Adoration is a form of prayer that uniquely places an
emphasis on you and your relationship with God. We are not caught up in the
recitation of prayers or worrying that we remember the exact phrasing of the
new mass translations, we are silent and we are solely in the focus of God.
This is not to say that the rosary or the Mass are lesser forms of prayer, the
mass is the greatest; rather it is to emphasize the different qualities of
Adoration and to suggest that perhaps we need to start incorporating this form
of prayer into our faith lives as well.
In some ways we can think of our relationship with God as a
child in a large family. Being in a large family is fantastic – I can attest to
this fact being from a family of seven children! There are many perks to being
in a large family, there is always someone around to help you out or to go
along with your stupid ideas. However, just like coming from a small family,
that one-on-one relationship with your parents is so important and helps you
grow like no other relationship can. In our faith lives, we need to make sure
that we make time for that one on one relationship, time to seek God in the
quiet and still and to focus just on you and Him.
Attending a half hour or hour of Adoration can oftentimes be
difficult for us. We are so used to constantly being entertained-- texting,
calling, FB updates, tweets and music! We have been trained to hate the silence
and to never purposely “go off the grid” and not check our phones for an entire
hour! In the beginning of this semester I realized that I did not start classes
on Tuesday and Thursday until 12:30pm. While it sounds like every college
student’s dream, I knew I’d have a hard time being productive before class if I
didn’t have an extra motivating factor. Having heard about adoration sign-ups
last year I decided to give it a try this year and sign up for a Thursday
morning slot to at least get my day started a little earlier. In the beginning,
I had a very hard time concentrating. Not sure what to do for an entire thirty
minutes, I tried to completely rid my mind – it did not work very well, I tend
to overanalyze just about everything. I cannot tell you exactly what it is that
has kept me coming back, except that I knew I had an obligation to be there
since I had signed up. I can, however, attest to the fact that I’ve always left
feeling better and I’ve come to look forward to that silent time, a time of
reflection and listening. As I continually try to unravel my thoughts into a
cohesive prayer, I’ve come to realize that the beauty of Adoration is that we
don’t have to come before God as something that we are not. We should bring all
our worries, our troubles, and our exciting news, and we should lay it before
the Lord. This is not to say that we should not try to focus on the Eucharist
but that we should approach this time with God as a time to stop, tell God what
is on our mind, and listen to what He has to say – just as we would with a
parent.
Mother Teresa was perhaps one of the biggest advocates of
Adoration. She once said, “Jesus has made
Himself the Bread of Life to give us life. Night and day, He is there. If
you really want to grow in love, come back to the Eucharist, come back to that
Adoration.The time you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the best
time you will spend on earth. Each moment that you spend with Jesus will
deepen your union with Him and make your soul everlastingly more glorious and
beautiful in Heaven, and will help bring about everlasting peace on earth.”
Together, we should
challenge ourselves and our friends to spend this time with Jesus – to take
time out of our hectic schedules so that we too can better understand His love
and His path for our lives.
Adoration is available on
campus Monday – Thursday: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. (Coleman-Morse Chapel) and
Friday: 12 – 5 p.m. (Basilica, Lady Chapel)
Friday: 12 – 5 p.m. (Basilica, Lady Chapel)
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