There's just more than magic in that place. Adoration.
Years ago, there was a girl who challenged me to do something she thought would be challenging for me, knowing that I'm such a headstrong and daredevil and the couldn't-care-less type of soul.
Her challenge: Go to the Adoration, stare on the only thing that is actually in that place, a tiny white round unleavened bread that actually does not look like bread, and believe that it is the actual body of the Lord Jesus.
Daring that I am, I simply said "Sure." Secretly though, there's one second of doubt that crossed my mind, the thought telling me "hmmm, that doesn't sound easy...staring at something like an object and believing that is somebody? Much more, uhhhm...the Lord Himself?"
So I asked, "Where is that place anyways?" And I was embarrassed when I was told that it is just at the Church! Me being a regular Sunday Mass attendee! That tiny secluded place beside the Main Church where the Holy Mass is celebrated where it says "Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration". That little room where the sleepers of people are left just outside the door and I've always wondered why they would leave it outside. That place I never entered, thinking that its just another place in the Church.
So, I took the challenge. I went there, left my sandals outside, entered the room for the first time. It was soooooo quiet. With one person kneeling, facing that little white bread I was told about. The Holy Eucharist exposed. So, I knelt.
And I started thinking, this is the same Eucharist I take in each time at the Holy Communion, of course it is the Lord! Why challenge me with what is obvious?
I decided to stay a little more...
Suddenly, something just came to me. Like a feeling I can't explain. Like its asking me if I really believe in what I thought I was believing all along.
I started doubting myself. I never expected I'd doubt myself for the first time with things like that.
I began staring at the Holy Eucharist. Somehow, the more I stare, the more I began realizing that there is just something more there. Something more. I had to make sure its not just me over-thinking things. I just want to be driven by something there, like a force driving me within.
Without hesitation, I told the Lord "Just help me to believe in Your presence here. I want to."
That's all I said in that place that first time. And everything else, I left in His hand. I never imagined I'd be so much hooked to it years after. Hooked and addicted to the Lord more than ever! Hooked in His presence in that tiny white unleavened bread!
The Adoration is just a powerful, magical, place! It draws you. It magnetizes you. And when you stare at the Holy Eucharist, its like everything else disappears but you and Lord! You don't even have to exert effort to believe! You just got to ask Him to make you believe and you will!
After that first visit, I started learning so many wonderful things about Holy Eucharist, even the scientific facts about it, but most importantly, the changes that it brings and and how it can affect us in very concrete ways, with it being the Lord in a physical, non-human form. Things that can't be easily explained but is best to be personally experienced. I would rather have the Lord explain it to you personally, His way.
And so now, in this Feast of Corpus Christi, I pass this challenge to you, you who are reading this: Go to the Adoration, stare on the only thing that is actually in that place, a tiny white round unleavened bread that actually does not look like bread, and believe that it is the actual body of the Lord Jesus.
Just do it. And you'll be amazed at the magic the Lord will do to your soul.
Years ago, there was a girl who challenged me to do something she thought would be challenging for me, knowing that I'm such a headstrong and daredevil and the couldn't-care-less type of soul.
Her challenge: Go to the Adoration, stare on the only thing that is actually in that place, a tiny white round unleavened bread that actually does not look like bread, and believe that it is the actual body of the Lord Jesus.
Daring that I am, I simply said "Sure." Secretly though, there's one second of doubt that crossed my mind, the thought telling me "hmmm, that doesn't sound easy...staring at something like an object and believing that is somebody? Much more, uhhhm...the Lord Himself?"
So I asked, "Where is that place anyways?" And I was embarrassed when I was told that it is just at the Church! Me being a regular Sunday Mass attendee! That tiny secluded place beside the Main Church where the Holy Mass is celebrated where it says "Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration". That little room where the sleepers of people are left just outside the door and I've always wondered why they would leave it outside. That place I never entered, thinking that its just another place in the Church.
So, I took the challenge. I went there, left my sandals outside, entered the room for the first time. It was soooooo quiet. With one person kneeling, facing that little white bread I was told about. The Holy Eucharist exposed. So, I knelt.
And I started thinking, this is the same Eucharist I take in each time at the Holy Communion, of course it is the Lord! Why challenge me with what is obvious?
I decided to stay a little more...
Suddenly, something just came to me. Like a feeling I can't explain. Like its asking me if I really believe in what I thought I was believing all along.
I started doubting myself. I never expected I'd doubt myself for the first time with things like that.
I began staring at the Holy Eucharist. Somehow, the more I stare, the more I began realizing that there is just something more there. Something more. I had to make sure its not just me over-thinking things. I just want to be driven by something there, like a force driving me within.
Without hesitation, I told the Lord "Just help me to believe in Your presence here. I want to."
That's all I said in that place that first time. And everything else, I left in His hand. I never imagined I'd be so much hooked to it years after. Hooked and addicted to the Lord more than ever! Hooked in His presence in that tiny white unleavened bread!
The Adoration is just a powerful, magical, place! It draws you. It magnetizes you. And when you stare at the Holy Eucharist, its like everything else disappears but you and Lord! You don't even have to exert effort to believe! You just got to ask Him to make you believe and you will!
After that first visit, I started learning so many wonderful things about Holy Eucharist, even the scientific facts about it, but most importantly, the changes that it brings and and how it can affect us in very concrete ways, with it being the Lord in a physical, non-human form. Things that can't be easily explained but is best to be personally experienced. I would rather have the Lord explain it to you personally, His way.
And so now, in this Feast of Corpus Christi, I pass this challenge to you, you who are reading this: Go to the Adoration, stare on the only thing that is actually in that place, a tiny white round unleavened bread that actually does not look like bread, and believe that it is the actual body of the Lord Jesus.
Just do it. And you'll be amazed at the magic the Lord will do to your soul.
