ADORATION IN THE YEAR OF THE EUCHARIST

“During this year Eucharistic adoration outside Mass should become a particular commitment for individual parish and religious communities.”[1]

 

Adoration is so many things

 

1. Adoration is about being human

 

We all have an innate capacity for adoration. Every man and woman; every child and elderly person; people of every race, nation, color and social class; each one been given the gift of wonder by the God who is always greater. Adoration, then, is, first and foremost, something deeply human. It is about who we are as human beings. It is something rooted in our humanity.

 

 

It is what a mother feels when cradling a new-born child in her arms for the very first time. It is the amazement that shines in the deep, black eyes of the Mapuche who, with his ear pressed close to Mother earth, listens to the awakening of the life of the whole forest in her maternal womb. It is awe at the immensity of the sea, the sparkle of snow capped mountains or the power of the hurricane storm.  It is the wonder that dilates theeyes and heart of a child captivated by the magic of the adventure of life. It is the spontaneous applause or the emotion in moist eyes before the beauty of a symphony or a tiny flower. It is the admiration we feel in face of an act of heroism or our astonishment on experiencing the wonders of the cyber world for the first time.

 

2. Adoration is a spiritual experience

  But the sense of wonder is always a spiritual experience.  It is the dynamic quality of our relationship with God, engraved deep within us where our littleness and fragility become dependent on his transcendence. When fear becomes reverence; astonishment becomes the gaze of contemplation open to the divine mystery;  applause dies away to be lost in worship and praise; and wonder becomes adoration.

 

And when that relationship is with the Christian God, who has been seduced by humanity, by you and by me, who loves us madly and passionately, adoration is simply a matter of allowing oneself to be loved.  It is to know that one is embraced, incredibly; it is to feel oneself caressed, beyond belief; it is to stammer with amazement : “I love you too”. It is to live on one’s knees, surprised by the tenderness of God. It is a way of being: that of adorers in “spirit and in truth” who live totally dependent on God, who fills every moment of their everyday lives.  It is a special way of seeing reality; seeing it with a pure heart which catches glimpses of God everywhere.

 

3. Adoration is about following Jesus Christ

 

Adoration is also to follow Christ closely; to identify with Jesus, the beloved Son, who adores the Father. Imitating his willingness to be open to others and near to them; present in flesh and blood. His readiness to bring about new birth; to give new life, life in abundance. Being ready to be fully committed, as “bread that is broken” in God’s hands for everyone, for always, in the Eucharist.

 

It is also the thrilling conviction that “God is here as surely as the air I breathe”. It is to say in loving amazement that this is so. It is to feel like dancing interiorly on recognizing him in the bread; it is a heart set on fire. It is apostolic engagement, spending time contemplating others with their hopes and fears. It is a tender embrace which opens wide to encircle the whole world. It is that ‘wasting time” on one’s knees which proclaims and builds the Kingdom.

 

4. Eucharistic adoration

 

To adore Jesus in the Eucharist means being involved in his cause, following his style of life and walking in the path of his destiny. It is to ruminate on the words “this is my body which is given for you’, rejoicing in his redemptive action made present in each Eucharist. It is to learn to commit oneself and to nourish in oneself the desire to give one’s life for one’s brothers and sisters. It is learning to love with no limits. It is praying for the many who are present in the Heart of Christ pierced by the lance. It is interceding for all those we know through television and news headlines, and for all those whose suffering is hidden or denied.

 

To adore Jesus in the Eucharist is also to become completely immersed in the forgiveness of sins. It is to recognize oneself to be a sinner but embraced by the Father who daily awaits our return, scanning the horizon for the one who is lost. It is to experience the maternal love of a God who understands us, whose love is greater than our weakness, our limitations and our failings and whose caress restores and renews us. It is to be filled with the compassion of a God who is rich in mercy. It is to become an echo of the liberating cry of Christ crucified: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”.  Father, forgive us; me and you, and all of us who suffer and make others suffer, sometimes without knowing it, usually without meaning to.

 

To adore Jesus in the Eucharist is also to enter into the dynamic process of bread and wine  which are “fruit of the earth and work of human hands”, the hands of people of our times and of our countries. It is a space where we can allow ourselves to be touched by a greater spirit of solidarity, to become one with all people, as Jesus did. It is to have reverence for the earth which is threatened by pollution and pillage. It is to place oneself side by side with the oppressed peasant farmers and the laborers of the world. It is to denounce exploitation, unjust wages, disregarded rights, misappropriation of lands.

 

To adore Jesus in the Eucharist is also a lesson in humility and littleness. To contemplate Jesus is to gaze on one who was rich but made himself poor; the all powerful who made himself weak; the great God who made himself small, who became a child, a man, bread. It is to contemplate the one who fills the Universe and is the plenitude of all that is, who emptied himself. It is to look with pure eyes and to see God in the poor and little ones. It is to discover the beauty that is hidden in what is small and the attractive quality of humility. So we leave eucharistic adoration, perhaps, in a somewhat humbler frame of mind and perhaps a little smaller in our own eyes.

 

To adore is so many things. But above all it is an appointment with Jesus Christ, and with all that he was, all that he is. An appointment, too, with the whole of humanity, with all that is and all that it can be. An appointment that places us at the heart of reality and of history. An appointment which flies by in his company.

 

Eucharistic adoration cannot be separated from what we are as human beings, created by God and called to be followers of Jesus. But to able to adore him is the greatest marvel of all.

                                                                                           

 

                                          Margaret Scott aci