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Eucharistic Adoration is Life Changing
The Anchoress ^ | June 30, 2009 | Elizabeth Scalia

Posted on 06/30/2010 4:34:30 PM PDT by NYer

I’ve written before how my fraying life snapped back into focus during a chance encounter with Eucharistic Adoration. I’d been driving down a street with the windows open and heard the noontime bells ring as I passed a church. Obeying an impulse – ahem – I decided to stop in and maybe light a candle.

When I entered the church I saw the altar, alive with candles, and the gleaming monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. “Oh, they do Adoration here,” I thought, with something like joy bubbling up inside me. I fell to my knees before the Presence and simply, quietly adored for what I thought was five minutes. When I rose and looked at the clock, an hour had passed.

Nothing in my life has been the same, since then. And that is a very good thing. Since that experience I have rarely missed a chance to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, and when a week goes past without that opportunity, I can feel the lack and the longing. Last year’s retreat, which afforded me the opportunity to Adore for hours was, as regular readers may remember, when I returned, everything was different. It still is; the lessons of that retreat have not yet run out.

Little have I realized, as we learn here, in this little gem of an exposition on the subject by Fr. Robert Barron, of Word on Fire, that some would see my love of Adoration as a sign of my ignorant, ill-educated mind. I am, of course, ignorant and ill-educated, but my visits to the Eucharistic Christ do supplement my education. I once heard a nun describe Adoration as being analogous to sitting in the sun. You don’t feel its effect until later.

Related:
Jennifer Fulwiler, former atheist, makes me jealous as she recounts her monastic retreat and what she learned from living on a monastic prayer schedule
Category: Eucharist


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Prayer; Worship
KEYWORDS: eucharisticadoration

1 posted on 06/30/2010 4:34:35 PM PDT by NYer
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To: netmilsmom; thefrankbaum; markomalley; Tax-chick; GregB; saradippity; Berlin_Freeper; Litany; ...

Ping!


2 posted on 06/30/2010 4:35:16 PM PDT by NYer ("God dwells in our midst, in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar." St. Maximilian Kolbe)
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To: NYer

... can you give us a Biblical reference for this
practice - one that commands or shows the Church
was encouraged to do this?

Thanks


3 posted on 06/30/2010 5:05:35 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

We’re not bound by your sola scriptura.


4 posted on 06/30/2010 5:18:54 PM PDT by Gapplega
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To: NYer

It does pull, that’s for sure. In my parish, the unfortunate thing is that the Adoration Hour is during Saturday confessions. Considering the lines for the Sacrament of Penance, it seriously cuts down on the hour.


5 posted on 06/30/2010 5:18:54 PM PDT by Desdemona (One Havanese is never enough.)
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To: Gapplega

“We’re not bound by your sola scriptura.”

As a Catholic, I find that statement peculiar.

ampu


6 posted on 06/30/2010 6:17:39 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

I didn’t know you were a Catholic, I apologize.


7 posted on 06/30/2010 6:37:56 PM PDT by Gapplega
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To: Gapplega

Gapplega,

No apology necessary. Just because Catholics believe in
tradition AND the Bible doesn’t mean we don’t cherish
and honor the commands and instruction of Scripture.

I was simply asking for a Bible reference that commanded
or encouraged the Church to adore the Eucharist. If there
isn’t one, I assume it was either part of the tradition
that was passed from the first century church or was added
much later on and wondered how it fit in the big picture.

I personally don’t do it, so I was asking about how
it began.

Thanks,
ampu


8 posted on 06/30/2010 6:43:58 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: NYer
Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapels Everywhere
spells
P.E.A.C.E.
Great story and extraordinary image (ty).
Adoration locations here.

9 posted on 06/30/2010 8:06:12 PM PDT by mlizzy (Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee ...)
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

“I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other God before me.”


10 posted on 06/30/2010 8:41:27 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: mlizzy

I like that acronym

But how about
Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel Everyday??


11 posted on 06/30/2010 8:46:55 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Salvation
Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel Everyday??
Yes, that's good too! We are fortunate to have three Adoration chapels within 20 minutes of us; one due east, another due south, and the other due west. And who knows, maybe there is one to the north of us as well.:)
12 posted on 06/30/2010 8:52:09 PM PDT by mlizzy (Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee ...)
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
Formal Eucharistic Adoration outside Mass began around the eleventh century. Therefore, it is from tradition. It's a form of prayerful adoration.

