Praying in His Presence

 As a teen, I passed my parish church, as I walked to school.  Sometimes, I stopped in the church, to spend time before the Tabernacle.  I would talk to God.  The church was always opened.  So sometimes, I'd pray on my way to school, sometimes, after.

Why don't priest encourage this practice?  Nowadays, Adoration is encouraged.  Back in my day, we had Adoration, too.  I specifically remember Mass with benediction and Adoration offered.  

For some reason, Adoration never caught on, in my parish.  Years back, we tried Adoration of Fridays, after the 9 o'clock Mass, until 5.  It was torturous trying to get people to come.  Finally, one pastor ended it and the lady who scheduled the hours for Adoration was relieved.  It was such a burden because if she had no one to come for an hour, she filled in.  

Anyway, the pastor said that the reason Adoration never took hold was because all we parishes in the area were trying the same devotion.  We were competing with each other.  

We do have a spiritual center in the area.  We leave Adoration to that place, Betania II.  They have 24 hour Adoration.

However, why the push for Adoration when we can stop in any Catholic Church, anytime the spirit moves us, to spend time before the Tabernacle?  That seems so much easier.  Perpetual Adoration at Betania II Catholic Evangelization Center. Published Jan. 19 2024. Specials. (thebostonpilot.com)

Eucharist Adoration

 It’s 7:00 AM, and the Blessed Sacrament is exposed under a rich canopy; during the night, the women took turns in adoration.  The year is 1864 and the women are prisoners in Cadillac, France.

They were 397 women, relatively young, their crimes ranging from murder, robbery, and prostitution.  Illiteracy was very common.  A Dominican preacher was requested to begin a retreat in preparation to beginning perpetual Adoration.  In these days, people didn’t receive Communion frequently and Adoration was considered a spiritual communion.

The friar was fairly new.  His name was M. Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P.* In order not to interfere with the labor of the prisoners, the retreat time had to be taken from the inmates’ sleep.  Imagine the trembling, young friar presenting himself at the prison door. Imagine him looking over the sleepy congregation, kerchiefed heads bowed down.  Would they not listen to him, fall asleep, be disrespectful, or even mock him out loud?  Here is how Father Lataste described his state of mind:

They were there, almost four hundred of them, dressed in shabby clothes, a handkerchief tightly wound their temples, giving them a very unusual appearance which somehow was offensive to me.  The point is I was prejudice. In fact, I had a horror of them.

At the beginning of the first sermon, the preacher went beyond his personal repulsion, and raised his eyes to his audience.  His first words, his greeting, landed like a bomb.

My dear sisters,…

He didn’t call them sinners, and rant about their crimes and scream at them to repent. Rather, he spoke of God’s love.  As he talked about the mercy of God, he heard them sobbing.  Gradually, their handkerchief heads rose, with eyes wet with tears.

He was the first one to be converted.

They brightened at the story of Jesus exorcising the demons from Mary Magdalene.  They asked about the love of Mary Magdalene for Jesus.  Could Jesus love them?

I spoke to them of God’s great mercy, of God’s great love, of God’s preferential love for sincerely repentant souls who want to love like Magdalene.  You would have seen them gently raise their heads, like flowers after a storm when the sun comes out to touch them.  Their faces lit up little by little; it seemed that they breathed more easily and that the walls of the prison, heavy as they were, had become light.

He told them when they knelt in front of the monstrance, to give Jesus their love like Mary Magdalene did--to speak to Him from their hearts.  God loved them and would forgive them for their transgressions.  The mercy of God respects the basic dignity of every human being, who is called to holiness whatever their past.

The women looked at the Blessed Sacrament in awe.  It was a mystery.  They wondered if it were true that Jesus could love them.  He loved Mary Magdalene.  He loved Dismas.  He was God; His mercy was endless; His forgiveness was given; His love was for them.  They could feel it.  Finally, they were free to love Jesus.  They would be like Mary Magdalene and love Him, forever.  Their hearts beat in unison with the pulsating joy and happiness emanating from the Monstrance.

*Blessed M. Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P. founded the Dominican Sisters of Bethany, with some of these same inmates.  His cause for canonization is being considered. He is known as the Apostle to Prisoners.

Quotes from My Dear Sisters, Fr. Jean-Marie Guellette, O.P., New Hope Publications, 2018.

Why Adoration?

While treading water at Menauhant Beach, my friend and I were discussing Eucharist Adoration. (Doesn't everybody do that at the beach?)  Our parish has stopped Adoration, for the summer.  My friend expressed the opinion that she doesn't see, nor understand the reason for Adoration.  Why is it even needed, when Jesus is everywhere, and especially present, in the Tabernacle?

At the time, I couldn't think of a response.  (Getting sunstroke is as good a reason as any.)  However, I've been thinking and praying about an answer, ever since.  I even solicited help from my Facebook friends.  And their posts kept me thinking.

This is what I'm going to explain to her.  Appealing to the magisterium of the Church doesn't reach everybody.  Many find it difficult and are not inclined that way.  What does appeal to everybody is attaining a personal relationship with God.  A good teacher will use visual, auditory, and tactile means to get a lesson across.  Hence, to give the people a personal relationship with Jesus, visual, audio, and tactile means will work well.

Although anybody and everyone may enter a Catholic Church and pray before the Tabernacle, it isn't the same as a beautiful visual aid, known as Eucharistic Adoration.  That is obvious.  The Host in the monstrance is drawing all eyes to adore It.  Add benediction and the smell of incense will appeal to the senses.  Chant and song, and people are really participating in communal praise and glory to God.

What more could the people need?

Ah...a loving feminine touch would complete the devotion.  Praying the rosary  (fingering prayer beads) is a long established method of relating to Jesus, through His Mother.

I therefore conclude that Eucharistic Adoration is not more important than spending prayer time before the Tabernacle, but it is one very powerful devotion that has a unique importance all on its own.