The National Eucharistic Congress showed the world what it looks like to see thousands of Catholics adoring Our Eucharistic Lord. This is a beautiful mountain top moment. These moments are a consolation, but they do not last. We must now begin living this adoration in our parishes. Top-down moments rarely bring about lasting change, but grassroots local movements transform the Church and the world. Renewal begins with a single soul adoring the Lord, which then leads more and more people to His Real Presence.
Renewal in the Church is much simpler than we may realize. It will not happen through fanfare and committees. It will begin in quiet darkened sanctuaries illuminated by the soft glow of candles reflecting off the golden rays of thousands of monstrances housing Our Eucharistic Lord. It will begin when we commit to regularly adoring and coming before the Lord in the Holy Eucharist. It is this simple because there is no plan, program, or meeting that can make up for the power of His Real Presence. I am witnessing this truth in my own parish.
A few weeks ago, my husband, daughter, and I quietly entered the doors of our parish early Sunday morning. The sun was rising. It was a few minutes before 7:00 am. As we entered the church, the nave was darkened and only the sanctuary lights were on. One of our priests was kneeling in prayer on the marble floor on the step below the Tabernacle. He was silently and lovingly adoring Our Lord in preparation for the celebration of the Mass.
We made our way to a pew. I knelt to begin praying in the silence of the early morning. Eventually, the nave lights went on. The priest finished his prayers and began preparations for Mass in the sacristy. I then became aware of how many people were in the nave quietly praying at 7:00 am. I did something I seldom do; I turned around and scanned the pews behind us. There were dozens of people silently praying.
For years my family and I were the first—or close to the first—to arrive at early morning Mass on Sundays. We have made it a habit for most of our marriage to arrive 30 minutes before Mass to pray. People would usually trickle in slowly before Mass began. There were a few regulars who were there early to pray, but that early it was usually almost empty. Now, more and more people are coming as early as we do to pray. Why? The witness of the priest in prayer before the Tabernacle.
This priest—who more than anything does not want to be a spectacle or distraction—is fathering his spiritual children. He understands that to lead people to Eucharistic revival we must see our spiritual father loving Our Eucharistic Lord. We must see the priest kneeling in silent, loving adoration. We need to see our spiritual fathers loving Jesus. Seeing his witness awakens a deeper love of the Real Presence and opens souls to a greater desire for prayer.
The proof is in the fruits. People who never came to Mass early are now arriving a full 30 minutes early at 7:00 am to commune with Our Lord because they see the way this priest loves Jesus’ Real Presence. His witness awakens a deeper hunger and thirst for the Lord. His prayerful witness confirms that the Church means what she says when she teaches Jesus’ body, blood, soul, and divinity is in our Tabernacles.
Seeing this priest silently pray before Mass is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It strengthens my own faith in Jesus. To see his love for the Real Presence leads me to want to love and reverence the Lord more fully in the Holy Eucharist. This is what spiritual fatherhood is all about. The same principle is at work in a family where the father helps lead his children to lives of prayer and virtue along with his wife. The strong prayerful witness of a father awakens a desire in children, natural or spiritual, to be more like their fathers. The call of the spiritual father is to love Jesus above all else and to give Jesus to his spiritual children. A priest loving Jesus saves souls.
For the National Eucharistic Revival to produce long lasting fruit the Church must live every day what she demonstrated to the world at the Eucharistic Congress. Priests and bishops lovingly adoring the Eucharistic Lord and leading the people to love Him more fully. We complicate things because we think our plans will bring renewal.
The Lord is simple. He waits for each one of us in the Tabernacle and on our altars during Adoration. He wants to come into our souls in prayer before Him. He wants to commune with us and love us. We do not need anything else. We simply need to show up and adore Him. We need plenty of opportunities in our parishes to adore Our Lord. If our priests start leading us to adore, then more and more souls will encounter the Lord’s Real Presence in a deeper way.
The Lord heals and transforms us when we spend regular dedicated time adoring Him in the Tabernacle or during times He is exposed in Adoration. The priest’s example at my parish opened those who witnessed his loving prayer and adoration to this reality. They do not go early to see the priest. They go early because they see more clearly with the eyes of their souls the One who waits for them. The One who desires silent communion with them to fully prepare their souls to receive Him in the Mass.
Silence allows for encounter. Our parishes are too busy and noisy. We rush around before Masses. There is no time to rest in the Lord and prepare for His coming into our bodies and souls in the Mass. This priest’s witness puts first things first. He is heeding the Lord’s call to be like Mary who chose the better part. Rushing, noise, chattering, and busyness can never fully prepare a soul for the sacred mysteries of the Mass. Only silent adoration can lead our restless minds and hearts to rest in the Lord. If we never silently adore Him, then we will never enter deeply into the Mass.
Eucharistic revival is happening in my parish. It is not because of programs, committees, or events. It is because a single priest is seeking to love the Lord in the Holy Eucharist. His witness awakens souls to the Lord who loves and desires prayerful union with them. This witness leads others to spend time with the Blessed Sacrament. This is the power of a priest’s prayerful witness before Our Eucharistic Lord. If our spiritual fathers simply love the Lord and show us that love in their prayerful witness before the Lord’s Real Presence, there will be true Eucharistic revival.
Photo by Erica Viana on Unsplash
