Prayer
for
the Spread of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration
Heavenly Father, increase our faith in the Real Presence of Your Son
Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. We are obliged to adore Him, to
give Him thanks and to make reparation for sins. We need Your peace
in our hearts and among nations. We need conversion from our sins
and the mercy of Your forgiveness. May we obtain this through prayer
and our union with Eucharistic Lord. Please send down the Holy Spirit
upon all peoples to give them the love, courage, strength and willingness
to respond to the invitation to Perpetual Adoration. We beseech You
to spread perpetual exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament in parishes
around the world. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Our Lady
of the Most Blessed Sacrament, help us to spread the glory of Your
Son through exposition of the Holy Eucharist.
Prayer
to
Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament
O Virgin Mary, our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, glory of the Christian
people, joy of the universal Church , salvation of the world; pray
for us, and awaken in all the faithful devotion to the Holy Eucharist
in order that they render themselves worthy to receive It daily.
The following
advice is from Fr. Benedict Groeschel and his book, Praying in the with
the Saints Presence of Our Lord:
This
series of simple steps are based on a method of St. Teresa of Avila,
who said she was afraid to go into prayer with out a book in her hands.
If St. Teresa used a book, we can hardly do better than to follow
her lead.
Step
I: Collect
your thoughts in an act of remembrance and adoration of the One you
are about to speak to. We need to break the rapidly flowing stream
of consciousness that has accompanied us through the day and brought
us to the threshold of the chapel where Christ awaits us in His mysterious
sacramental presence. Simply put, you have to stop and remind yourself
that you are going to pray --- you are going to speak with Jesus Christ,
your Lord and Redeemer, present in His body and Blood, Soul and Divinity,
as He was at Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem, and as He now is in eternal
life and glory. The first step of real devotion is to be deeply aware
that Christ is present to you, that He knows you and cares about you.
To
stop the flow of everyday thoughts, it is helpful to kneel in adoration,
and to take some deep breaths that help to calm us down and to repeat
inwardly, “I am here with my Savior and my God,” or some
similar expression of the awe we ought to experience in His presence.
After all, we are talking to God. One should spend as much time as
one needs to do this. To be effective, it really takes several minutes.
Frankly, I think that those who minimize the importance of kneeling
simply lack the experience of awe.
At
the end of this step, taking a couple of minutes of complete silence
is helpful, but this should be discontinued if the mind begins to
wander and be filled with distracting thoughts. The end of the period
of silence should be a fervent appeal to the Holy Spirit to give us
the grace to pray well and in union with Christ.
Step
II: Now
find a prayer or meditation from scriptures or some other book of
devotions .Or better, keep your Bible with you if it is marked with
quotations that you like.
Take time to find the quotation that fits your need at the moment.
This should be a matter of what catches your attention and is based
on your need in the situation that you have been enduring this day.
Read the quotation a few times, savor it, and let its meaning fill
your mind. Compare the truth or sentiment of the quotation with your
present mood or need or state of mind. For example, if you are anxious
about some specific thing in your life, many quotations from the psalms
will be helpful to you. For instance, Psalm 107,from verse 4 to verse
9, gives us an image of
god feeding the troubled soul and satisfying the soul’s hunger
and thirst. This obviously can be related easily to the experience
of receiving Holy Communion.
Step
III: Allow
the meaning of the quotation or prayer to sink into your mind and
heart. This may not feel very elevating, and it may be very silent.
Let the quotation sink in quietly. Don’t be afraid to take some
time just allowing the words to enter into your mind and heart.
Step
IV:
Then, in your own words and thoughts, speak to Our Lord, recalling
His presence with such sentiments as awe, joy, gratitude, sorrow for
sin, trust. Don’t be afraid to express fear, disappointment,
frustration, and confusion. This is part of the purification we must
sometimes enter into in the presence of the Savior of the World. Sentiments
can be best expressed in very simple individual phrases like the following:
Jesus,
I adore You, Son of God.
Jesus, I am so grateful to You.
Jesus, I am filled with joy that You are with me.
Jesus, I hurt very badly.
Jesus, what went wrong?
Jesus, why did I fall and fail?
Jesus, I am hurt and angry.
Jesus, I don’t understand.
Jesus, increase my faith.
Jesus, be with me in my troubles.
Jesus, keep me with Your cross.
Jesus, don’t leave me.
Jesus, be with those I love and care about.
