This Great Sacrament
When I made the schedule for The Commons, I didn't intend for the posting of the song Adoration to coincide with the ADORE 2097 Tour. Sometimes I have to laugh when the Holy Spirit is at work . . . despite my best efforts.
Many liturgists and others involved in Catholic worship really don't know how to handle the interest in Eucharistic adoration that has emerged in the past 10 years. Those who express the greatest concern remember a day when people didn't participate in Mass. Instead, they only went to adoration. To be honest, I get that fear. But every form of worship this side of heaven has its dangers. The important thing with any danger is to name it and then state the real purpose and educate people on that purpose.
The danger: The Eucharist is seen as something static, not active. Eucharistic adoration is seen as a higher form of worship than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The purpose: To prolong the experience of the Mass. To lead to a hunger for eating and drinking the Body and Blood of Jesus. To have full, conscious, and active participation in the liturgy.
In adoration we gaze upon the Lord and he upon us. It is intimate, loving, awe-inspiring, and Jesus yearns for us to spend that time with him. But his greatest yearning is to enter inside of us physically. It is also the yearning of the human heart. Go to adoration and then let the desire to join with the Lord rise up within you and participate in the Eucharist. More later . . .