If you have never attended Eucharistic Adoration or haven’t gone for a long time, go! Let this be your nudge. Choose to make time to kneel or sit before Christ reverently brought before us high in a monstrance. Especially during this month dedicated to the Holy Eucharist.
Honor Christ by walking into Church for the simple yet profound intention to spend time with Him.Editor’s note: the following is an excerpt of a 2022 column for FaithInWV written by Sr. Albertine Cevallos, O.P., native of Charleston where her family are members of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral.
It was a Saturday afternoon, I was 23, and a friend had invited me to go with her to church for something called Adoration.
It had been several months since a grand conversion of faith in which I encountered the merciful love of Jesus at an evangelical church….
I was bouncing from Bible study to Bible study, relishing each copy of the Bible offered from Christians eager to encourage a new believer. After weeks of pouring these pages, hungry for Jesus, I had come to a full stop at the 6th chapter of John. This contains the scene where Jesus invites his many listeners to eat the bread of life: his own body.
The echoes of the Masses I had attended as a bored, distracted child suddenly reverberated in my heart. The same Jesus that I had just fallen in love with, and was pursuing in the pages of Scripture—was he really, literally, what had been offered on the altar every Sunday? If this was true, this would change everything, again. I prayed one of the best prayers I know—Lord, I believe, help my unbelief—and waited for God to show me that he was really present in the Eucharist.
That afternoon, my friend led me to a pew toward the front. A priest placed the host in a beautiful, golden holder, which I now know is called the monstrance. In a moment, I experienced the answer to my prayer. I sensed the heart of Jesus, beating for me. I could hear his words of love deep in my heart….To read the full column download the Dec. 4, 2022, issue at: https://faithinwv.org/e-bulletins/
