The Unprofitable Servant: An Amateur's Advice on Learning to Love Adoration

Sunday, March 23, 2014

An Amateur's Advice on Learning to Love Adoration

Last summer I was invited to join a group of faithful Catholics interested in getting more people to commit to making a Holy Hour once a week or even just once a month. Each individual had excellent ideas, some of which we even implemented with positive results. The organizer wanted us to make phone calls to every member of that parish as well as to former adorers who had dropped out of sight. My own preference was to speak to people personally, especially after weekday or Saturday morning Mass

I noticed that while we seemed to have "regulars" at certain Masses, particularly on Saturday mornings, very few of them stayed for adoration afterward. When I got a chance to engage them in conversation I was shocked to learn how little some of them knew about adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

As a token of appreciation for making a weekly or monthly commitment it was decided we would give a lapel pin depicting a ciborium with the Host raised above it to any new volunteers who signed up. Thus far I have given away exactly one pin. That's OK because I have many more people to talk to about the fruits of Eucharistic adoration.

I approached one gentleman who shares a pew with me every Saturday morning. He said he would be glad to think about it but asked: What do I have to do?

For some people the notion of sitting still without speaking for an hour seems like a daunting challenge. Others don't know if they can pray for that long a period of time. I tell new-comers to try commit to 15 minutes at first. But still they ask: But what do you do?

First, you don't have to do anything but offer your heart to Jesus. You can talk to Him, you can just be there for Him, or you can pray. You can do a combination of all 3.

I am a proponent of rote prayers like the Rosary and Chaplet to St Michael. The Rosary takes an average of 18 minutes to complete. Sometimes I make a mental list before I begin of all the intentions and people for which I have been asked to pray. Then I pray a decade for each of them. Thus only one set of mysteries will rarely suffice. One could also make a written list of intentions and refer to it as necessary. If you pray 3 sets of mysteries with focus and reverence you will have prayed for close to 60 minutes. That, my friends, is a Holy Hour.

Another method that works for me is going in with a plan. That might sound like too methodical and trivial an approach to spending time in the Real Presence. Don't worry about it because spiritual exercises lead to spiritual fitness. When the biggest challenge to you is filling up an hour's time, it's OK to create a structure. Jesus will supply the grace if you make the effort. Soon, you will be so focused on your prayers that you won't pay any attention to time.

So what do I mean by a plan? Think ahead of what you will pray and who you will pray for. If you pray the Rosary, Stations of the Cross, and maybe a Chaplet, you will have prayed for close to an hour. You want to have some free time to make your introductory prayer as well as take enough time to thank Jesus for the privilege of being able to sit with Him.

I know from personal experience that before long, you will need more than an hour a week in His Company.

I not a fan of spiritual reading during Adoration with the exception of Scripture. II think it would be very efficacious to pray the Psalms in the Real Presence. You could also pray the Liturgy of the Hours before the Blessed Sacrament and thus you would help to develop in yourself two spiritual habits at once.

The one person to whom I gave a lapel pin is a daily communicant who never gave a thought to a Holy Hour before I approached him. His profession keeps him busy but he told me it will never keep him from his new-found pleasure.

"I can't believe how much I look forward to my hour every week and how quickly it goes by."

He is now spreading the word to his friends and family so they can reap the benefits as well.

Start with 15 minutes focused on Jesus and before long you will be able to make a Holy Hour. Make prayer part of your daily routine so that when you do have the opportunity to visit Him in Adoration, you won't have to fret about how you can "last" for an hour.

"Could you not stay awake with Me one hour?"

