As we sit in silence before the Lord, we are irradiated by His Eucharistic presence. We all need "radiation therapy"— and to receive it, we only need to be present, just as in sunbathing we only need to be present to the ultra-violet radiation of the sun. Especially in our age, which is so heavily bombarded with words– reading materials, radio, audio tapes, videos, and TV– we all need times to listen to the Lord, who speaks in a very special language called silence.
How beautifully St. Maria Faustina describes her long, silent "talks" with the Lord:
Silence is so powerful a language that it reaches the throne of the living God. Silence is His language, though secret, yet living and powerful.
There is no single “right” way to begin a Holy Hour, but here are some suggestions. Start with body language, making some gesture of profound Adoration, such as genuflecting or bowing to the Lord as a reverent acknowledgement of His Real Presence. Then, ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with His gift of praise. Unite your heart with the Heart of Mary, so that you can praise the Lord with the Heart of His mother. Call upon the angels and saints to help you to unite with their heavenly praise and worship. Let your heart be aglow with the Lord’s radiant presence and then follow the longing of your heart. Love Him, thank Him, and praise Him, who is present and loves you. As He tells us through one of the psalm, “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46).
We are never alone, especially when we are in Adoration. Our guardian angels and patron saints are delighted to see the soulsentrusted to their care come into the presence of the Eucharistic Lord. In fact, when you go to Adoration, you give a special gift to your guardian angel. Their whole mission is to bring your soul to Jesus. Well, we come into the presence of Jesus atevery Holy Hour! Take a minute in Adoration to thank your angel for their prayers and their constant, steadfast help, and maybe even offer a prayer for their intentions.
The Eucharist is the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. There is no liberal or conservative view of the Holy Eucharist; it is Jesus incarnate God and man. Constantly He invites us to share in the abundant graces He bestows through the Eucharist to those with open hearts. He asks that we take time from our busy lives and the materialism of today. Spend one hour a day, not only to pray, but to LISTEN, silently with your heart.
Pope Paul VI declared that there would be no renewal in the Church without a fervent Eucharistic renewal. St. John Paul II has said: “The Church and the world have a great need of Eucharistic adoration. Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of love. Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him in adoration… May our adoration never cease.”
"Jesus is waiting for you in the chapel. Go and find him when your strength and patience are giving out, when you feel lonely and helpless. Say to him: "You know well what is happening, my dear Jesus. I have only you.' Come to my aid… And then go your way. Don't worry about knowing how you are going to manage. It is enough to have told our good Lord. He has an excellent memory."
— St. Jeanne Jugan
In the Garden of Gethsemani, before His crucifixion, Jesus asked His Apostles, “Could you not keep watch with me for one hour?” Spending one hour with Jesus thus became a tradition in the Church.
A Holy Hour can be summed up in a simple story: A visitor to a Catholic parish noticed an old man just sitting in the back of the church with his eyes on the tabernacle. After some time, curiosity got the better of the visitor and he asked the old man,“What are you doing?” The man replied, “ I look at Him, and He looks at me.”
A perfectly good Holy Hour can be made simply by sitting in the presence of God. Place yourself in front of the tabernacle or monstrance, and just be. (cf. Psalm 46:10)
Day and night, Jesus dwells in the Blessed Sacrament, because you are the most important person in the world to Him. Beneath the Sacred Host, Christ is contained; The Redeemer of the World. You grow spiritually with each moment you spend with Jesus. Our essential commitment in life is to grow spiritually in the climate of the Holy Eucharist.
READ MOREAs faith-filled Catholics, the best reverence and respect we can give Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament is the gold of our silence. Silence has adrawing quality. It literally draws our hearts to the silent Heart of our Eucharistic Jesus in the MostBlessed Sacrament. That’s the whole reason whyJesus is in the tabernacle– not to be ignored, but tobe adored!
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