Coming before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament

For the last 17 years, Fr. Justin Waltz has tried to make prayer his main priority, and he is now seeing the fruits of his efforts. By spending time in front of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist, abundant divine graces have flowed from Christ's heart into his own, as well as into his priesthood.
           
“I have made a Holy Hour every day since I was in seminary,” Fr. Justin Waltz said. “As seminarians, we were required to make a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament each day, and after I was ordained, I just kept doing it. All of my seminary and priestly formation has been based on these hours of prayer. The rock of my whole priesthood is my relationship with Christ in the Eucharist.”
           
In fact, as he looks around his parish in Minot, St. Leo the Great, he witnesses many signs of God's providence.
           
“I believe that what is within the pastor's heart flows out into the parish,” Fr. Justin said. “After I came here, I began inviting the parishioners to stay after daily Mass and make a Holy Hour along with me, and many of them did. I soon assembled a committee to work towards having perpetual adoration. Within one month, my parishioners had filled daily adoration slots from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and our younger parishioners committed to covering the adoration slots from 4 to 10 p.m. on Mondays. It has taken off like crazy! It is really an incredible miracle. I never expected such an unbelievable outpouring of devotion to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.”
           
Because of their wholehearted dedication to Eucharistic adoration, the parish community of St. Leo's is learning to put God in the center of their lives.
           
“The real blessing behind adoration is that it draws people closer to Christ, and brings them into a deeper communion with Him,” Fr. Justin said.
           
Over time, the parish community soon began to see their prayers come to fruition.
           
“We decided to remodel St. Leo's and make it more beautiful than it has ever been,” Fr. Justin explained. “I believe the renovation project is a direct result of our dedication to Eucharistic adoration. The church is such a great gift! The transcendent nature of its architecture helps parishioners take their relationship with God much more seriously.”
           
Spiritual benefits
 
The wonderful news is that St. Leo's is just one of the many parishes in our diocese that have embraced the practice of Eucharistic adoration. For example, Spirit of Life in Mandan has perpetual Eucharistic adoration, which means that the Eucharist is exposed at their parish 24 hours a day, seven days a week, under normal circumstances.
           
According to Associate Pastor Fr. Brandon Wolf, the spiritual benefits of adoration are truly extraordinary.
           
“Adoration fosters gratitude for God, love of God, and fidelity to God,” he said. “All three of these have to do with how we relate to God. The way in which we understand our relationship with God will influence everything we do. Gratitude is simply another name for 'Eucharist', which in Greek means 'thanksgiving.' Gratitude is the first and most proper disposition of worship when approaching our Lord in the Eucharist and prayer in general. Why? Gratitude acknowledges everything that we ascent to in faith as coming from God. Everything we have and are, is given to us by God.”
           
Further, these benefits can bring incredible blessings into our lives—if we only let them.
           
“The understanding that everything we have and are is given to us by God, gets us to a place where we can love God more perfectly,” Fr. Brandon explained. “While it is good to love God for the things we have received in this life and for our life itself, this is only the beginning. A true love, or charity, of God means loving Him not for the things He gives us, but simply because He is who He is. This type of love of God is what makes the saints long to remain in front of the Eucharist all day and night, and it is the love that is the source of eternal bliss in heaven. Every time we go to Mass or adoration we are confronted with the reality of the meeting of heaven and earth in the here and now. It also increases the virtue of hope in us whereby we desire to attain the glory of heaven above all else and experience the love of God without the veil of earthly realities.”
           
Although we desire these benefits, it may be very difficult to cut away time from our demanding schedules to spend time with Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. Or, we may simply not feel motivated to do so, for one reason or another.
 
