Friday’s at St. Mary’s after the morning Mass

Wednesdays at St. Edward’s after the morning Mass

Come and worship the Lord in the Holy Eucharist.

Eucharistic Adoration by Msgr. Joseph A. Pellegrino

Having an experience of the Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist is a blessing to be treasured, whether this blessing is experience at Mass or at Eucharistic Adoration, or at both.  Is the grace received at Eucharistic Adoration of the same dimension as that received at Mass?  Of course not.  At Mass we join the Lord in renewing the Sacrifice of the Cross.  Jesus is once more offered up for us to the Father “for our sins and the sins of the whole world.”  At Mass we take the Saviour within us and are mystically united to Him before the Father, offering Himself for us.  Our union with Him as the Head of the Living Body of worshipers, our union with the community, our communion, is the great gift that Catholicism has jealously preserved even in the face of persecution. 

In the history of the Church, including the present times, those who attack Catholicism first attack the Mass.  Priests were tortured to death, hung drawn and quartered for saying Mass in sixteenth and seventeenth century England.  There are still many places in the world where it is illegal for a priest to say Mass.  There are many places in our country where anti-Catholic bigotry is expressed in a mocking of the Blessed Sacrament.  Magicians used to use the term hocus pocus on the stage.  That was a mockery of the word of consecration in Latin, “Hoc est enim corpus meum,” For, this is my Body.”  The mockery of the Blessed Sacrament infuriates us because we treasure the Mass.  And, yes, it is and should be the highlight of our lives.

Eucharistic Adoration leads us to a deeper understanding and appreciation of what we are doing at Mass and Whom we are receiving at communion.   Should Eucharistic Adoration ever replace Mass?  Of course not.  Nor could it.  Should it be disparaged in any way?  What a pity that would be.  At the same time, care needs to be taken that Adoration services don’t become merely an emotional experience.  Nor should they be cold, dry experiences devoid of human expression. 

He is present in our tabernacles.  What a pity it is that so many of our churches have become social halls before Mass.  Some people even ignore the people next to them trying to pray before the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle.  Perhaps a good reminder for us all, of what a Catholic Church is, would come if we return to the fundamentals: genuflecting when we enter the pew, right knee, and kneeling to speak to the Presence of the Lord before us.  We should also genuflect or at least bow any time that we cross in front of the tabernacle.  By the way, we should be sure that there is as little movement around the Church as possible during the Eucharistic Prayer.    

Ask yourselves: What am I doing here when I come to Mass, when I receive communion, when I go to Eucharistic Adoration.  What are we doing?  We are experiencing the Presence of Jesus Christ in the Great Gift of the Eucharist.