The Handy Little Guide to Adoration
The Handy Little Guide to Adoration
Michelle Jones Schroeder
Our
Sunday
Visitor
Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division
Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.
Huntington, Indiana 46750
Nihil Obstat
Msgr. Michael Heintz, Ph.D.
Censor Librorum
Imprimatur
Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend
June 20, 2018
The Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur are official declarations that a book is free from doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed.
Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible — Second Catholic Edition (Ignatius Edition), copyright © 1965, 1966, 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America copyright © 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. — Libreria Editrice Vaticana. English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica copyright © 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. — Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
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Copyright © 2018 by Michelle Schroeder. Published 2018.
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Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 200 Noll
Plaza, Huntington, IN 46750; 1-800-348-2440
ISBN: 978-1-68192-321-5 (Inventory No. T1995)
eISBN: 978-1-68192-322-2
LCCN: 2018947034
Cover and interior design: Lindsey Riesen
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Contents
The Nuts and Bolts of Adoration
Read This First
Let me start by telling you what I’m not. I’m not a religious scholar. I’m not a nun. I’m not a super-holy, close-to-perfection Catholic.
I am a working mom with two kids and a husband, who does her best and fails often. I am a Catholic absolutely in love with Eucharistic adoration. It’s there I get to experience a direct, personal encounter with the living Christ.
I started going to the adoration chapel at my church during a very stressful time when I needed a quiet place to escape life for a bit and to be with the Lord. I don’t know why I chose that particular day to go to the chapel; I had walked by it a thousand times and never entered before. But when I finally did, it created in me a desire to return.
The best description about that desire is it feels like I’m face to face with Jesus, which, of course, I am, because he is present in the Eucharist. But it’s not that I KNOW he is there, it’s that I FEEL he is there. His presence brings me a feeling of peace that I can’t get anywhere else.
But what are we supposed to be doing in there?
As Catholics, we’re comfortable knowing what to do at Mass. We respond, we pray, we receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist. We’re also good at confession; we know the words and the procedure.
While adoration isn’t a separate sacrament, it is an extension of our experience with the Sacrament of the Eucharist. During Mass, we are in the presence of the living God, and hopefully we are fully aware of that fact as we participate in the celebration. Mass is celebrated with a community, which, let’s face it, at times can be distracting — I’ve seen people faint, the power go out, the microphone fall off the celebrant’s robe. Those of us who attend church with our kids can tell stories of moments our focus is not exactly where it should be. I’ll never forget when my son was eight years old and threw up right in the middle of Christmas Eve Mass!
Adoration doesn’t have instructions, and there’s no particular format to follow, which is why we are sometimes apprehensive. But that’s also what makes it so beautiful. It’s free time with Jesus, where we don’t have to think about kneeling and standing or finding pages in the hymnal. Adoration is our up-close-and-personal time with the holy Eucharist, where we can focus wholly on our relationship with God.
I think that’s why I’ve grown to love adoration. The silence that surrounds me in front of the Eucharist makes me feel like I’m alone with Our Lord, even when there are other people there. Outside of the structure of Mass, I can bring Jesus everything that is in my heart at that moment, no matter how raw those things may be. I don’t have to think about what I need to say next or if I’m singing off-key (which I always am). Adoration is a rare moment where we can be in his presence without anyone telling us what to do or say.
Adoration has actually made Mass a more meaningful experience