The Beauty of Eucharistic Adoration

""People ask me: "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.""

-- Saint Mother Theresa of Calcutta

I still remember the first time that I truly understood Eucharistic Adoration. I’d been before with my youth group, but it never really moved me enough.

When I attended the 2021 National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis, one of our general sessions ended in Eucharistic Adoration in the stadium. There were twelve thousand high schoolers in that stadium, everyone on their knees. We were either kneeling on concrete or metal bleachers in the small space between the rows of stadium seats, so it wasn’t exactly comfortable (I vaguely remember losing feeling in my legs about halfway through).

I remember looking around, surrounded by the friends I had just made, as we weren’t very far into the trip just yet. Two of my friends behind me had their eyes up to heaven, holding up their hands in praise, and I started crying. A few rows in front of me, I saw a woman praying over a man, crying together.

The girl next to me was crying too, and I shared my small pack of tissues with her. At this point, I was openly sobbing. What about, I’m not sure (I was very sleep deprived, we all were), but just something about being in the presence of Jesus was enough for me to let it all out.

Praise and worship music was playing and everyone was singing.

Picture it: twelve thousand youth, praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament, singing praise and worship, and crying what my youth minister called “Holy Spirit Tears”.

Unfortunately, that’s a difficult thing to picture in today’s secular world.

That one evening of adoration set the level of determination for months after that. I was determined to attend adoration when I could. I continued to go to the monthly adoration sessions with my youth group, and once I was able to, I began going to an hour of perpetual eucharistic adoration in our chapel Thursday nights, every week.

Being in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, it made everything click. It made everything simple, and I quickly grew to dread the end of my hour. I wanted to stay there forever, where nothing from the outside, earthly world could touch me. It was just me and the Lord, having a conversation.

Eucharistic Adoration has a tendency to make time stop. Things are revealed to you that you wouldn’t have normally thought about had you not been taking a break from the world’s noise. Let me tell you, I’ve never felt closer to God than when I’m sitting in my church’s small adoration chapel by myself.

YOUR CHALLENGE TODAY: Has it been a while since you’ve been to adoration? Have you ever been to adoration? If not, find the closest perpetual adoration chapel and spend an hour in prayer in front of God. If you want to go really hardcore, sign up for an hour that is not covered, or has few people. Even if you have been to adoration recently, keep it up! God loves seeing you come back week after week, taking time out of your day just to be with him.