At 8:00 A.M. Arizona Time, tomorrow morning (11:00 A.M. EST), Pope Francis will gather with the universal Church on the Feast of Corpus Christi to adore the Most Blessed Sacrament in Adoration. This historic event in the life of the Church is bringing many graces and giving the people of the Church energy in times of great distress. It’s the event in the Year of Faith uniting Catholics worldwide as one. See the National Catholic Register – Adoration with the Pope Energizing Catholics Worldwide. I encourage you to locate a parish that is offering Adoration tomorrow so you can join Pope Francis and Catholics worldwide in prayer.

Personally, I love the practice of Eucharistic Adoration (currently every Monday night at 8:00 P.M.). I first learned of it when I was an adolescent at my parish here in Arizona when our pastor at the time built an adoration chapel. The parish exploded with great faith, enthusiasm, and love for the Body and Blood of Jesus Church as Perpetual Adoration (24 hours a day) began at the parish. Throughout my life, Eucharistic Adoration has been an important part of my prayer life. From my days in the Saint Ignatius Institute at University of San Francisco as an undergrad to my days as a graduate student at Franciscan University of Steubenville, adoring the Most Blessed Sacrament has been fundamental for my personal friendship with Jesus Christ, His Blessed Mother, and the universal Church.

Although in Adoration most people often pray during their one-hour time with Jesus, I have found myself often reading spiritual books or studying in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I know I am in good company since many of the great Saints and Doctors of the Church did the same thing. St. Thomas Aquinas would often write before the Blessed Sacrament and when he really had a difficult time with a theological concept, would rest his head upon the Tabernacle. It has not come to that for me as of yet, but of course I am nowhere near the theologian Thomas was in his day (not even close!!).

If you don’t sign up for Adoration, you will never go! I say this from experience.

If your parish does not host Perpetual Adoration, then go to your Pastor and ask him to start it. It’s his responsibility to do so!  If he refuses, locate another parish and attend Adoration there.

To conclude, I give you the words of Blessed John Paul II from his Encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, in the hope that his words will give you the strength to spend one hour a week with Our Lord Jesus Christ in His Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar –

“”The worship of the Eucharist outside of the Mass is of inestimable value for the life of the Church. This worship is strictly linked to the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice…It is the responsibility of pastors to encourage, also by their personal witness, the practice of Eucharistic adoration, and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in particular, as well as prayer of adoration before Christ present under the Eucharistic species…This practice, repeatedly praised and recommended by the Magisterium, is supported by the example of the saints…St. Alphonus Liguori, who wrote: “Of all devotions, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us”” (#25).

Let us pray that we come to love and adore the Most Blessed Sacrament of our Lord Jesus Christ more each day through the celebration of the Holy Mass but also through the worship and adoration of His most precious Body outside of the Liturgy. We ask all the Saints and the Blessed Mother under title of Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament to intercede and pray for us each day.