A practical guide to Eucharistic Adoration

In which sacrament are the mystery and saving fruits of Christ's Incarnation, earthly ministry, passion, death and resurrection most fully made present and given to us? The answer is the Eucharist..  Writing in the Introduction to the Devout Life, Saint, Doctor and bishop St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) describes  the Mass as the sun of the spiritual exercises – the centre and heart of Christian faith and life.  For him, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is a prolongation of our participation in the Eucharist. He writes of participation in the Mass in these words:

Saint Chrysostom says that the Angels crowd around it in adoration, and if we are found together with them, united in one intention, we cannot but be most favourably influenced by such society. Moreover, all the heavenly choirs of the Church triumphant, as well as those of the Church militant, are joined to our Dear Lord in this divine act, so that with Him, in Him, and by Him, they may win the favour of God the Father, and obtain His Mercy for us.

St Francis de Sales wrote for lay people in every state of life and not only for cloistered religious. This was highly significant for his time.

He advised people on how we might engage in a ‘spiritual communion’ if we are hindered from attending Mass. He gave specific advice for how we can participate with a lively faith in each part of the Mass offering our own prayers and intentions along with those of the priest and the congregation.  His comment in answer to questions about frequency of communion was:

If men of the world ask why you communicate so often, tell them that it is that you may learn to love God; that you may be cleansed from imperfections, set free from trouble, comforted in affliction, strengthened in weakness.

Francis advises a careful preparation before communion and a lingering thanksgiving afterwards. He urges that we stay with Christ present in the Eucharist, to speak to him heart to heart and to renew our resolutions. Eucharistic worship is not only a matter of being in front of the tabernacle but of cultivating an attentive and loving presence.

Living in an extremely troubled time in the wake of the Reformation, Francis combined patient argument and gentleness with public acts of reverence, showing that adoration is both a personal and an apostolic act.

Adoration was, for Francis and his followers in the Salesian family, a conversation of love and an exercise in friendship.  His pastoral advice to all including those with care of the young was is well captured in a saying often attributed to him:

You catch more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a hundred barrels of vinegar.

Some practical ideas and suggestions that arise from his teaching and life include:

• Regular participation at Mass, frequent Holy Communion where appropriate, Eucharistic adoration and thanksgiving after Communion.
• Cultivation of prayerful attentiveness to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and loving attentiveness to others.
• Preparation before and thanksgiving after Mass.
• Above all, practice your Eucharistic faith in gentleness and love toward others.