Eucharistic adoration is a time of silence in the presence of Christ present in the consecrated host at Mass. This personal prayer is also a prayer of the Church: here are twelve pieces of advice to welcome what Jesus wants to say to us.
GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES
You enter this place of prayer where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed. You get down on your knees and bow your head as a sign of worship. You adore Christ present in the consecrated host by the external homage of your body. You make the sign of the cross slowly, representing each person of the Trinity present in you: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen”. You kneel for a few minutes or sit down, as it suits you.
BEGIN WITH AN ACT OF FAITH
You begin your silent adoration with an act of faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. “Lord, I believe that you are present under the sign of bread in the host. I love you and I thank you.” Throughout the time of worship, renew your prayer with an act of faith that is invigorated by love. “Jesus, I believe, but increase my faith.” These first steps of worship are important because they set the tone for putting oneself immediately in the presence of God.
GO DOWN INTO YOUR HEART
Worship requires no complicated technique. Everything must remain simple. Love is the royal path that opens the door of the silent heart to heart. “Lord, I love you. Open my heart to your action.” You descend into your heart, into that deep part of your being that allows you to enter into relationship with the Father, the Son and the Spirit. Ask the Spirit to help you to surrender yourself to the Father, to deposit in you the same feelings that inhabited the heart of Jesus.
PRAY WITH YOUR DISTRACTIONS
You close your eyes, you worship silently. You offer Jesus what you are and what you live. You talk to him like a friend. Voices and thoughts arise within you as soon as you begin to recollect. Pray with your distractions. Offer to Jesus your worries and anxieties. Take care of him, he will take care of you. Talk to him, he will talk to you his way. Stay close to him, he will stay close to you. And your heart will rest close to his.
LISTEN WHILE WATCHING HIM
Eucharistic adoration is the simplest and most direct way to see God here on earth. Be present to His Presence. You look at Jesus, he looks at you. If you only know how to do that, to know that he looks at you with love, that is already a lot. Look at the host, the cross or the tabernacle, and you will see how much he loved you and how much he loves you at this moment. Tell him you love him with all your heart, even if you do not feel anything. He wants to draw you into the sweetness of his heart. Stay in his love. Listen to what he has to say.
REPEAT A SHORT PRAYER
This is not the time to pray and read a book. Stay close to your heart and let the presence of God overtake you. Choose a verse from a psalm, an extract from the gospel of the day, a short prayer that you repeat with the heart, without effort, according to what you live. Examples: “Come, Jesus“; “Lord Jesus, Son of the living God, have mercy on me“; “I adore you, Lord“; “I love you“; “Blessed are you“; “My Lord and my God“; “Jesus sweet and humble of heart“; “Father, in Jesus, give me the Spirit“; “Jesus, make me your witness“…
EXPOSE YOURSELF TO THE PRESENCE OF JESUS
Expose yourself to the burning love of Christ. You become what you contemplate. Look at him, you’ll be enlightened. He is where you let him in. Receive his light that emanates from his divinity. Ask your guardian angel to help you worship. There is no point in talking much, a sigh of love is enough, or a single word: “Abba“, “Jesus“, “Holy Spirit“. Give thanks to this God who loves you as you are and calls you to eternal life. Recognize that you are worthy of being loved.
TELL HIM YOU LOVE HIM
Time is precious, you burn it for God in worship. You are tired, distracted, tormented. The minutes are long. Return to the prayer of the heart, to a short formula that can inflame your heart. Start praying again and invoke the Holy Spirit who helps your weakness. Tell Christ you love him, even if you do not feel anything. Before the realism of the host, you express your relationship to God, you commune with the breath of the Spirit, you become a praise of glory in the heaven of your soul.
THANK THE LORD
Jesus is there for you, every moment. Thank him for his love that nourishes the intimate conversation you live with him. Admire what he does for you: he hides his glory in the host so as not to blind you, he hides his perfection so as not to discourage you, he lets you see what you can bear, he waits for your heart to open completely to his mercy so that he can spread his waves of tenderness there. Jesus is always ahead of you. He gave you the grace to answer his call and spend an hour in his sacramental presence. “The Master is there, and he calls you” (Jn 11:28).
QUENCH THE THIRST OF JESUS
“Give me something to drink”, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman. He revealed to several mystics his thirst to be loved in the Blessed Sacrament. His desire is to find worshippers in spirit and truth to spread His infinite love. He hides under the appearances of bread and wine so that his poverty and simplicity may also be yours. Join your prayer with his. Quench Jesus by adoring him in the host, letting yourself be loved by him and recognizing him present in others, especially the little ones, following the example of Blessed Charles de Foucauld and Mother Teresa. Then you give him love for love, and God pours out his Spirit in you.
LET YOURSELF TRANSFORM WITH MARY
Jesus is there in his sacrament of love. You came to him with your burden. Put him at his feet and rest in him, he will comfort you. Take Mary to your house; she was the first tabernacle to carry the bread of life. Unite your adoration to his adoration, from the Crib to Calvary. A woman of silence with Joseph, she invites you to remain in the silence of your Upper Room and to let yourself be transformed by adoration. She accompanies you during and after prayer. So, when you finish your time of worship, when you bow your head again and make the sign of the cross, know that Mary and Joseph are never far from you to lead you always to Jesus.
BECOME the EUCHARIST
The more you worship, the more your faith increases, the more you become thanksgiving. You enter into the intimacy of Christ; his body and blood are transfused into you. You become a Eucharist, as the poet Patrice de La Tour du Pin said. He discovered that, like the leaves and plants which, through the process of photosynthesis, absorb elements from the soil, air and light, the soul which is exposed to the sun of the Eucharist captures a divine life which nourishes it. The true sun is this host that spreads a new dawn in your heart. You become yourself a host that that Christ divinizes so that you may transform humanity into his body and blood. Saint Paul also expresses this Eucharistic becoming in these words: “We all reflect the glory of the Lord, and are transfigured in his image with increasing glory, by the action of the Lord who is Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18).
