Eucharistic Reflection - To Adore!

Eucharistic Adoration is the greatest of actions and there is nothing greater or holier we can do on earth than this adoration. To adore is to share the life of Mary on earth when she adored the Word Incarnate in her virginal womb, when she adored Him in the Crib, on Calvary, in the divine Eucharist.

(Photo©Father Lawrence Lew, O.P. Used With Permission)

To adore
is to share the life of noble souls on earth, whose love and happiness found expression in the long hours they passed at the foot of the Tabernacle to adore therein the hidden God and to glorify and love Him as much as they could. The Tabernacle was their only reason for loving life; they lived only to consume themselves in the flames of His love.

To adore is to share the life of the saints in heaven who never cease to praise, bless and adore the goodness, the love, the glory, the power and the divinity of the Lamb immolated for the love of men and the glory of God the Father.

Eucharistic Adoration is the holiest of actions. It is so because it is the perfect exercise of all the virtues.

(St. Peter Julian Eymard)

Think Heaven Is A Certain Destination For Your Soul?

We must never presume upon God's mercy. Too many of us take His mercy for granted. We do not like to think of His justice. Why Catholics are being told they all have a reasonable hope of being saved. 

This is not quite what many of our Saints have concluded.

(Image Source: cathopic.com)

Here are two short examples:

  • According to St. Leonard of Port Maurice, Saint Vincent Ferrer reported "that an archdeacon in Lyons gave up his charge and retreated into a desert place to do penance, and that he died the same day and hour as Saint Bernard. After his death, he appeared to his bishop and said to him, ‘Know, Monsignor, that at the very hour I passed away, thirty-three thousand people also died. Out of this number, Bernard and myself went up to heaven without delay, three went to purgatory, and all the others fell into Hell.' " 

  • Saint Jacinta of Fatima warned that “So many people are going to die, and almost all of them are going to Hell! So many people falling into hell!”

If this is not enough for us to abandon any sense of spiritual complacency we may have adopted  and begin anticipatory trembling, ponder this example Venerable Louis of Granada, O.P. shared in his spiritual classic, The Sinner's Guide:

"Ask the saints, and they will tell you, more by their actions than by their words, how terrible is the account we are to render to God…

St. John Climacus gives an example of a holy monk, which is so remarkable that I shall give it as nearly as possible in the saint's own words: 'A religious named Stephen, who lived in the same desert with us, had a great desire to embrace a more solitary life. He had already acquired a reputation for sanctity, having been favored with the gift of tears and fasting and other privileges attached to the most eminent virtues. Having obtained his superior's permission, he built a cell at the foot of Mount Sinai, where Elijah was honored by his marvelous vision of God. Though his life here was one of great sanctity, yet, impelled by desire for still harder labors and greater perfection, he withdrew to a place called Sidon, inhabited by holy anchorites who lived in the most complete solitude. Here he continued for some years in the practice of the severest penance, cut off from all human intercourse or comfort, for his hermitage was seventy miles from any human habitation. As his life approached its term he felt a desire to return to his first cell at the foot of Mount Sinai, where dwelt two disciples, natives of Palestine. Shortly after his arrival he was attacked by a fatal illness. The day before his death he fell into a state resembling ecstasy. He gazed first at one side of his bed, then at the other, and, as if engaged in conversation with invisible beings who were demanding an account of his life, was heard crying out in a loud voice. Sometimes he would say, 'It is true, I confess it; but I have fasted many years in expiation of that sin'; or, 'It is false; that offense cannot be laid to my charge'; or again, 'Yes, but I have labored for the good of my neighbor so many years in atonement thereof.' To other accusations he was heard to say, 'Alas! I cannot deny it; I can only cast myself upon God's mercy.'

"Surely this was a thrilling spectacle," continues the saint. "I cannot describe the terror with which we assisted at this invisible judgment. O my God! What will be my fate, if this faithful servant, whose life was one long penance, knew not how to answer some of the accusations brought against him? If after forty years of retirement and solitude, if after having received the gift of tears, and such command over nature that, as I am credibly informed, he fed with his own hand a wild leopard which visited him, the saintly monk so trembled for judgment, and, dying, left us in uncertainty as to his fate, what have we not to fear who lead careless and indifferent lives?"

I can already hear the criticism: Why dwell on this subject area and make so many feel uncomfortable? What good do you accomplish by doing so? My response - in hopes of saving a soul, my own as well!

I agree, it would be far better for us to live our lives in conformity to God's commands out of sheer love of Him rather than out of fear of eternal punishment or in hope of an eternal reward. But is that a reasonable expectation? Apparently not to St. Francis and our holy Father St. Dominic, who according to Louis of Granada, O.P.:

"…commanded in their rules the preachers of their orders to make vice and virtue, reward and punishment, the only subjects of their sermons… it is a common principle among philosophers that reward and punishment are the most powerful motives for good with the mass of mankind. Such, alas, is our misery, that we are not content with virtue alone; it must be accompanied with the fear of punishment or the hope of reward…"

I do not think human nature has changed much since these two preachers walked this earth. I can not speak for you, but I and many souls I know, would eternally benefit if vice and virtue, reward and punishment, were the subject of at least a few homilies? 

What are your thoughts?

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - March 24, 2022


Pondering Tidbits of Truth
is my simple and inadequate way of providing nuggets of spiritual wisdom for you to chew on from time to time.

 

 

St. Margaret Mary

"The Divine Heart is an ocean full of all good things, wherein poor souls can cast all their needs; it is an ocean full of joy to drown all our sadness, an ocean of humility to drown our folly, an ocean of mercy to those in distress, an ocean of love in which to submerge our poverty."

 (From The Heart of Prayer: The Essential Guide to Knowing God Through Prayer)

 

 Laura Catherine Worchacz

“[Our Blessed Mother) Mary devoted herself exclusively to the Eucharistic glory of Jesus. She knew it was the desire of the Eternal Father to make the Eucharist known, loved and served by all men; that the need of Jesus’ heart was to communicate to all men His gift of grace and glory…She was consumed with the desire to make Jesus and the Blessed Sacrament known to all, to inflame all hearts with His love, to see them enchained to His loving service…Eucharistic adorers share Mary’s life of mission and prayer at the foot of the Most Blessed Sacrament…We are called to prepare ourselves to receive Communion as if it would be our first or our last time. We are called to be, as much as possible, at the throne of mercy before the Blessed Sacrament.”

(From Consecration to Jesus Through Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament)

 

St. Augustine

“Speaking of the character true conversion, St. Augustine says, “he is truly converted who turns to God with his whole heart, who not only fears punishment but earnestly desires to merit God’s graces and favors. Should anyone turn to God in this way, even at the end of his life, we would have no reason to despair of his salvation. But as examples of this perfect conversion are very rare, we cannot but tremble for one who defers his repentance until the hour of death.”

(From The Sinner’s Guide by Venerable Louis of Granada, O.P.)

Eucharistic Reflection - Would A Stranger Know?

  "The Eucharist is alive. If a stranger who knew nothing about the Eucharist were to watch the way we receive, would he know...