God Moments During Eucharistic Adoration
Honest Reflections and Spiritual Development through Divine Therapy
Michelle Murray
Associate Co-Director for western PA
I remember when my Pennsylvania church began 24- hour Adoration. Having a constant presence with our Lord and spending time in the church other than our weekly obligation to attend Mass was mind-boggling. Taking time away from our busy days? Staying up in the middle of the night? I didn’t think it would work. Looking back, I now can say it was an idea that should be considered an important part of our daily Christian lives. God, his Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit is with us always. The Blessed Mother is with us always. They love us unconditionally and are there when we need their help. How can we not reciprocate through one hour of our day? Sixty minutes. One hour out of the entire week. It embarrasses me that I thought this would never work.
I was overwhelmed when I began offering myself to our Lord for an hour of Adoration. Because I was involved in several church ministries, I was asked to rotate with others Adoration two days per week. I thought two days a week was a bit much. What would I do? So, I planned to say the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and if I had extra time, I would say extra Our Fathers and Hail Mary’s. So that’s what I did. I was OK after the first few days, but then I started to think that I wasn’t praying enough and that I couldn’t show our Lord my appreciation and love with just prayers. I brought a book with prayers for certain times of the year and read from that. I brought other books about the Saints that I read through in addition to my prayers. Soon I found myself wanting to pray the entire time I was there; I didn’t know what else I should be doing. After a while, I thought I was putting too much pressure on myself, and maybe there was something that God wanted. In retrospect, the prayers brought me closer to God, and the Holy Spirit gave me the wisdom to realize that God wanted something else from me. I was changing. I was beginning to realize that I wanted to show God how much I loved and adored Him, to show Him how much I realized that I couldn’t do without His help. After several weeks of this in-depth prayerful meditation, I was less stressed about what I was doing, and I developed inner peace. I felt that I should go to Adoration and let God tell me what He wanted. I started thinking that I was visiting a friend, a companion, that I was spending time with someone who cared for and loved me. I didn’t need to pray while there, but if that is what God wanted me to do, He would tell me. I was open to whatever happened during that hour in the grotto. One day, God inspired me to write. So, I took out my pen and paper and wrote down the words that God gave to me. It is called, A Prayer in Adoration.
A PRAYER IN ADORATION
THANK YOU LORD, FOR INVITING ME HERE TO BE WITH YOU TODAY.
I CAN THINK OF NO BETTER PLACE WHERE I CAN BE ALONE WITH YOU WHO LOVES ME WITH THE MOST MERCIFUL HEART.
HERE WITH YOU IN THE SILENCE AWAY FROM WORLDLY DISTRACTIONS, I FIND THE PEACE THAT I AM LONGING FOR.
I AM ALONE WITH YOU, MY GOD, AND I FEEL YOUR LOVE ENTERING MY HEART AND FILLING IT WITH YOUR DIVINE GRACE.
THERE IS NO OTHER PLACE I’D RATHER BE—THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL GIFT OF YOUR PRESENCE.
As time went by, I found myself preparing for Adoration. I looked forward to spending this hour with my God and no longer needed to check my calendar to see my day’s schedule; I knew the night before that I was scheduled for Adoration. I talked to God, telling Him how much I looked forward to spending time with Him. I started calling Him Father, developing an intimate RELATIONSHIP with my creator. I felt that it was right to call him Father, that this is what he wanted me to call him. This turning point allowed me to realize that this was more than an hour of prayer. I saw that this was an hour of loving intimacy with my creator, my Father, my maker— the One I adored. I realized that this hour was about coming to know my Father in a way that He wanted. This resulted from me giving up a few hours from my busy schedule. I realized it was an hour spent in Adoration of my Lord and an hour that my Lord spent in love and adoration of me.
Adoration is a time to share love, to meld hearts. Adoration is a time to share thoughts, concerns and our beings. I can’t explain it in any other way. This gift of Adoration comes at an opportune time when there is crisis in our church and our world. In His Eucharistic presence, God shows us who He is in the only physical way that our human world understands. And in these moments, in these sixty minutes that we spend with Him, we experience what He gives us in the words we hear when with Him. Do not ignore or neglect this time. It is an hour that He wants to spend with you, talk, give you graces, and enrich the Spirit within you. He wants to give you His love and to express His adoration for you, who has decided to come to Him and put Him first in the middle of your busy day. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