When it comes to the prayerful adoration of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, one can mistakenly think that this act of worship pertains only to the spiritual life of the individual. While it is true that for any degree of deep experience of Christ's presence in the Eucharist, silent prayer and adoration are necessary, this prayer also pertains to the whole community of His Church. We do not pray to Christ in the Eucharist “alone with the Alone,” to quote an old formula of the mystics. Eucharistic adoration is best understood as an extension of the thanksgiving after Communion in the Mass.

During the time of the Protestant reformation, Luther, Calvin and Zwingli rejected the belief in the sacrifice of the Mass, the sacrificial priesthood, transubstantiation and the real presence. Consequently, they also rejected devotions like adoration and benediction. In response, the Council of Trent in its “Decree on the Most Holy Eucharist” (1551) taught, “There remains, therefore, no room for doubting that all of the faithful of Christ, in accordance with the perpetual custom of the Catholic Church, must venerate this most holy sacrament with the worship of which is due to the true God. Nor is it to be less adored because it was instituted by Christ the Lord to be received. For in it we believe that the same God is present whom the eternal Father brought into the world, saying, ‘Let all God’s angels worship Him,’ whom the Magi fell down to worship, and whom, finally, the apostles adored in Galilee as Scripture testifies.... “ The Council condemned those who rejected this teaching and those that held “that the sacrament is not to be honored with special festive celebrations nor solemnly carried in processions according to the praiseworthy universal rite and custom of the holy Church, or that it is not to be publicly exposed for the people’s adoration.... “. So, it's a matter of acceptance in faith and tradition that we have this form of prayer. We Catholics are a prayerful people as the Lord through scripture has told us to “pray always”. We have many, many ways and forms of prayer. This is part and parcel of our faith.

No Christian can demonstrate from Scripture alone why it is that he or she believes such a thing, since no verse or combination of verses in Scripture irrefutably teaches the belief. For example, the authors of the Gospels: Again, Scripture doesn't’t tell us that the Gospel of Matthew, for instance, was written by Matthew. The titles to the Gospels are known to us only through Sacred Tradition — Scripture doesn't’t say who wrote them.

We attain salvation through faith alone: While numerous passages of Scripture state that faith is necessary for salvation, none say that faith alone saves. In fact, Scripture specifically denies that faith alone saves in Jas. 2:24, while simultaneously pointing out the necessity of good works for salvation in several other passages, such as Eph. 2:8-10; Jn. 14:15; 1 Jn. 5:1-3; Mt. 25:31-46; and Gal. 6:2.

So, this is my belief, this is OUR (Catholic) belief. We can dialogue on it but will not argue over who is right and who is wrong or who's going to Hell. Hope this might help with your question.

13 posted on 07/01/2010 6:20:26 AM PDT by Jim Shoe
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To: Jim Shoe

Jim,
Thanks for taking time to share your understanding of
the adoration of the Lord’s Supper. I enjoyed reading your
thoughts.

I will reflect some back to you ...

... you wrote, “No Christian can demonstrate from Scripture alone why it is that he or she believes such a thing, since no verse or combination of verses in Scripture irrefutably teaches the belief.”

I believe you are correct. It was added in the 11th century, but was not practiced in by the Apostles or Church members in any source I am aware of. As such, it isn’t part of the tradition handed down, as Scripture mentions.

... you wrote, “Again, Scripture doesn’t tell us that the Gospel of Matthew, for instance, was written by Matthew. The titles to the Gospels are known to us only through Sacred Tradition — Scripture doesn’t say who wrote them.”

Nor do we need to know. Nor is it necessary for our daily faith or practice.

... you wrote, “While numerous passages of Scripture state that faith is necessary for salvation, none say that faith alone saves.”

Our justification comes by God’s gracious gift, through faith alone, as the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 4 and in chapter 5, which I quote below:

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”

... you wrote, “In fact, Scripture specifically denies that faith alone saves in Jas. 2:24, while simultaneously pointing out the necessity of good works for salvation in several other passages, such as Eph. 2:8-10”

Actually, Jim, what it says is that true saving faith is always accompanied with works that demonstrate the faith is real. To claim to have faith and yet have a life barren of good works demonstrates you do not have saving faith.

Again, thank you for your thoughtful expression in your post. While I disagree with many of the later accretions in the Church being considered equal to that which God specifically says, and that which the Apostles handed directly down, I try to leave room for private practice when it doesn’t contradict the Bible.

Best to you,
ampu


14 posted on 07/01/2010 2:22:52 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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