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Showing posts with label Adoration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adoration. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Ask, seek, knock, be present

By Robert Batch


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Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find, knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks, receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

It is hard in today’s culture to really grasp these three steps.  Ask, someone that is not present to us. Seek someone that we cannot see.  Finally Knock, to be answered by someone we don’t even see!

None of us can entirely attain to these lofty ideals, but I will say this that the Lord knows where are hearts are tender and sincere before him, especially in the Eucharist.  I have made it a personal habit to go to the Adoration Chapel every night after work simply to be in His presence.  The amount of grace that you receive by simply being in his presence is something that you can only experience if you truly seek the Lord in the Eucharist.

On this Feast of the Body of Christ, I encourage you to try and find some time during your week to simply seek the Lord in the presence of Him in the Blessed Sacrament.  You never know what the Lord might give you, and you never know what door might open in your life.

What are you waiting for…Go!

Robert originally posted this at his blog Love is Calling.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Unlock the doors before it is too late!

By Michael Seagriff



File:The church of St Thomas - inside the south porch - geograph.org.uk - 889229.jpg
The Church of St. Thomas (photo by Evelyn Simak,
Creative Commons).



I was disappointed when I was not able to see You this morning.  I have grown to treasure our morning visit, Mass and the reception of Your Sacred Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity- so nourishing, peaceful and transforming.  I have noticed over the years that on those days I am unable or foolishly choose not to start my morning this way, the rest of my day is often more hectic and stressful. I marvel at Your great Love and Generosity in making Yourself so available to all of us.  We certainly are not worthy of that love and attention.

How joyful I felt as I drove up to Your place later that same day.  I did not have a lot of time to spend with You, but You can do so much in such a short period of time.  It is nice to end my day with You, however briefly our time together may be.

I began talking to You as I walked towards the Church door.  As I grabbed the door handle, I was anxious to be with You.  Suddenly, my peace was shattered.  The door was locked.  I could not get in.  You were there waiting for me, but I could not get in.  It was only 3:30 in the afternoon!!!  Had others come and been denied admittance?  So few ever visit You; how disappointed You must be when finally we come to see You but cannot get in.

This is not the first time that I have been locked out.  I sometimes stop at Your other places during my travels but cannot get in.  For so much of my life, I took You for granted and rarely thought of You.  Now I am incensed when we are kept apart.  You told St. Margaret Mary Alacoque that you have a “terrible thirst to be loved by your creatures in the Most Blessed Sacrament”.  You gave us this gift of Yourself. You long for us to visit and to show You heartfelt appreciation for all that You have done for us.

Continue reading at Micheal's blog Harvesting the Fruits of Contemplation.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Do you know why God made you?

by Patricia




File:LA Cathedral Mausoleum Jesus and the children.jpg
Jesus and the Children from the L.A. Cathedral Mausoleum (photo in Public Domain).


 

Why did God create you?  Do you ever think about that?  I do.

Many years ago while on retreat, I wrote across the top of the first page of my journal:  Dear God, what is my purpose in life?  Who am I supposed to be?

I prayed all weekend for an answer, bringing my question continually before the Lord.  But I never heard an answer…and I was somewhat disappointed.

But, now years later, I realize that I didn’t hear the answer because I was listening for the wrong kind of answer.  I wanted something specific and concrete.  I wanted to leave my retreat with a plan…maybe even a list which I could check off.  Here is what God has sent me to do.  Here is how I will make a difference in the world.   I wanted a mission.

But as the years passed, and life moved on with its sorrows and its joys, I began to hear the answer I sought.  It is always the same, and it takes root deeper and deeper in my heart, and the joy it imparts is a reassuring certainty.

Today, I heard a young woman describe her very first visit to the Eucharistic Adoration chapel in her parish.

She went in, not knowing what to expect.  And to her amazement, she saw a type of vision…one which arose within her imagination.  She saw a large tree and beneath it she was seated with Jesus.  To her great surprise, Jesus carved His initials and hers in the tree, and then He drew a heart around it.

He looked at her so tenderly and told her, “You could never understand how very much I love you.  Fall in love with Me.  I so much want you to fall in love with Me.”

Then she went on to say that God  always knows just what we need to hear, and the way we need to hear it.

And, I understood.  So many times in the adoration chapel, I have had a similar “vision,” only in mine, I am a little girl, all dressed up with ribbons in her hair, and I am snuggled in the arms of Jesus, or sometimes standing on his lap, looking into His eyes, or hugging His neck so tight.  And….I am so very peaceful, both in the scene, and as I quietly sit there being loved.

Getting out of the car, after hearing the young woman’s encounter with Jesus, I looked up at the blue sky and the trees in their tender spring leaves.  I listened to the bird songs of some cardinals nearby.  I gazed at all of this and with wide-eyed wonder, marveled that the God Who had created it all, and Who sustains a world teeming with life and beauty, would so love me, and you….would so love us above all of His material creation combined.  Yet, I know that He does…because He told us so.


Continue reading at Patricia's blog  I Want to See God.