The TV is blaring. The kids are playing loudly. The teen-agers have an exploding computer game going on. Your phone dings again with a new text or email. Your spouse is trying to let you know the plans for the weekend. It seems like the world does not slow down, nor does it have a volume switch to turn low.
Eucharistic Adoration is silent. There is a peace there that can’t be found anywhere else. Nothing else matters: only your conversation with Christ. It is a time to worship, adore, pray, request, thank, listen, think, read, or simply “be” with the One who loves you most. If you want to nurture a relationship or a friendship, you would want to spend time together. God invites you to do just that.
But isn’t that what Mass is about? Absolutely - but Christ invites us to grow closer to Him in every way possible. At Mass, we listen to His Word and partake in the sacred meal of the Eucharist as a family. But if the Mass is the “source and summit of our Catholic faith,” Eucharistic Adoration is an emanation, an extension, a deepening of what we experience at Mass. It’s that valuable, precious one-on-one time with God.
When the priest consecrates the bread and wine, it goes through “transubstantiation.” It still looks like bread and wine, but our faith tells us that it is truly the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ. Why do we believe this? Because He tells us so:
“'I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.' Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, 'How can this man give us His flesh to eat?' So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink,'” (John 6:51-55).
Christ knew we needed this gift of experiencing His real presence in our physical world. It is this tangible Eucharist itself, the consecrated host that is at Adoration.
The first time I went to Adoration, I had to get used to the quiet. I had to slow my breathing down and rein in my racing thoughts about things I had to do, places to go, people I needed to see. As I started to feel more at peace, I was surprised by how present God was in the space. The hour flew by as I brought my worries and burdens to Him and, in turn, felt awash with graces He was giving me to meet my challenges. From then on, I sought out Adoration where I could.