Dear Friends,
Our catechesis on the Holy Eucharist has been a moment of great blessing, spiritual nourishment, and pastoral reinvigoration as we unite with all the Catholics in the United States in prayer and study during this time of Eucharistic Revival (2022-2024). In our faith journey and catechetical voyage, we have intentionally made effort to recapitulate what the Eucharist is all about by opening the pages of the Scriptures, reading the musings of the Church Fathers, and reconnecting with the teachings of great theologians from St. Augustine to St. Thomas Aquinas, from St. John Eudes to St. Alphonsus Liguori, and from St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross to the recent magisterial documents on the Holy Eucharist. These magisterial texts include Pope John Paul II’s Dominicae Cenae (1980), Ecclesia de Eucharistia (2003), and Mane Nobiscum Domine (2004), and Pope Benedict XVI’s Sacramentum Caritatis (2007). Through these teachings, our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is strengthened, our belief in Transubstantiation is enriched, and our appreciation of the effects of Holy Communion on the soul is renewed.
In this springtime of faith, our thirst to know more about the Blessed Sacrament has led us to consider how the Holy Eucharist was celebrated in the early centuries of the Church’s life and liturgical celebrations. This is revealed in the Apologia of St. Justin the Martyr, contemplated in the Adversus Haereses of St. Ireneus of Lyon, and celebrated in the Catacombs of Rome and Paris. Our visit to the magnificent Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris, our appreciation of the Sanctuary in Namugongo in Uganda, and our love for the less magnificent churches in las fincas de El Salvador and in the villages of Zimbabwe have helped us to acknowledge that what makes a church beautiful is the presence of our Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Thus, in the Sacred Species, Jesus is truly, really, and substantially present. This conviction inexorably led St. John Henry Newman to utter this prayer and meditation “I place myself in the presence of him, in whose Incarnate Presence I am before I place myself there. I adore you, O my Savior, present here as God and man, in Soul and Body, in true Flesh and Blood. I acknowledge and confess that I kneel before that Sacred Humanity, which was conceived in Mary’s womb, and lay in Mary’s bosom; which grew up to man’s estate, and by Sea of Galilee called the Twelve, wrought miracles, and spoke words of wisdom and peace; which in due season hung on the cross, lay in the tomb, rose from the dead, and now reigns in heaven. I praise, and bless, and give myself wholly to him, who is the true Bread of my soul, and my everlasting joy, Amen.”
Considering this pivotal meditation of St. John Henry Newman, a great intellectual of the 20th Century, and those contained in St. Thomas Aquinas’ theology of the Eucharist, as expressed in the songs he originally composed for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, such as “Pange Lingua Gloriosi,” “O Saluutaris Hostia,” and “Adoro Te Devote,” it is important for us to not only contemplate the right belief in the Eucharist (Orthodoxy) but to engage in right practice (Orthopraxy) of this Divine Sacrament. One of the practices of the Church that vivifies and ennobles our love for the Eucharist is Eucharistic Adoration. In Eucharistic Adoration, we go from what we believe (Lex creendi) to how we pray (Lex orandi). We ruminate not only the realities surrounding the belief in the Holy Eucharist (sitting theology) but also adore the Incarnate Son of God (kneeling theology). Adoration in Latin is derived from two words, ad and ora, meaning “to the mouth.” It signifies closeness and spiritual intimacy, the alignment of our being with God. Eucharistic adoration provides a beautiful space to enter the interior and longing reservoir in the heart of the Psalmist, who prayed: “O God, you are my God, for you I long; for you my soul is thirsting. My body pines for you like a dry, weary land without water. So, I gaze on you in the Sanctuary, to see your strength and your glory. For you love us better than life, my lips will speak your praise. So, I will bless you all my life; in your name, I will lift up my hands. My soul shall be filled as with a banquet; my mouth shall praise you with joy (Psalm 63:2-9).”
Eucharistic Adoration is a natural consequence of the Church’s faith in the real and substantial presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. At Holy Hour or Eucharistic Adoration, we come to revere the most precious Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is a sustained, uninterrupted hour of prayer, praise, reparation, and thanksgiving in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. The first recorded instance of public Eucharistic Adoration took place on September 11, 1226, when, “in compliance with the wish of King Louis VII, who had just been victorious over Albigensians (a group of heretics), the Blessed Sacrament, veiled, was exposed in the Chapel of the Holy Cross, as an act of thanksgiving. So great was the number of people who came out to adore the Blessed Lord that the bishop, Pierre de Corbie, judged it expedient to continue the adoration by night, as well as by day, a proposal that was subsequently ratified by the approval of the Holy See” (Joseph McMahon, “Perpetual Adoration,” Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol I).
Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, the holy Titular Archbishop of Newport is one of the churchmen in this country who devoutly promoted Eucharistic Adoration for one unique hour before the Lord. He offered three reasons why every Catholic must engage in this beautiful and faith-enriching spiritual exercise. First, Holy Hour is a sharing in the work of redemption. Our Blessed Lord used the words “hour” and “day” in two totally different connotations in the Gospel of John. “Day” belongs to God; the “hour” belongs to evil. Seven times in the Gospel of John, the word “hour” is used, and in each instance, it refers to the demonic, and to the moments when Christ is no longer in the Father’s Hands, but in the hands of men. In the Garden, our Lord contrasted two “hours” -one was the evil hour, “this is your hour” (Luke 22:53)- with which Judas could turn out the lights of the world. In contrast, our Blessed Lord asked: “Could you not watch one hour with me?” In other words, he asked for an hour of reparation to combat the hour of evil, an hour of victimal union with the cross to overcome the anti-hour of sin.
The second reason for praying the Holy Hour is to fulfill the Blessed Lord’s desire for our companionship. The only time our Lord asked the Apostles for anything was the night he went into his agony. Then he did not ask all of them…perhaps because he knew he could not count on their fidelity. But at least he expected three to be faithful to him: Peter, James, and John. As often in the history of the Church since that time, evil is awake, but the disciples were asleep. That is why there came out of his anguished and lonely heart the sign: “Could you not watch one hour with me” (Matthew 26: 41). Not for an hour of activity did he plead, but for an hour of companionship. The third reason we should pray before the Blessed Sacrament is to grow more and more into his likeness. As Paul puts it: “We are transfigured into his likeness, from splendor to splendor” (2 Corinthians 3:18). We become like that which we gaze upon. Looking into a sunset, the face takes on a golden glow. Looking at the Eucharistic Lord for an hour transforms the heart in a mysterious way as the face of Moses was transformed after his companionship with God on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:29-34). At Holy Hour something will happen to us similar to what happened to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. On Easter Sunday afternoon when the Lord met them, he asked why they were so gloomy. After spending some time in his presence, and hearing again the secret of spirituality-“The Son of Man must suffer to enter into his Glory” (Luke 24:26). Then when their time with him ended and their “hearts were on fire” (Luke 24:32) they realized that it was him and their eyes were opened at the breaking of bread (Luke 24: 31).
In these three fundamental reasons why we should pray for an hour before the Blessed Sacrament during this graceful moment of Eucharistic Revival and beyond, I humbly wish to unearth some hidden treasures that will make the time spent with the Lord more palatable. First, at every Holy Hour, Eucharistic Adoration, Perpetual Adoration, and Benediction, we are before the Lord of Lords, the King of Glory. We come to adore Him whom the Angels adore in Heaven day and night, as they sing joyfully, “Amen, Amen, Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever, Amen” (Revelation 7:12). Holy Hour is a sublime moment to encounter Jesus in his humanity and divinity. The Holy Eucharist is Jesus, born anew on the altar as in Bethlehem (the house of Bread). The Eucharist is our food for the journey on earth, sustaining the divine life in us and offering a foretaste, here and now, of the heavenly banquet.
The invitation to partake in this sacred hour of spiritual nourishment, sublime thanksgiving, sincere reparation, and joyful reunion of man with his God is given by Jesus, Himself. He invited Peter, James, and John to watch and pray with him for one hour (Matthew 26:41). The invitation is divine, and the response should transcend our human trepidation and sloth. A similar invitation, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28), is extended to all believers across the centuries from those who profess the faith in Zacatecas Mexico, to those who silently seek the face of Jesus in troubled war zones of Ukraine, to the young and disenchanted young folks who are fighting for their rights in Gaza and Israel. St. John Chrysostom (349-407) said, “This invitation to share companionship with Jesus is not meant for this or that person, but for all that are in anxiety, in sorrows, in sins. Come, not that I may call you to account, but that I may do away with your sins; come, not because I want your honor, but because I want your salvation. “And I,” says he, “will give you rest.”
The hour with Jesus is an hour of peace, which is not the absence of troubles and difficulties but the presence of a person, the presence of Jesus, our Lord and our God (John 20:28). In our next month’s catechesis, we shall continue this path of making known the importance and saving graces of keeping watch with the Blessed Lord for one hour.
Ad majorem Dei gloriam
Rev. Benedict Nwachukwu-Udaku, Ph.D. is the director of Academic Formation at St. Junipero Serra House of Formation.