Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

 

“While no one suggests that Christ is more present in the exposed sacrament than in the tabernacle, this physical visibility can be a powerful aid in learning to be attentive to the Lord in prayer . . .exposition of the Blessed Sacrament is an extension of the Mass. It prolongs the Mass. . . (and is) a means to drawing the adorer into a deeper life of prayer, a more intimate relationship with Christ.”  (Father Gabriel O’Donnell, O.P.)

"The monstrance often resembles the sun with rays bursting from the center. Have you ever gone outside and turned your face toward the sun and soaked in its rays? I close my eyes and thrust out my chin and try to absorb the sun's warmth, light, and life-giving qualities. This metaphor would dim eventually because you can spend too much time in the sun, but taking in moderate amounts of sun can teach us something about anytime we spend in front of Christ. We are changed. We are warmed, even baked, by the sun. Taking in the sun can be a Eucharistic image. Sitting before the Lord in the Eucharist, we are similarly changed, but spiritually speaking. We can receive greater hues of color and greater depths of warmth. Life abounds. We are like Moses on the mountain whose face was radiant or like Christ at the Transfiguration."   (Father Justin Kizewski from Face to Face and Eye to Eye: A Reflection on Eucharistic Adoration , Adoremus Bulletin, January 2023 issue)

(Photo©Father Lawrence Lew, O.P. Used with permission.)

"Pope Benedict XVI said that when we look upon Christ in the Eucharist 'we enter into the very dynamic of His self-giving.' For that reason, adoration of the Eucharist, exposed to our view in the monstrance, is particularly important for us, and a particularly powerful encounter with the Lord. I often ask children to imagine walking by the house of the Holy Family in Nazareth. Children who love the Lord might remember that Jesus lives there, and make a gesture of reverence, or say a short prayer. But if we walked by the Lord’s house, and He was out on the porch, and we could look directly at Him, we would stop, and talk to Him, and know that He was hearing us, and talking to us. So it is with adoring Christ in the Eucharist, visible to us in the monstrance. We see Him, and we know that He sees us. We speak to Him, and we know that He hears us. When we adore Christ in the Eucharist, exposed in the monstrance, the Lord engages all of our senses, thro...

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) [Would not our world today be much different] “if all of us Catholics had acted always on the conviction that we are His members; that consequently our actions are Christ’s actions?... (Image source: Wikimedia Commons) You are more than a ciborium carrying the Christ within you; you are more than a monstrance whence His whiteness might shine out; you have been made Christ – you are much more like the Host which the ciborium and monstrance hold! ‘Your shining is to make known His Glory as He has revealed it in the features of Jesus Christ ’."   (From God, A Woman and the Way by Rev. M. Raymond, OCSO)