PracticalThe first reason is practical. The more we limit the hours of Adoration, the more we limit the availability of Christ to His people. And with people being so busy today, only a few can respond to the Lord’s invitation “Could you not watch one hour with Me?,” when we only have one hour or a few hours (of Adoration) during the week. The more we expand the hours the more we extend the opportunity. When a chapel is opened all the time, then everyone in the parish can participate, because everyone thinks “well, definitely, I can find at least one hour once a week to go to be with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.” PossibleWhen the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Blessed Mother and told Mary that she was to be the Mother of Jesus, her response was “How can this be, I know not man?” And many people, when we present to them the Church’s teaching and doctrine on transubstantiation, also say “How can this be?” The answer that the Angel gave to Mary about how she was to be the Mother of Jesus, is the very answer that explains how the bread becomes the Body of Christ, and the wine becomes the Precious Blood of Christ. The Angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most High shall overshadow you.” And in that same wonderful passage it says, “For with God all things are possible.” PersonalThe Pope calls the whole people of God to a personal relationship with Jesus, Our Savior, in the Blessed Sacrament. Without coming before Him in quiet moments of prayer, then we diminish our faith in His Real Presence. It’s by taking time out to be with Him in the Blessed Sacrament that this relationship with Our Lord begins to increase, and grow and blossom. If a husband and wife do not take time out to speak, to bond, to be together, that relationship is going to diminish. If they do take time out to be together it’s a sign that they value each other’s company, it’s a sign that their relationship, their friendship, their bond means so much to them. Jesus takes time out. It is we who have the authentic answer for a personal relationship with Jesus, our Savior, because in going before Him in the Blessed Sacrament we go before Him Who is with us in person. The richer our personal relationship with Jesus our Savior is, then the more capacity we have to love each other and to be merciful and compassionate. It’s in going before the Blessed Sacrament that we take on His attributes, His qualities, whereby in seeing ourselves so much loved by Him, it gives us the capacity to love each other. FruitfulBishop Sheen made a Holy Hour once a day, Pope St. John Paul II makes two Holy Hours every day, and Mother Teresa made three Holy Hours in the Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, every single day. And we see the fruitfulness of their lives. And that serves as a model, as an example, that our lives will be fruitful also, when we unite ourselves to the vine, Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. CommunityThe Lord calls us to build community and a civilization of love. But the very basic requirement of that is a healthy, happy, loving relationship with the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, who said “I am the vine and you are the branches.” There is the personal relationship. “Remain in union with Me,” He’s calling us to a personal relationship. “Remain in union with Me and I will remain in union with you, for whoever remains in union with Me will bear much fruit.” And part of that fruit is the capacity to love as He loves. Perpetual Adoration builds community. The Eucharist is the Sacrament of unity, Jesus unifying His people. Today a growing number of people feel alienated from the Church. They feel lost among the multitudes. Perpetual Adoration helps those people feel more personally involved with Christ, His Church and the People of God. Through the intimacy of quiet prayer with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, one experiences the personal love of the Savior. Through this personal love, one is more able to grasp the reality that they are one with the whole Body of Christ. PowerfulWe are beyond human solution. We need a Divine intervention. And that Divine intervention will come through the power of the Blessed Sacrament. There was a woman in the Gospel who said, “All I have to do is touch but the end of His garment and I will be healed.” And Jesus turned around and said, “Who touched Me, because I felt power coming from Me.” Those who go before the Blessed Sacrament touch the Heart of Jesus with their faith and release His power, His healing Love, His graces and blessings upon the whole world. The power, the Pope said, is this, that “anyone who goes before our Savior in the Blessed Sacrament draws the world and everybody in the world closer to Christ and lifts the whole world up to God the Father for His blessing.” That in touching the Heart of Jesus, with that act of faith you touch the heart of all humanity and every man, woman and child experiences a new effect of God’s goodness, of God’s grace, of God’s love. EvangelizationPerpetual Adoration is affirmation of our faith. Through this constant vigil of prayer, we give witness to our belief that God is truly dwelling with His people. Perpetual Adoration is a message in itself of the importance of coming to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Perpetual Adoration is making the Good Shepherd available to His people with the constant miracles of His grace and love. Perpetual Adoration is letting the Good Shepherd work with His people all the time! St. Paul says that, “Faith comes through hearing, and how are they to hear unless there is someone to preach?” And Pope St. John Paul II is now calling the whole people of God to preach:
We need to respond to the appeal of Pope St. John Paul II and evangelize. The laity need to learn to evangelize each other and go out into the parish. The Pope said this is the age for Eucharistic Evangelization and he called upon every parish to have Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, because he said that this is what will bring about God’s Kingdom on earth and everlasting peace to all mankind. LovePerpetual Adoration lasts as long as Our Lord’s love for us in the Blessed Sacrament lasts. As long as Jesus loves us enough to want to be with us day and night, then we want to love Him enough to be with Him day and night. Start Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in your parish today!Contact us to obtain this audio/video tape schedule a Missionary, obtain information, and materials in starting Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration: Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament Why Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration
|
Phone: (518) 561-8193
E-mail: ACFP2000@aol.com
Copyright 2000-2024 Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament. All rights reserved.