The texts of the Sixth Sunday of Easter reveal to us the face of the Church, a Church capable of universality in his mission: Paul and Barnabas brought back all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith to the nations. The faith !
St Francis de Sales says: “When God gives us faith, he enters in our soul and speaks to our spirit, not by way of speech but by way of inspiration, proposing so agreeably what to believe in intelligence, that the will in receives great complacency … so great that it induces intelligence to consent and acquiesce to the truth. Faith is the great friend of our spirit”.
Faith, says the CCC in n°150, is first of all a personal adherence of man to God, free assent to all the truth that God has revealed. Faith is a grace, it is a gift called to grow, to develop; she is the source of our love of God and neighbour. You have to watch it, let it deepen in the silence by listening to the Word, prayer, the sacraments of the Eucharist, Mercy and Eucharistic adoration which is a gift from God. By our calling we are called to worship in spirit and in truth.
Worship! it is the criterion of the mission! St John Paul II spoke of it as a service eminent for humanity. He wrote: “Through adoration the Christian mysteriously contributes to the radical transformation of the world. » Do we think about it? Do we believe it? Do we believe that when we stand before the Holy Sacrament, exposed or not exposed, we contribute to the transformation of the world?
if yes we go into worship. But how to live it?
In the encyclical on the Eucharist, St J.P.II says: “It is good to converse with him and to be touched by the infinite love of his heart. Faced with the despair in which the world lives today we believe and we say that only prayer can obtain peace, stop the war ! We must believe and testify God acts in secret, silently! He calls us to to pray, to remain close to Him in silent conversation, in an attitude of love before the Blessed Sacrament exposed or before the Tabernacle, in total confidence.
God is holy! To remain in his holiness, to stand before him with an attentive heart, in silence, without say anything, letting ourselves be looked at by Him as we are, is to adore, is to work for the world. You know it! We know it! But is this what we live for? How many times at worship, our body leans to the right, to the left, our heads bowed because we are asleep! Do we take the time to empty our heart of all that encumbers it? Perhaps should we review our preparation?
3 orientations are given to live the adoration in spirit and truth to which we are called?
1/ The grace of the real Presence. In Eucharistic communion, we carry within us the real presence of the Lord the time during which the eucharistic species are preserved that is to say a few minutes, no more. After that the species are dissolved in the stomach and the real Presence disappears. We understand all the better the importance of taking advantage maximum of this moment after Communion to unite with the Lord in a prayer of thanksgiving. In the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, on the other hand, the real presence of the Lord remains.
2/ Worship in silence. According to the interior state in which we find ourselves, aridity, combat of faith, fatigue, time may seem trying, long, difficult; we may want to get out, . Where . . we go out. Let us think that God looks at us and welcomes us as we are, with love, because it is much more a meeting of love than this time of adoration, a meeting that calls us to forgetting ourselves, to letting go, which leads to inner peace, to a truth, a transparency, a reconciliation with Him, with ourselves, with our neighbour! It is the work of the Spirit that makes the Body of Christ grow! This is what the world needs!
3/ The Eucharist brings us into the adoration of Christ. On the cross, Jesus said: “I thirst” thirst for the desire to love, 2 words that embody the primacy of love. To adore the Heart of God puts us on the march towards the service of our neighbour. “Any soul who rises, raises the world,” says Sister Elisabeth of the Trinity. Let us ask the Lord through his intercession for the grace to be able to pray the prayer of abandonment that St Charles left us My brother, my brother, I surrender myself to You, do with me what you will So you are happy, thank you, I am ready for anything, I accept everything Because you are my brother, I surrender myself to You Because you are my brother, I trust in you.
Source: Superior of Annecy Visitation Monastery