Every once in a while something happens that I just have to comment on. Such a thing happened today. Such a thing happened today that has never happened in the entire history of the Roman Catholic Church. Today, at the request of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, in parishes around the world Catholics met and knelt in front of the Blessed Sacrament from 5-6pm Rome time. It’s not unusual that Catholics should practice Eucharistic Adoration. What is unusual, what has never happened, is that we should all do it at the same time. Or as close to at the same time as was possible to achieve given conflicting Mass schedules and time zones. In my parish, this meant that from 7 until 8 this morning we gathered for Adoration. Ours was an hour early to accommodate our 8:30 Mass.
One might wonder why Pope Francis chose today. Today, June 2, 2013, is the Feast of Corpus Christi; the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. It is the day when Church celebrates the Word made Flesh, and the Flesh made Bread. It is the one Sunday when we focus in a very special way on the mystery that happens on the altar every Sunday when ordinary bread and wine are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit into the very body and blood of Jesus Christ. That body that we are commanded by Jesus to feed upon. That blood that we are commanded by Jesus to drink. “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.” (John 6:53-54 NABRE) Today we celebrate that. We celebrate what was revealed to St. Paul, “that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also the cup, after supper saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.” (I Corinthians 11:23-26 NABRE) And what better way to honor the body and blood of Christ than by kneeling before him, hidden in the consecrated host, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar.
Why would we do that? Beyond the fact that the Holy Father asked us to, why would anyone get up obnoxiously early, in some cases, or stay up obnoxiously late in other cases, to go to church and sit or kneel in front of the Blessed Sacrament in (mostly) total silence for an entire hour? Why would we Catholics do that today, or any other day, for that matter?
Why? Because. Because when we gaze on the Blessed Sacrament, housed in the monstrance sitting on the altar, we don’t see the consecrated host. We don’t see the bread that appears before our physical eyes. We see our Lord, Jesus Christ, eternal Son of God. We see the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. We see our Savior, our Lord, our God, the Good Shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep. We see the nails in his hands and feet. We see the crown of thorns. We see the wound in his side, we see his exposed heart. We see our Creator and our Best Friend.
We go, and we kneel, and we sit in silence and we hear. We hear that still, small voice that Elijah heard in 1 Kings 19. We hear the Creator of the universe whisper that he loves us. We hear him calling to us, encouraging us to allow ourselves to be still. Telling us to lay down all that is “us” before his throne and let him become our all in all. In the silence we are drawn ever deeper into the Father’s heart. We are drawn deeper into the mystery that is the Triune God. For when we gaze on the Blessed Sacrament, we don’t just see Jesus, the Son of Mary, we also see the eternal Only Begotten Son of the Father, the second person of the Most Holy Trinity. We see Jesus and we see the Father, for in the face of the Son, the Father is revealed.
When we Catholics kneel in Eucharistic Adoration, we enter into a time and place outside of time and space. A place our language cannot capture. A place our words cannot describe. A place our minds cannot comprehend. We only know we never want to leave. We experience something our souls find so very, very familiar. We find home. That is why we kneel before the Blessed Sacrament whenever we can. Because for that much too short a space of time, we are truly home. We lay our head on the breast of our Beloved and we rest. Unfortunately we cannot remain there. Not yet. But while it’s difficult to leave home, we depart clinging to the knowledge that someday, someday we will truly be able to rest our heads on the heart of our Beloved and we won’t ever have to leave again. We will be forever home.
