Years ago there was a young man I knew, who after passing his road test for his driver’s
license, the first place he drove to was to his local parish to give thanks to God. He spent
some time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in thanking Him for His help. These days with
the rhythm of our lives going a little slower, we have more time to be spend with Jesus in
prayer.
There was a story of a man who had a conversion one day visiting a parish church in
Manhattan in which the Sisters of Life were outside. This man by the sheer grace of God,
decided to go in even though he was a non-practicing Catholic. Not long after, he came out
of the church and told the sisters still standing outside that “Jesus is in there!” The sisters
replied saying: “We know.” The man replied, “You don’t understand He is really in there.”
The sisters with a smile and a spirit of joy replied again “We know.”
That man was forever changed by encountering Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Just
spending a few minutes with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is time well spent. It is not
wasted even if it seems that it is. Jesus is so happy when you visit Him in His Eucharistic
presence. All He wants you to do is to be with Him.
There are great books that I recommend that foster devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. Visits
to the Most Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary by St. Alphonsus de Liguori and
Manual for Eucharistic Adoration by the Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration. Peter Julian
Eymard wrote many books promoting Adoration.
During this Advent, the Church will remain open every day, Monday – Friday from 6:00 AM to
7:00 PM, Saturday from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM and Sunday from 6:30 AM to 6:00 PM. In
addition, there is the weekly Adoration on Tuesday from 3:00-7:00 PM. Lastly, the 40 Hours
Devotion will take place between December 17th, 18th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd from 12:00-
8:00 PM. During this time the Church will be in silent prayer without distraction and the
crowds will be far less in comparison to Mass.
In this beautiful season of Advent, I encourage you as often as you can to make some time
with Jesus in visiting Him in the Blessed Sacrament. During the height of the lockdown the
parish church remained open when everything else was closed. Let us go through the doors
and be with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
In Jesus and Mary,
