The Fruit of the Institution of the Holy Eucharist: Adoration
I remember looking up at the crucifix hanging in little St. Augustine’s church as a ten-year-old, thinking to myself, “I really like looking at Jesus on the Cross… but am I going to wake up one day and get bored of it? Or get bored of the Mass? It’s always the same.” Clearly, I didn’t yet understand the nature of a mystery, not to mention the great mystery of our Redemption!
The mystery of divine love revealed in the institution of the Holy Eucharist is truly unfathomable; we can never fully plumb its depths! How is it that the all-holy God freely chose to humble himself unto assuming our humanity and bearing the weight of our offenses, so as to redeem us from them?! How it is that not being satisfied by walking the earth for thirty-three years and offering His Body once upon Cross, His love impelled Him to renew His Sacrifice daily upon all the altars of the world, remaining with us, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity even until the end of time?! How is it that the King of the Universe was consumed with longing to make Himself food for His sinful creatures: “I have earnestly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer”?! (Lk 22:15)
Words cannot do justice to the immensity of Love that dwells in our tabernacles and is offered upon our altars, which is why silent adoration is often the best response we can give.
Our silence honours the ineffable value of what lies before us. Adoration is the “homage of the spirit” that we offer to God, who alone is worthy of our worship (CCC 2628). This homage transforms without us even seeking to be transformed, because it elevates our hearts to what is intrinsically beautiful and deserving of them.[1] As we spend time in ‘contemplative relaxation’ before the Blessed Sacrament, our spirits become permeated with the Love that radiates from Jesus.[2] As we adore, the water of His grace saturates the soil of our spirits, and the rays of His love cause His life in us to grow, that we might sprout, bud, and eventually flower into the saints He created us to be.
A sad characteristic of the modern world is the inability to see and appreciate genuine beauty. Not infrequently, contemporary art, architecture, and fashions bear witness, in their ugliness, to the spiritual hollowness of the culture. In the visual arts, for example, instead of the gorgeous stained-glass windows of Gothic cathedrals and the awe-inspiring frescos adorning Renaissance churches, we behold ambiguous abstract shapes and stark, distorted depictions of reality. Even the glories of the natural world often lie neglected. Amidst the busyness of our lives and our immersion in technology, we often fail to stop to notice the intricacy of a delicate wildflower, or to be mesmerized by a glowing sunset, praising our Creator for the stunning palette with which He paints the sky – and differently each day! Contemplating God in the beauties of nature can open our eyes to His beauties in supernature, for both are works of the same divine Artist.
Christ Crucified and Risen – Christ hidden in the Eucharist – is the supreme Beauty that compels the adoration of man. Yet how many gaze upon Him each day – or even each week – with love? How often is Jesus – a prisoner of love, longing to bestow favours upon His children – left alone and neglected in our tabernacles? Many residents of the Niagara Peninsula undertake the exhausting commute to Toronto several days a week for the sake of their jobs, yet how few travel the few miles to the nearest Adoration chapel? In our enthusiasm, we think little of the effort and expense involved in seeing a celebrity in concert, but where is our zeal for being in the presence of our Saviour, waiting for us on the altar?
All too often, we look upon things that are unworthy of our hearts, which were made for union with God. Immersed in a thousand worldly preoccupations, we unconsciously make ‘idols’ of created things, paying them homage and clouding our spiritual vision. If every Catholic engaged in an hour of heartfelt Eucharistic Adoration each week, I think we would see a worldwide revolution, because the Lord would purify our spiritual vision by orienting it to Himself. Let us focus our gaze on the Bread of Angels, that we may see the world through the eyes of Heaven, instead of seeing heavenly things through the eyes of Earth: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt 5:8).
[1] This follows Dietrich von Hildebrand’s idea of “value response”.
[2] Cf. Dietrich von Hildebrand, Transformation in Christ: On the Christian Attitude (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2001), p. 231.
