Christmas Day Reflection - The Miracle In Our Midst!

(Photography©Michael Seagriff)

On Christmas we will join family and friends in our Churches to joyfully celebrate the birth of the Christ-child, our Lord and Savior. Christmas carols will resonate throughout these sacred places and within the hearts of those present. With gusto and joy, united voices will sing the ever present heavenly invitation: “O come let us adore Him – Christ the Lord!”

How blessed are we at my parish to have that invitation extended to us – not just at Christmas – but at every hour of every day throughout each year! Here, in our Chapel of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, our Lord eagerly awaits our visit.

When we kneel before Him in adoration, we are doing what the lowly shepherds did so many centuries ago! When we gift Him with our presence here, we give Him far more than the gold, frankincense, and myrrh He received from the Magi. We give the King of Kings the only thing of real value that we have to offer Him – ourselves!

Think about this – as of December 25, 2013: we would have spent

nearly 4,116 days or 98,784 hours adoring our loving Lord. Multiply that by those who come to adore Him in the hundreds, if not thousands, of other Chapels of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration scattered throughout the world, as well as those countless other souls who stop in for brief daily visits before the tabernacles in their parishes! Can we even grasp the significance of those facts, the untold miracles He has wrought through the faithfulness of so many, and the inestimable joy they and their sacrifices have brought to His pierced and Sacred Heart!?

These committed adorers have done this despite heaters and air conditioners that sometimes fail to work. They have persevered through snow, ice, hail, flooding, heat, illness, doubt, discouragement, hardship, pain, and suffering.  Innumerable unsung heroes have made yeoman sacrifices to cover multiple hours and to serve as Hourly Captains, Divisional Leaders and substitutes – all so that someone will always be present in these parishes to "Adore Christ our Lord!"

That my friends is a miracle for which we must all be forever grateful!

GOD BLESS EACH OF YOU! - MERRY CHRISTMAS!