These
are just a few of the sentiments we might express. Obviously, there
are hundreds of different ones. Remember that you can say anything
to Jesus Christ in such an intimate moment.
As
you come to an end of such expressions, see if you can put all your
feelings and experiences into a simple prayer, even a prayer without
words. Then, if there is time left, begin Step II again. This time,
perhaps you should seek another scripture quotation, perhaps a psalm
of praise like 149 or 150; or if it is a difficult time, perhaps a
psalm of repentance like Psalm 51. You can also seek for another prayer
in this manual or some similar devotional book.
Step
V: Ending a Holy Hour: As
loyal disciples of Christ, we always ought to end our prayer with
some resolution of charity, some decision to let Christ operate in
our lives, so that each day it may be more and more true that “it
is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20).
We
should think of some realistic action that we should take to show
our love for Jesus by serving His brothers and sisters for whom He
died. What we do to others we do to Him.
To
act in a way that is realistically united with His life of grace,
we must proceed from a Christian motive and do things in a way that
reflects His Gospel example and teaching. We never do this perfectly,
but we can pray and struggle to do it better.
I came long ago to suspect any Christian prayer or experience that
does not lead to Christlike action. “If you love me, keep my
commandments…. As you did it to one of the least of these my
brethren, you did it to me . ..I was hungry and you gave me food”(Jn
14:15;Mt25:40;Mt 25:35). The honesty of prayer can be judged by the
actions and struggles of grace as we surrender to the call of the
Holy Spirit sent into our souls by our Blessed Master to teach us
all that we need to know.
I
always spend the last few moments of this time with Christ, asking
the help and protection of His Mother and our Mother. I also address
a few saintly friends already in the Kingdom of God and ask them to
pray for me. And, finally, I greet my guardian angel, that mysterious
celestial citizen whom God gave me when I started out on this brief
human experience. I almost always leave the presence of Our Lord refreshed
or at least better prepared for whatever the day may bring.
Great
Quotes
“Give
me the Eucharist or Let me die.”
Peter Julian Eymard
“The
church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic Adoration.
Jesus waits for us in this Sacrament of love. May our adoration never
cease.”
Pope John Paul II
“I
know I wouldn’t be able to work one week if it were not for
the continual force coming from Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. In
our society we begin our day with Mass and Holy Communion and we end
it with one full hour of Adoration. We have permission from the different
bishops to expose the Blessed Sacrament. All of us know that unless
we believe and can see Jesus in the appearance of bread on the altar,
we will not be able to see Him in the distressing disguise of the
poor. Therefore, these two loves are but one in Jesus.”
Mother Theresa
“The
greatest thing in the world that you can do is to encourage others
and yourself to participate in perpetual adoration of the Blessed
Sacrament. It is the real presence of Jesus on earth. The blessings
that come upon you and your family will be phenomenal.”
Mother Angelica
“
If in this world there be any knowledge of this mystery keener than
that of faith, I wish now to affirm that I believe in the Real Presence
of Jesus Christ in this Sacrament, truly God and truly man, the Son
of God, the Son of the Virgin Mary. This I believe and hold true and
certain.”
St
Thomas Aquinas
“How can anyone be lonely, with Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament?”
Ven. Matt Talbot
“When
you pass before a chapel and do not have time to stop for a while,
tell your Guardian Angel to carry out your errand to Our Lord in the
tabernacle. He will accomplish it and then still have time to catch
up with you."
St. Bernadette Soubirous
“When
I go to the chapel, I put myself before the good God and say to Him,
“Lord, here I am, give me what You wish.” If He gives
me something, I am happy and I thank Him. If He gives me nothing,
I thank Him still, because I do not deserve anything more. Then I
tell Him all that comes into my mind. I tell Him my sorrows and my
joys – and I listen.”
St. Catherine Laboure
“Do you want the Lord to give you many graces? Visit Him often.
Do you want Him to give you few graces? Visit Him rarely. Do you want
the devil to attack you? Visit Jesus rarely in the Blessed Sacrament.
Do you wan him to flee from you? Visit Jesus often. Do you want to
conquer the devil? Take refuge often at the feet of Jesus. Do you
want to be conquered by the devil? Forget about visiting Jesus. My
dear ones, the Visit to the Blessed Sacrament is an extremely necessary
way to conquer the devil. Therefore, go often to visit Jesus and the
devil will not come out victorious against you"
St. John Bosco
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