Get It

I haven’t updated this blog in over six years, so probably no one is going to read this post, since all my former readers gave up on me a long time ago. But you may have accidentally stumbled upon it. So in order to minister to the needs of accidental stumblers, I think it is important to say a little about something I have recently (re-) discovered. (By the way, don’t get your hopes up about this blog. I will likely not be updating it very often, if at all, though only God knows…)

In our monastery we have two periods of Eucharistic Adoration in common each day, which we do in addition to Lauds and Vespers. We also have daily private vigils, in which one is free to engage in this divine exercise still more. I am originally from the Byzantine tradition, wherein Eucharistic Adoration, Exposition, and Benediction are not practiced, for reasons I needn’t explain at this time. So for many years I did not experience the benefit of it, nor was there any reason or opportunity to integrate it into my own spiritual life and practice. But now it is not only possible but required in common and strongly encouraged in private. And lately—since I have committed myself to daily Eucharistic vigils not long ago—I have been reaping the fruit of it. I have received many insights into Scripture and the working of the Holy Spirit in my own soul and life, and how the Lord is leading me into a more profound spiritual life, fruitful prayer and ministry. Just remaining in the radiance of the Uncreated Light invisibly flowing from the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is enough to open my heart to receive whatever He wishes to communicate or grant to me.

So there are two things I would recommend that you “get,” as the title of this post indicates. One is to “get it” about the importance, need, value, and spiritual fruitfulness of Eucharistic Adoration. Our Lord Jesus Christ waits for us in the tabernacles of this world, desiring to pour out His grace, mercy, love, and light into the hearts of those who recognize the Gift and return to give thanks, as did the cleansed Samaritan leper (Lk. 17: 15-16). You may be pleasantly surprised to see how your life gradually but noticeably is taken more deeply into the light and life of Our Lord, and therefore how He is more easily able not only to transform your soul but also to make all other things work for the good in your life.

The other thing I recommend that you get is a book entitled In Sinu Jesu: When Heart Speaks to Heart—The Journal of a Priest at Prayer, by A Benedictine Monk. Everyone knows that this priest-monk is Fr Mark Daniel Kirby, the Prior at Silverstream Priory in Ireland. (To learn about his monastery and their life, go to https://www.cenacleosb.org/) It is a book of locutions from Jesus, who spoke to Fr Kirby through the Blessed Sacrament, encouraging the practice of Eucharistic Adoration and calling him to a special vocation of adoration and of reparation, especially for priests, so that the Catholic priesthood might be renewed and transformed—precisely through the rediscovery and fervent, frequent practice of adoring Our Lord in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Here is one excerpt from the book, which is really a marvelous and detailed presentation of a profound Eucharistic spirituality and theology, meant to reach the heart:

Believe in My love for you… I have chosen you to be an intimate friend of My Heart… Trust in Me, and in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within you… Let Me do My work in your soul and in this place that I have chosen for you… I will renew souls in the radiance of My Eucharistic Face, and I will draw them into the silent sanctuary of My Heart. There they will know the love of My Father and the sweet fire of the Holy Ghost. Here, too, souls will come to experience the maternal care of My Mother’s Immaculate Heart…

“Adoration continues the priestly action that is Mine in the Mass, and engages you in it. Adore, then, and all shall be well. This is My promise to you… I am pleased and comforted and glorified by your simply being with Me. Be present in My presence. This is what I ask of you…

“Nothing you have done can keep My Heart from loving you… Give Me your heart’s friendship and affection… Cultivate this adoring adhesion to My sacramental presence… integrate My Eucharistic presence into every detail of your life… I will draw you more intimately into the grace of My divine friendship… As a result, you will grow in holiness, and souls will benefit from your new-found intimacy with My Eucharistic Heart.”

Get it!