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Mary, Queen of Peace

Ever glorious and blessed Mary, Queen of Virgins, Mother of Mercy, hope and comfort of dejected and desolate souls, through that sword of sorrow which pierced thy tender heart whilst thine only Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord, suffered death and ignominy on the cross; through that filial tenderness and pure love He had for thee, grieving in thy grief, whilst from His cross He recommended thee to the care and protection of His beloved disciple, St. John, take pity, I beseech thee, on my poverty and necessities; have compassion on my anxieties and cares; assist and comfort me in all my infirmities and miseries, of every kind whatsoever. Thou art the Mother of Mercies, the sweet comforter and only refuge of the needy and the orphan, of the desolate and afflicted. Cast, therefore, an eye of pity on a miserable, forlorn child of Eve, and hear my prayer; for since, in just punishment of my sins, I find myself encompassed by a multitude of evils, and oppressed with much anguish of spirit, wither can I fly for more secure shelter, O amiable Mother of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, than under the wings of thy maternal protection? Attend, therefore, I beseech thee, with an ear of pity and compassion, to my humble and earnest request. I ask it, through the bowels of mercy of thy dear Son; Through that love and condescension wherewith He embraced our nature, when, in compliance with the divine Will, thou gavest thy consent, and whom, after the expiration of nine months thou didst bring forth from the chaste enclosure of thy womb, to visit the world, and bless it with His presence. I ask it, through that anguish of mind wherewith thy beloved Son, our dear Saviour, was overwhelmed on the Mount of Olives, when He besought His eternal Father to remove from Him, if possible, the bitter chalice of His future passion. I ask it, through the threefold repetition of His prayers in the garden, whence afterwards, with dolorous steps and mournful tears, thou didst accompany Him to the doleful theatre of His death and sufferings. I ask it, through the welts and bruises of His virginal flesh, occasioned by the cords and whips wherewith He was bound and scourged, when stripped of His seamless garment, for which His executioners afterwards cast lots. I ask it, through the scoffs and ignominies by which He was insulted; the false accusations and unjust sentence by which He was condemned to death, and which He bore with heavenly patience. I ask it, through His bitter tears and bloody sweat; His silence and resignation; His sadness and grief of heart. I ask it, through the blood which trickled from His royal and Sacred Head, when struck with the sceptre of a reed and pierced with His crown of thorns. I ask it, through the excruciating torments He suffered, when His hands and feet were fastened with gross nails to the tree of the cross. I ask it, through His vehement thirst, and bitter potion of vinegar and gall. I ask it, through His dereliction on the cross when He exclaimed, "My God! my God! why hast Thou forsaken me?" I ask it, through His mercy extended to the good thief, and through His recommending His precious soul and spirit into the hands of His eternal Father before He expired, saying, "It is consummated." I ask it, through the blood mixed with water, which issued from His Sacred Side when pierced with a lance, and whence a flood of grace and mercy has flowed to us. I ask it, through His immaculate life, bitter passion and ignominious death on the cross, at which nature itself was thrown into convulsions, by the bursting of rocks, rending of the veil of the Temple, the earthquake, and the darkness of the sun and moon. I ask it, through His descent into hell, where He confronted the Saints of the old law with His presence, and led the captivity captive. I ask it, through His glorious victory over death, when He arose again to life on the third day, and through the joy which His appearance for forty days after gave thee, His blessed Mother, His Apostles, and the rest of His Disciples; when in thine and their presence He miraculously ascended into heaven. I ask it, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, infused into the hearts of His Disciples, when He descended upon them in the form of fiery tongues, and by which they were inspired with zeal in the conversion of the world, when they went to preach the gospel. I ask it, through the awful appearance of thy Son, at the last dreadful day, when He shall come to judge the living and the dead, and the world, by fire. I ask it, through the compassion He bore thee in His life, and the unspeakable joy thou didst feel at thine assumption into heaven, where thou art eternally absorbed in the sweet contemplation of His divine perfections. O glorious and ever blessed Virgin! comfort the heart of thy supplicant, by obtaining for me, (Mention your prayer intention here...) And as I am persuaded my Divine Saviour doth honour thee as His beloved Mother, to whom He refuses nothing, because thou asketh nothing contrary to His honour, so let me speedily experience the efficacy of thy powerful intercession, according to the tenderness of thy maternal affection, and His filial loving heart, who mercifully granteth the requests and complieth with the desires of those that love and fear Him. Wherefore, O most blessed Virgin, beside the object of my present petition, and whatever else I may stand in need of, obtain for me also of thy dear Son, our Lord and our God, a lively faith, firm hope, perfect charity, true contrition of heart, unfeigned tears of compunction, sincere confession, condign satisfaction, abstinence from sin, love of God and my neighbour, contempt of the world, patience to suffer affronts and ignominies, nay, even, if necessary, an opprobrious death itself, for love of thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Obtain likewise for me, O sacred Mother of God, perseverance in good works, performance of good resolutions, mortification of self-will, a pious conversation through life, and, at my last moments, strong and sincere repentance, accompanied by such a lively and attentive presence of mind, as may enable me to receive the last Sacrament of the Church worthily, and die in thy friendship and favour. Lastly, obtain through thy Son, I beseech thee, for the souls of my parents, brethren, relatives and benefactors, both living and dead, life everlasting, from the only Giver of every good and perfect gift, the Lord God Almighty, to Whom be all power now and forever. Amen.

Prayer of St. Bonaventure

Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus, my inmost soul with the most joyous and healthful wound of Thy love, and with true, calm and most holy apostolic charity, that my soul may ever languish and melt with entire love and longing for Thee, may yearn for Thee and for thy courts, may long to be dissolved and to be with Thee.
Grant that my soul may hunger after Thee, the Bread of Angels, the refreshment of holy souls, our daily and super substantial bread, having all sweetness and savor and every delightful taste.
May my heart ever hunger after and feed upon Thee, Whom the angels desire to look upon, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of Thy savor; may it ever thirst for Thee, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of eternal light, the torrent of pleasure, the fullness of the house of God;
may it ever compass Thee, seek Thee, find Thee, run to Thee, come up to Thee, meditate on Thee, speak of Thee, and do all for the praise and glory of Thy name, with humility and discretion, with love and delight, with ease and affection, with perseverance to the end; and be Thou alone ever my hope, my entire confidence, my riches, my delight, my pleasure, my joy, my rest and tranquility, my peace, my sweetness, my food, my refreshment, my refuge, my help, my wisdom, my portion, my possession, my treasure; in Whom may my mind and my heart be ever fixed and firm and rooted immovably. Amen.

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God Bless You!

The Unprofitable Servant

Sunday, March 23, 2014

An Amateur's Advice on Learning to Love Adoration

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Mary, Queen of Peace

St Michael the Archangel

St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

St. Teresa Benedicta of The Cross