St. Alphonsus: ‘adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the sacraments’
By Father Randy Stice
The Church has never ceased to reflect on Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist, penetrating ever more profoundly into the mystery of the complete transformation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ while retaining the outward characteristics of the bread and wine. As her faith deepened, “the Church became conscious of the meaning of silent adoration of the Lord present under the eucharistic species.”1 This month, I want to look at adoration of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist outside Mass.
Eucharistic adoration flows from the Mass. “In the Eucharist, the Son of God comes to meet us and desires to become one with us,” wrote Pope Benedict XVI; “eucharistic adoration is simply the natural consequence of the eucharistic celebration, which is itself the Church’s supreme act of adoration. Receiving the Eucharist means adoring Him whom we receive….The act of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place during the liturgical celebration itself.”2
Adoration bears rich fruit. Just as the Mass leads to adoration, so adoration draws us to the Mass, it urges us “to sacramental and spiritual communion.”3 Adoration deepens our participation in the Mass and our gratitude for the gift Christ makes of Himself. “Only in adoration,” wrote Pope Benedict XVI, “can a profound and genuine reception [of Communion] mature. And it is precisely this personal encounter with the Lord that then strengthens the social mission contained in the Eucharist, which seeks to break down not only the walls that separate the Lord and ourselves, but also and especially the walls that separate us from one another.”4 The Mass and the adoration that flows from it equip each of us “to perform good works and to please God, so as to imbue the world with the Christian spirit and to become a witness to Christ in the midst of human affairs.”5
It may be helpful to review a few key terms regarding eucharistic adoration. The tabernacle is a container for the Blessed Sacrament that is fixed and irremovable, “made of solid and inviolable material that is not transparent” and can be locked.6 A monstrance is a vessel used to display a consecrated host for adoration and veneration. Adoration is prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, either in the tabernacle or exposed in a monstrance. Exposition is the liturgical rite for the public veneration of the Blessed Sacrament displayed outside the tabernacle in a monstrance. Benediction is when a priest or deacon makes the sign of the cross with the monstrance over the people at the conclusion of exposition.
From the earliest days of the Church, the Eucharist was reserved after Mass so that it could be brought to the sick and those absent from Mass. Initially, the Eucharist was kept in a box in the sacristy, a room near the church/chapel where the items needed for Mass are kept. By the ninth century in some places, the Eucharist was being placed on the altar. This inspired concern for the appearance of the container, which soon took the form of towers or doves. The container could also be locked to secure the contents. By the 11th century, the monks of Cluny, a very influential monastery, began to bow before the reserved sacrament and, shortly after, kept lamps burning near the place of reservation, practices that soon spread. The Lateran Council of 1215 ordered the reserved sacrament to be kept under lock and key, which gave rise to portable chests, wall tabernacles in Italy, and tabernacles in the form of monumental towers in Germany. In 1551, the Council of Trent ordered that the Blessed Sacrament be publicly exposed for adoration. Eucharistic adoration developed and spread in the following centuries.
The Order of Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction is the liturgical rite for adoration. It begins by putting the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance and placing it on the altar with four to six candles. At different points it may be incensed, and the traditional eucharistic hymns “O Salutaris Hostia” and “Tantum Ergo” or other liturgical hymns may be sung. Adoration during exposition may include prayers, the rosary, songs, readings, and silence. Toward the end of adoration, Benediction is given in which the priest or deacon takes the monstrance and makes the sign of the cross over the people in silence. Then acclamations such as the Divine Praises may be said, after which the sacrament is placed back in the tabernacle.7
The saints praised eucharistic adoration. “Of all devotions,” said St. Alphonsus Liguori, “that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us.”8 St. John Paul II spoke movingly of his experience of eucharistic adoration: “It is pleasant to spend time with Him, to lie close to His breast like the Beloved Disciple (cf. John 13:25), and to feel the infinite love present in His heart … How often, dear brothers and sisters, have I experienced this, and drawn from it strength, consolation, and support!”9 He has given us a compelling exhortation to visit our eucharistic Lord: “The presence of Jesus in the tabernacle must be a kind of magnetic pole attracting an ever greater number of souls enamored of Him, ready to wait patiently to hear His voice, and, as it were, to sense the beating of His heart. ‘O taste and see that the Lord is good!’ (Psalm 34:8).”10
1 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1379
2 Benedict XVI, The Sacrament of Charity (SacCar), 66
3 Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery Outside Mass (HCWEMOM), 80
4 SacCar, 66
5 HCWEMOM, 81
6 General Instruction of the Roman Missal, paragraph 314
7 The Order of Exposition and Benediction is described in HCWEMOM, 93-100
8 Thirty-One Questions on the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, p. 2
9 Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 25
10 St. John Paul II, Remain With Us Lord, 18
Father Randy Stice is director of the diocesan Office of Worship and Liturgy. He can be reached at frrandy@dioknox.org.