For a good deal of my life, the only time I “adored” was in the Lolly Shop close to home, oh, and on Holy Thursday when I dutifully followed the priest to the altar of repose. This term, “altar of repose”, I only learned when I was 28 and having a conversion to the Catholic Faith. I grew up in a Catholic family, but did not choose the faith for myself until I “met the Lord” through the Emmanuel Community at World Youth Day, Paris, 1997.
Paris is a pretty snazzy place to meet the Lord!
It just so happened that the community to which I was called has a thing about Adoration; the Emmanuel Community proposes Adoration, Compassion, and Evangelisation as the foundational graces. Emmanuel is “God with us”, and so it makes sense that we in turn are called to spend time with God himself.
When we spend time in Adoration, our hearts can become more like the Lord, thus from His heart living in ours, we can carry compassion into the world. Consequently, this divinely increased capacity to “suffer with” people helps us to desire to evangelise those with whom the Lord calls us to abide.
Why do I want to evangelise them? Because, in short, I have experienced his merciful compassion for myself.
Mostly for me adoration has required pure grit. I am not visited by many moments of spiritual consolation, heavenly epiphany, nor has the veil been lifted. Generally I just see a white host encircled by a beautiful monstrance. Sometimes I ask myself, “has dragging my butt to Adoration really had an impact on my life?”
The answer is, yes. When I reflect on the course of my life since I started making a priority for Adoration more than 25 years ago, I am astounded at the shift in my internal landscape. Just this morning, I was having my haircut by my lovely, non believing hairdresser, and it came into my head, “Always have ready the reason for your joy.” I pondered, “what is the reason for my joy?”
When I lurched into faith from a perilous journey through my twenties, my internal world was confused, wretched, muddy, falling down, and afraid. I had wounds that no medicine could heal. Over time, this gentle balm that imperceptibly flows out from the Host has healed what no man can heal, has restored, reclaimed and strengthened. In many ways I see that I have been “made strong with regard to my inner self” (Eph 3:16); not because I have “fixed” myself, but because a weeny crack in my hard heart has received the grace to allow the Lord to seep in.
He only needs a fissure, and so though I often need to grit my teeth and drag my wretched self before the Lord, I know that He is at work in me.
~ Sarah McDonald
Sarah is married to James and they are blessed with four children. Sarah gained a degree in Education, had a cerebral hemorrhage and returned to study Chinese Medicine and shiatsu therapy. By her account, she wasted her 20s gallivanting around the world before experiencing a conversion in Paris at the 1997 World Youth Day.
She and James have recently moved to the foothills of the Snowy Mountains where Sarah teaches grammar at the Augustine Academy Liberal Arts School.
This Lent we are suggesting that we all choose a time to spend with Our Lord in Adoration. We have asked a few people about their own experiances with Adoration to help you with understanding the importance. For more information about what and why we are doing it click here!