s pleasure motivates us to lay down even more of our lives.  To put it more simply, his love for us calls more love out of us.  It may be hard to believe, but Jesus is even more eager to be with us than we are to be with him!
Renew your motivation by spending time in the Adoration Chapel.

                                                                   If you give God a chance He will win!
                                                        www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

This Could Be Your Best Lent Ever

If you’re still looking for an idea of what to do this Lent that would be pleasing to God, and beneficial to your soul, now might be a good time to honestly ask yourself that question and trusting in God see what ideas come to the surface.

If in the past you haven’t been too successful with Lenten resolutions you might want to take a new approach.  If before it was you who decided what plan of action to take - this year you might want to ask God for his input.

If you decide to ask God you should begin by separating yourself from the noise and clutter of this world and sit quietly in his presence.  You can do this anywhere; you don’t have to be in church or the adoration chapel.  God is always with us; so find a quiet place where you can simply turn your mind to God and ask him as a friend what he would like to see you do to grow spiritually in this time before Easter?

The hard part is now to be quiet and listen.  Remember any conversation is not a monologue but an exchange - we must not do all the talking but must also be good listeners.  At the same time you need to place your trust in God - He will not lead you astray. 

See you in the Adoration Chapel this Lent.

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

Begin Now From Where You Are

 Begin Now From Where You Are

Spiritual growth is not limited to the seasons of Lent or Christmas, but rather it’s the endeavor of a lifetime.

To grow spiritually we must be totally dependent on our relationship with God.  To improve that relationship we need his help.  You don’t need a grand conversion experience.  Rather for most of us, it’s a continual series of small, firm daily renewals that lead to a grand conversion.  This type of conversion takes time to establish and additional time to grow.

A relationship with Jesus also is not dependent on you doing everything correctly.  It means only that you desire to give him your heart.  You are going to make mistakes or struggle, and he knows it.  He is not going to stop putting graces in your life, and he is not going to ignore you if you struggle.  You only need to raise your level of trust in God and he will support you.

Keep in mind that no one becomes a saint overnight - not the Apostles, not the martyrs, none of them reach sainthood in a single instant.  Trust that Jesus is working with you in the middle of your trials, and that you are bearing far more fruit than you think you are.  If you keep that mindset, then you will find the practice of dedicating each day to the Lord becoming easier and easier.

If you are not a regular Adoration adorer now would be a good time to start your conversion.

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

God Wants Presence

“You console my Eucharistic Heart by giving me signs of your friendship; of all these, the one that most consoles me is your presence before my Eucharistic Face.  There are many ways of expressing friendship and of responding to the love of one’s friend, but the one that is most satisfying to the heart is the simple act of companionship, of presence, of being together. (In Sinu Jesu: When Hearts Speak to Heart  pg 153)

This is a good time to offer Jesus the gift of your presence, and one of the better ways to do that is Eucharistic Adoration in our chapel, where you can go and pray before the face of our true God almost anytime you want.  You don’t have to be a ‘committed’ adorer to pray in the chapel, you are welcome anytime your schedule permits.

The more time we spend in his presence the easier it is for us to find him not only in the chapel, but everywhere and in everything we do.

“Loving Father, my heart reveals to me that everything that I long for finds its fulfillment in the Eucharist.  Attune my way of thinking to the Eucharist so that I will be responsive to the presence of your Son in whatever comes my way.” (Jesus, Present Before Me - Fr Peter Cameron, O.P.)

Listen to God's Invite

God’s Invitation

Need time to catch your breath and put a little normalcy back into your life?  As in all things, God is ahead of us because he gives us a standing invitation to step away from the busyness and noise of everyday living when he says in Matt 11:28-29, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”

You can find that ‘rest’ spending time in His Real Presence in the Adoration Chapel.  The beauty of this ‘rest’ is that you don’t have to do anything but show up.  You simply sit in His presence and God does the work.  All you need is a little trust.  How much easier do you want it?  This action of sitting in His presence changes us from the inside out by lifting us up and giving us renewed direction and energy.

Join the many of your fellow parishioners who have made ‘chapel time’ a regular component of their prayer life and found this divine support to be priceless.

www.adorationpro.org/ihmmi

God Waits For You

He Waits For You!

Many people visit the Adoration Chapel to be able to sit quietly in the Presence of God and experience the solace of the surroundings during normal activities of the day.  Some adorers are ‘committed’; as such they have volunteered for a specific time each week.  You don’t have to be a ‘committed’ adorer to spend time in the chapel; you can visit when your schedule permits.  No matter when you go He is waiting for you and wants to hear about your life, your joys, your sorrows.  In His presence it’s a good time to recall how He was insulted, publicly humiliated, and suffered for us to save us from eternal damnation.  This is a time we can thank Him for what He did, tell Him how much we love Him, and give Him thanks for all the graces and blessings He gives us.  It is a time we can talk to Him as a friend who always has time to listen.

Adoration helps us grow through silence.  While sitting in his presence we grow spiritually and it doesn’t take long to experience these changes positively affecting our lives.  These changes improve our relationship with God, and as our relationship improves we find ourselves wanting to spend more time in His presence, and we begin looking for additional opportunities for chapel time.

Pope Francis in a recent Angelus said, “Through silence and prayer, we make space for Jesus”.