The Real Presence: Articles

In 1981 the Pope established perpetual Eucharistic adoration in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. And at that time he prayed fervently that every parish would have perpetual Eucharistic adoration.

Adoration is simply appreciation that the Blessed Sacrament is really Jesus. This appreciation is expressed when a parish has a chapel or sets aside a small prayer room that is open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day with permanent exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

There are 168 hours in a week. All that is needed is for each of us to be willing to spend just one hour - once a week - with Jesus so we can organize every hour in such a way that every hour is covered with at least one person in the chapel at all times so that Jesus is never left alone and together as a people of God we profess our faith and our love in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Our Holy Father Pope John Paul II says that our communal love for Jesus at Mass must go together with our personal love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in order that OUR LOVE FOR JESUS MAY BE COMPLETE. The Lord calls us to communal love today. We come as a parish family to give glory to the Father and express our unity in Christ. Then… Jesus stays with us day and night in the Blessed Sacrament to call us back to Himself that we might spend some quiet time with Him in order to deepen our union, our friendship, our personal relationship, and our intimacy with Jesus - Our Saviour.

Each moment we spend in His presence will deepen our union with Christ and make our soul everlastingly more beautiful and glorious in Heaven. Because… The Blessed Sacrament is Jesus Our Risen Saviour with all of the glory and beauty of His resurrection flowing out to those who come into His Eucharistic Presence.

For just as you can't be exposed to the sun without receiving its rays. Neither can you come to the Son of God in the Blessed Sacrament without being bathed with all the rays of His resurrection.

This is why Pope John Paul II says "Jesus waits for you in this Sacrament of His love" where He repeats His timeless appeal: "Could you not watch one hour with Me."

This hour Jesus wants you to spend with Him is spent anyway you want to: with your own favourite prayer book or reading the Holy Bible or praying the Holy Rosary… the rosary is my favourite prayer because when we pray the Rosary in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament WE LOVE JESUS with the HEART OF MARY who makes up for everything that is lacking in us. It is as if Mary herself were making the Holy Hour.

Or you may be so tired or troubled or worn out that you may want to do NOTHING but just sit and relax and enjoy the sweet peace that comes from simply being with the one who loves you the most - Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

What Jesus wants all of us to know is that He is absolutely the easiest person to be with the easiest person in the world to please.

Even if you feel like the worst person in the world the worse you feel yourself to be the greater joy you bring to His Heart when you humble yourself to come to Him in the Blessed Sacrament.

Even if you think you can't pray very well because you are easily distracted and get restless the mere fact that you get into your car and go to the chapel IS IN ITSELF A PRAYER OF FAITH that brings great joy to His Heart.

For no where on earth are you more loved; no where on earth are you more welcomed; no where on earth is your presence more appreciated, than in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament… who says: ''Fear is useless, what is needed is trust, My peace is My gift to you.''

What Our Lord wants of us when we go to Him in the Blessed Sacrament is to put all of our worries, all of our anxieties, every one of our cares into His Heart burning with love for us, that He may fill us with His peace… so that when we leave the chapel there should not be one thing that bothers us, not one thing that affects us, not one thing that disturbs us. For He says, "Cast all your anxiety upon the Lord for He cares for you."

The Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. It is not a symbol but the person of Jesus Himself: the same Jesus born 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, the same Jesus who died on the Cross for our sins and Who rose again on Easter Sunday is really, truly, bodily and personally present in the Blessed Sacrament, where He appeals to each one of us personally, "Come to Me it is really I" as the words of Scripture come alive for each one of us individually, "You have nothing whatever to fear from Him! Get up! He is calling you." (Mark 10:50)

What I pray at this moment is that each of us may be convinced of the joy that we bring to the Heart of Jesus with every Holy Hour we make.

All of us know that when you love someone very much you want to be with the one you love. For example, a mother can hardly wait to hold her newborn infant. We also know that the more you love someone, the greater joy you have in being with the one you love.

Because Jesus loves each one of us INFINITELY, unlimited is the joy you bring to His Heart when you come to spend an hour with Him in the Blessed Sacrament.

Because of this great joy you give to Jesus, He blesses the whole world during your Holy Hour of prayer.

