Have you ever wondered what it was like living during the time that Jesus did? Many of us have thought how wonderful it would have been to be a family friend of Mary and Joseph and to be invited to supper at their house. Or to be in the synagogue in Nazareth when Jesus read from Isaiah to announce his ministry. We might hunger for the opportunity to sit at Jesus’s feet and to learn from him like Martha’s sister, Mary, or to fetch water with the Virgin Mary and to hear her mother’s wisdom about her son, or to have been there for almost any incident recorded in the four Gospels.
We may not have time travel to help us go back to the first century to walk with Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and all the others, but we have the ability to be with Jesus face-to-face whenever we wish. This also means we can be close to Mary at the same time, because where Jesus is, we are told, there is Mary. This ability is Eucharistic adoration.
St. John Chrysostom asked, "How many of you say: I should like to see His face, His garments, His shoes. You do see Him, you touch Him, you eat Him. He gives Himself to you, not only that you may see Him, but also to be your food and nourishment" (Emphasis added).
We are so blessed as Catholics to believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the bread and wine consecrated during our sacred liturgy and sacrifice of the Mass. We not only have the ability to receive spiritual food and healing through partaking of the Body and Blood of Jesus, but because he is really, truly, most definitely present in the consecrated bread and wine (although as a rule the consecrated wine is not stored in the tabernacle between Masses), he never leaves us.
Think about that for a minute or two. Jesus loved you and me so much, and all the people who came before us and all those who will come after us, that he could not leave us as orphans when he died and was resurrected, and he said as much. He wanted to stay with us, and he did it in such a way that this very reality is possible in two ways: First through the Eucharistic liturgy, and second through perpetual adoration of his presence.
St. Theresa of Calcutta invites us to "Imagine for a moment that we are living in Jesus’ time and He has invited us to visit with Him and spend some quiet time getting to know Him better. Being aware who He was, we would be humbled and honored by such an invitation. The good news is that Jesus is here with us TODAY — body, blood, soul and divinity — in the Holy Eucharist. Although Jesus comes to us under the appearance of bread and wine, His presence is as real to us NOW as He was flesh-and-blood-real to His disciples when he walked this earth. He can perform miracles, heal us, teach us, and love us. We can talk to Him and He can speak to us through His Word and through the Holy Spirit who lives in us through our baptism and confirmation" (Emphasis added).
But there need to be two for a relationship to begin. And yes, when we regularly attend Mass and worthily partake of Jesus’ Body and Blood every Sunday and holy day, we are beginning to develop a relationship with our Lord. But there’s a reciprocity missing from this because of the imbalance of interaction. Jesus is giving all of himself to us after having died for us, while we somewhat shyly worship him from a distance.
This is right and necessary that we worship Our Lord and Savior. Much space was taken up in the Old Testament carefully spelling all of this out. It was so important that entire chapters of the Old Testament are spent on this, and we can read the early Church Fathers as well as in the Catechism of the Catholic Church to learn more about worship and the Mass. If that's not enough, there is a library of books that have been written over the past two thousand years.
Think of how you came to know your very best friend, or how you went about dating and getting to know the person you eventually married. The first obvious difference between worship and getting to know your closest friend and/or spouse was the kind of time you spent together: it was just the two of you spending time together, perhaps over coffee or a meal or walking in a park, and you talked. Oh. My. Goodness! Did you two talk, and talk, and talk!
What is your favorite book? Have you seen the movie “XYZ”? How do you think the Cowboys are playing this year? Tell me about your family? When can I meet them? What are you doing on Thursday? Shall we do dinner at The Diner? What are your thoughts on the election coming up? Are you Catholic like me?
You spend many happy hours in the presence of the person you want to get to know better. You learn about them. They learn about you. You laugh together. You might even cry together. With every hour spent and with every conversation and shared activity, you learn more and more, and the friendship begins, develops, and flourishes. Furthermore, the more you come to like and love this other person, you often find yourself just wanting to be in their presence. You also wish to introduce your new friend and/or spouse-to-be (maybe!) to your family, friends, and your parish community, but first, you spend time alone, asking the questions, and getting the answers to learn more about this special other person.
When’s the last time you shared a deep, meaningful conversation with Our Lord Jesus? When’s the last time you laughed with him? Or cried? Has there ever been a time you wanted to be enfolded into his expansive embrace giving him completely your exhaustion, your frustrations, your wordless and soundless sobs? When did you last allow yourself to be silent in his presence, to adore him and to love him?
Are you wondering “how is this even possible?” and “where and how can I do this?” It’s so easy, even a young child can do this. In fact, it might even be easier for a young child. Go to your nearest perpetual adoration chapel, or to the nocturnal adoration that many Catholic churches engage in on the first Thursday or first Friday of the month. Or to the Eucharistic adoration Holy Hour that is observed in conjunction with the Mass, and this might even include Benediction.
I can only speak to the perpetual adoration chapel in Abilene, Texas, which has seats for close to 30 people. I wish I could report that these chairs are nearly full each hour of the day with a reduced but healthy attendance during the midnight hours. It is 6:30 a.m. as I write this, and I am all alone. I am always alone during the early Sunday morning shift. But I take full advantage of being by myself, and I sing my favorite hymns to Jesus.
Ideally, there would be no fewer than two adorers for each and every hour. This provides a team for that hour, and they can cover one another in the event of an absence. It would be better still to have up to four or six adorers, which would guarantee coverage for absences and for emergencies. And while the typical adorer spends their time with Jesus prayerfully and silently, this also creates a “chapel family” as I refer to it. We need the support of other sincere, dedicated Catholic Christians to help keep us on our straight and narrow path to heaven. I’m blessed to do six or more Holy Hours each week spread out over four to five days. This has afforded me the opportunity to come to know and be blessed by the community of other adorers, who pray before and after me as well as those who come regularly to pray but are not committed to that time period.
I made a vow to Jesus a few years ago that I would do everything in my power to fill up the adoration chapel. The need is quite urgent, most especially during the midnight hours. I think we desperately need strong, prayerful men to pray for their families and the church during the hours of slumber. I considered doing an open letter to all the Knights of Columbus urging them to prayerfully commit to a nocturnal hour of adoration anywhere between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
But instead, I wish to speak to all good Catholic men. We desperately, chronically, eagerly need volunteers every night of every week to commit to these midnight hours, and we desperately need you, the sons, the brothers, the husbands, the fathers, and grandfathers who model themselves after St. Joseph and St. Michael. Just as you are willing to lay your life down for your family as Jesus did for us, I pray that your love for Jesus will prompt you to spend a Holy Hour in the dark of night to receive strength and guidance for being the spiritual leaders and servant of your family. I can imagine the many miracles that would unfold if men were praying for family, friends, and country while the rest of us slept!
We need more men in general in the chapel. I see a good number of men at every Mass, yet there seems to be mostly women committing to the chapel. I don’t think women are any more devout than men, or any more interested in developing a deeper relationship with Our Lord. I will concede that many women in the chapel are like myself and are retired, and there are many men (and women too) who are still working to support their families. But I’m not asking for a full day out of your week every week. I’m only asking for one hour. That’s all Jesus asked for from the disciples on the night he was betrayed … just one hour for them to pray with him while he prayed to his Father about the events about to come.
And guess what?
The disciples failed him.
The disciples, who were also his friends, failed to pray with their Master, and fell asleep instead. Jesus asked not once, but twice for them to pray along with him. Each time the disciples failed him. Just one hour. Sixty minutes. Nothing really. We watch television programs — several of them in a row! — that are an hour in length. We might watch a movie or a football game that will last between two and three hours in length.
Each of us has an hour somewhere in our week of 168 hours to give to spend time with Jesus. We just choose to spend that time doing something else. While you have that right to do as you please, you seem to be able to prioritize the one hour for Mass each week. Is it at all possible to carve out just one more hour that will pay more in spiritual riches than the one hour you spend?
St. Dominic Savio, so far the youngest non-martyr to be canonized at 13, says it well: "Do you want many graces? Go and visit the Blessed Sacrament often. Do you want few graces? Visit the Blessed Sacrament rarely. Do you want none at all? Then never pay a visit to the Blessed Sacrament." St. John Bosco, I believe, added that Satan would dominate if we never visited Jesus in adoration.
The late Pope Benedict XVI said: “Communicating with Christ demands that we gaze on him, allow him to gaze on us, listen to him, get to know him. Adoration is simply the personal aspect of Communion. … God is waiting for us in Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Let us not leave him waiting in vain! Let us not, through distraction and lethargy, pass by the greatest and most important thing life offers us" (Emphasis added).
Let us not leave Jesus alone on the altar, in the tabernacle, or in the perpetual adoration chapel. We, each of us, owe Jesus an hour weekly of our time to make up for what the disciples failed to do, and because we need him. We need to partake of his Body and Blood as frequently as possible. We also need to be with him, and him with us. St. John Paul II reminds and exhorts us: "Jesus waits for us. Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him in adoration and contemplation. May our adoration never cease" (Emphasis added).
Lord willing and the Holy Spirit nudging, perhaps one Sunday morning there will be other adorers to pray and sing to Jesus with me! Lord willing, and if the editor of the West Texas Angelus allows, there will be a Part 2 to this article with answers to the questions I know you have in your mind: What do I do for an hour during adoration? What do you do? What can be done?! Much, so very much! Until next time, I pray to see you in the chapel. More importantly, Jesus is waiting to see you!