I’m seeing stuff here and there about the dangers of a devotion to Eucharistic Adoration, i.e., spending time before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, fully present in Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. It seems some people are afraid this will detract from devotion to the celebration of the Eucharist during the Mass (the one involving actual Communion), and further, that it may distract from Christ as He is present in the faithful (and in every person). That is, Adorers may end up spending so much time and energy praying before the Sacrament that they neglect to serve others in love.
Not buying. Not without hard evidence that this is really a problem. I’m in the both/and/but school, and I suspect others are as well. I can recognize and love Jesus in BOTH the Eucharist AND my neighbor, BUT I can still make a distinction about the ways in which He is present in each.
A cloistered contemplative hermit could faithfully serve the Mystical Body even if he never saw another person in his life besides the One he adored in the Eucharist. I’m not a cloistered contemplative hermit – I live in the world, and have an obligation in charity to my neighbors, starting with my family. But if I take time out of my life to get to Adoration, that’s not necessarily a subtraction from my service to the Church. Quite the opposite.
At least, that’s how I see it. Anybody else?
Where did you read that?!? I missed something….
It seems like a devotion to the Eucharist can only AID one in charity towards others….
And wouldn’t it lead to a greater understanding of the Eucharist and desire to receive more often???
There are numerous instances where a parish has been literally turned on it’s head b/c of perpetual adoration…a good exmple being right here in my home parish…
The priest that was sent in as a replacement was “known” to be more liberal than most, and my friends and I groaned… 🙂 But he has taken up perpetual adoration, and the result has been astounding…to the point that he is now seeking to get the tabernacle placed back in the church, behind the altar!
The spiritual life of the parish has grown, and where grace is….charity must abound!
makes sense to me….
I had a Jesuit priest tell me once that he feared the Catholic Church was becoming too much like a cult of the Eucharist.
The only thing I could think to say was, “Well, it kinda is…” I think I said a few other things than that, but I remember that was my first response.
All things start with Jesus. If the Eucharist is just a sign/symbol, well, then to hell with it – I believe this is an O’Connor line? But if the Eucharist really is Jesus, as we believe He is, well, then I pray we all have a devotion to spend time before Him in all places where He is manifest.
I’m with Nutmeg: I’d love to see where you’re seeing the naysayers.
I spent a half hour today reciting the Rosary for the Holy Souls in Purgatory (thank you Susan Tassone – buy her books) in front of the Eucharist with Monstrance etal for exposition.
Even though I went to confession last week, I’m thinking of going again this week and doing nutty things like being nicer to my wife, kids and neighbors, volunteering at the school and, in general, trying, with the help of Grace, to be more perfectly formed in Charity.
There is one sad side effect, though. I have a decreased desire to be An Extrordinary Eucharistic Minister.
If you’re looking for naysayers, or at least people who are concerned, you might start here. That’s a nice mild place.
p.s. In case it was insufficiently clear in the post, I’m pretty pro-Adoration, as in, it’s a staple of my spiritual life.
I once heard that the Psalmist prophesied the two ways in which we encounter the Eucharistic Lord when he sang, “Taste and see the Goodness of the Lord.” Obviously tasting would refer to reception of communion and the seeing could reasonably be understood as refering to adoration. Something struck me as particularly beautiful about that. Thought I’d share…
I think you’re right on the money about adoration. In my experience as the adoration scheduler at our parish, the set of people who go to adoration and the set who go to daily Mass overlap substantially.
These same people are also, in my estimation, the most faithful people in the parish (tithing, volunteering, etc.) and the kindest.
I agree totally with you about Adoration. My parish doesn’t have it, unfortunately. For the life of me, I can’t see how Adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament can be considered a “threat” — didn’t JPII refer to the Eucharist as the “summit and Source of Life” for the Church. How can spending time with Jesus NOT make one a better Christian. At the moment, I go once a month (at 5 AM on Wednesdays) to a church about 30 min. drive from my own house to make an hour of Adoration. I’m seriously considering upping that time to once a week. Jesus is my Beloved, and I want to spend much more time with Him.
Yeah I saw those comments. The people I know who spend an hour or so with the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament are some of the most loving, faithful, and kind Catholics I know. It cracks me up, too much devotion may cause harm to society, yeah right!!! It’s almost like that stupid comment, “They’re so heavenly minded they’re no earthly good.” That may make for a “cute” comment but the Apostle Paul wouldn’t agree considering he says the opposite in Col 3 about us needing to set our minds on things above. Spending time with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament gives us the eschatological vision needed in order to be true servants in the world.
I agree totally with you about Adoration. My parish doesn’t have it, unfortunately. For the life of me, I can’t see how Adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament can be considered a “threat” — didn’t JPII refer to the Eucharist as the “summit and Source of Life” for the Church. How can spending time with Jesus NOT make one a better Christian. At the moment, I go once a month (at 5 AM on Wednesdays) to a church about 30 min. drive from my own house to make an hour of Adoration. I’m seriously considering upping that time to once a week. Jesus is my Beloved, and I want to spend much more time with Him.
I apologize I meant to cut and paste my comments which were the ones given at 2:41 p.m. “Yeah I saw those comments. The people I know who spend an hour or so with the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament are some of the most loving, faithful, and kind Catholics I know. It cracks me up, too much devotion may cause harm to society, yeah right!!! It’s almost like that stupid comment, “They’re so heavenly minded they’re no earthly good.” That may make for a “cute” comment but the Apostle Paul wouldn’t agree considering he says the opposite in Col 3 about us needing to set our minds on things above. Spending time with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament gives us the eschatological vision needed in order to be true servants in the world.” Sorry for my massive screw up.
Matthew,
This has probably already been said, but there’s hardly been a single Catholic saint who has not had some sort of devotion to the Eucharist (i.e. outside of Mass).
I guess peple like St. Francis and St. Thomas Aquinas – the heart and mind of Catholicism, to name just two – were just too hung up on Jesus to care about anyone else….
Those saints! So selfish….
JOB