Fr. Brandon has some wise advice in this area. “Fidelity, or faithfulness to God is the motor that keeps us going in our spiritual life. The repetition of making acts of faith lead us to the eventual desire of making acts of love toward God whether we feel it or not. We can understand our prayer life like a muscle of the body. The more we exercise it, the stronger we get. This does not necessarily mean more time in prayer. The amount of time in prayer or at adoration will depend on the state of life that a particular individual is living. The key is a regular and consistent time of prayer each day no matter how many minutes or hours it may be.”
           
Ultimately, by adoring Christ in Eucharistic adoration, we are more capable of showering His love and mercy on others, according to our state in life.
           
“The love we have towards God overflows into the daily living out of our lives and time spent alone with Jesus in adoration has an amazing effect on our relationships with others,” Fr. Brandon shared. “The Eucharist, at both the Mass and adoration, is the well-spring from which I receive the refreshment that I am searching for. It draws me back into the heart of Christ and the life of the Trinity while pulling me out of the worldly anxieties that are so persistently knocking at the door. I go to Him in the Eucharist, not because He needs me to or is lonely, but because I need Him. Those times of prayer help me to refocus on what exactly I am doing here as a priest of Jesus Christ and to remember that I am not the Savior—He is.”
           
Drawing closer to God
 
In 2005, Christ the King Parish in Mandan converted their cry room into the Madonna of the Prairie Chapel. This gorgeous little hide-away is open 24 hours a day, year-round, with a few exceptions for closure for people to come and pray before the Blessed Sacrament. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, the Blessed Sacrament is exposed on the altar following the 8 a.m. Mass until 9 p.m.
           
Over time, Rev. Fred Harvey, Pastor of Christ the King Parish, has seen Eucharistic adoration serve as a source of tremendous strength and encouragement for those who need it most.
           
“I believe that spending time in an adoration chapel or simply adoring Christ in the Blessed Sacrament can bring a necessary peace to one's busy life,” Fr. Fred noted. “Adoration can be a time in which people can pray for themselves and their families, as well as the needs of their parish. It also provides a beautiful time for one to draw closer to our Lord, deepening their relationship with God.”
           
When asked how one can make the most of their time in adoration, Fr. Fred has some helpful advice.
           
“There are many devotional prayer books that people can use for their time in adoration,” Fr. Fred explained. “I often suggest reading through the Mass readings, or bringing their own Bible and just praying with Sacred Scripture. Many people also like to pray the rosary, and others just come and quiet their hearts and minds and sit in silence before the Lord.”
           
Mother Teresa’s devotion
 
Taking these words to heart, let us remember St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who always found time to adore Our Lord. Although she picked up at least 60,000 dying and sick people off of the streets of Calcutta, she never said she “didn't have time” to pray. When she established her active-contemplative order of nuns, the Missionaries of Charity, she made certain to put into the statutes a daily Holy Hour, no matter what demands their rigorous schedule entailed.
 
She once said, “Every Holy Hour we make so pleases the Heart of Jesus that it will be recorded in Heaven and retold for all eternity. It opens up the floodgates of God's merciful Love upon the world. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is the best time you will spend on earth. It will make your soul everlastingly more glorious and beautiful in Heaven. A Holy Hour of adoration helps bring everlasting peace to your soul and in your family. It brings us personal peace and strength. It brings us a greater love for Jesus, for each other, and for the poor. Every holy hour deepens our union with Him and bears much fruit. Nowhere on earth are we more welcomed or loved than by Jesus in the Eucharist.”
           
Finally, this magnanimous saint understood the importance of lay Catholics taking time out for Eucharistic adoration. As she reminds us, “When you look at the crucifix, you understand how much Jesus loved you. When you look at the Sacred Host you understand how much Jesus loves you now. This is why we need perpetual Eucharistic adoration in every parish throughout the entire world. What will convert America and save the world? My answer is prayer. What we need is for every parish to come before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in Holy Hours of prayer.”
           
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us, that we may be faithful to Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament! 
 
Editor’s note: Eucharistic adoration hours may have changed or been adjusted due to the coronavirus. Please contact the parish for more details before going to the Church to adore our Lord.