Recall the Gospel account about a woman who for 12 years had suffered from a blood haemorrhage. She said: "All I have to do is touch the hem of Jesus' garment and I will be healed." When she touched Jesus the woman was immediately healed. And Jesus turned around and asked: "Who touched Me because I felt power coming from Me?" There were many people crowding around Jesus and touching Him but Jesus was not talking about the physical touch… He wanted to Know who touched Him by faith.

Every time you come to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in a Holy Hour of prayer you touch His Heart and release His power, His healing love and His graces upon yourself, your family and upon the whole world.

There is a marvellous devotion called Divine Mercy which our Pope, John Paul II has approved. It was Sr. Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament that Jesus appeared to. Sr. Faustina saw that with 'every Holy Hour made' in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, the Divine rays from Our Lord would go out from the chapel and encircle the entire earth where 'every single person' that is 'every man, every woman and every child on the face of the earth would experience a new effect of God's grace.'

That is why Pope John Paul II says: "Each Holy Hour that you make in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament brings the whole world and everybody in the world CLOSER TO CHRIST." You change the world and make the world a better place to live in with each Holy Hour of prayer.

The advantage of having a chapel open all the time is that everyone can participate, because everyone can find at least one hour a week to be with Jesus. And whatever hour you choose - morning, afternoon, evening or night - is most pleasing to the Lord. And we need people for all of the hours but the hour we need people the most is one of the night hours, between midnight and 6am, because these are the hours that are most difficult to find volunteers for. Those of you who can, we ask you to please help us out by taking one of these difficult hours. For those who are willing to make this sacrifice and take one of these hours in the middle of the night, God will bless you 10x as much for doing so because God cannot be outdone in generosity. Whenever we are generous with Him, He is 10x more generous with us. For this reason Pope John Paul II says, "Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him... As scripture reminds us Jesus spent nights in prayer."

Pope John Paul II is a busy person. Being responsible for the souls of every person on earth and yet he still makes time for prayer. According to a Cardinal who is with the Holy Father all day; the Pope, John Paul II, begins his day with a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament and ends his day with a Holy Hour, plus he prays one whole night each week before the Blessed Sacrament.

For me personally, my favourite time to pray is in the middle of the night. An hour spent with Jesus in the middle of the night is an anointed hour. These night hours are the hours Jesus requested when He appealed to His apostles: "Could you not watch one hour with Me." These are anointed hours because it takes a sacrifice for anyone to be willing to spend an hour with Jesus in the middle of the night and sacrifice is the language of love.

This sacrifice is so meritorious in the eyes of God that the Pope says, "Those who stand before the Lord" with this sacrifice "are fulfilling an eminent service. They are presenting to Christ all those who do not know Him OR who are far from Him! They keep watch in His Presence on their behalf."

On the Cross Jesus took our place with His sacrifice. Those willing to make a sacrifice for Jesus take the place of the ones in the world that are in most need of God's mercy and bring down upon these souls, in most need of God's mercy, the Precious Blood of Jesus, so that they come back to the arms of God and go to Heaven instead of going to hell. This is why spending an hour with Jesus in the middle of the night, says the Pope "is the most charitable activity we can do for humanity."

The mission of Jesus is to save the world and everybody in the world. For scripture says that "God so loved the world that He sent His only Son, not to condemn the world but to save the world." This is why Jesus said "If I be lifted up I will draw all men to Myself."

On the Cross Jesus was lifted up in hatred. Through perpetual adoration we lift Him up in love drawing down upon the whole world all the graces that He won for us on Calvary.

This is why Pope John Paul II says "The church and the world have a great need for adoration because this is what will bring about God's kingdom on earth and an everlasting peace to all mankind."

For the Pope says "What power!"

Those who come to the Lord in perpetual adoration will bring about "The radical transformation of the world."

"For what we await are new heavens and a new earth." (2Peter 3:13)

The Pope exclaims that "We are a religion of Glory."

When we give Jesus the glory He deserves through perpetual adoration then the world will be transformed by the all powerful love of the Blessed Sacrament into a new a second and a more glorious earthly paradise by Jesus who says, "SEE I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW."