Although I've spent more than 25 years at it I am not sure I quite know how to speak about "Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament." Maybe it is because the Eucharist seems a mystery that is just too big to limit to simple formulas.

I sit in the small chapel in our apartment. The noises of the neighborhood are the background music for my prayer. At this little moment of history I don't need to look out the window to know that someone from across the street has just gone out. Their gate has a sound all its own, not to be confused with the gate next door. There are familiar voices with names and stories, there are boom boxes and kids on roller skates and bikes. I am connected to these people with whom I share a little piece of this world. Together we are the Body of Christ.

I sit in the chapel in very imperfect recollection distracted much more by my own inner noise than by the outer street sounds. I sit before the mystery of Jesus in the Eucharist and try to be still, to let the space inside open just a little more. I try to let myself be drawn into the mystery of a God who took flesh in Jesus, who died and who beat death.

One of my sisters likens the time spent in adoration to the instant replay of a scene that needs more time than the Mass can give it to try to take it in.

How many times have we seen significant images captured on film and commented on over and over, be it the horrors of war or national tragedy or the exuberance of sports? In these freeze-frames we relive the moments of pain or joy. We remember where we were and with whom.

Maybe that is a bit what adoration is like, the savoring of the sweetness of something tasted together. "And didn't we have a good time?" or as the disciples of Emmaus put it, "Were not our hearts burning within us?"

I can't in all honesty say that my heart is always burning within me as I try to meet Jesus in the Eucharist or in my neighbor on the street. I wish it were.

But there have been moments when I have had more than just an inkling of that presence. These have been enough to have awakened in me a desire for more-not the more of feeling some kind of spiritual high but the more of somehow knowing that my own deepest life is tied to all of this.

Sitting before the Blessed Sacrament helps me to focus. It is a good place for me to pray. It is one of those places where I remove my shoes before the presence of the Holy One. Call it contemplation, call me a slow learner, but I just need time to try to center my life in this mystery that is at the center of my faith.

It is good to speak of adoration in a world like ours where we are constantly solicited to bow before the gods that heighten our own sense of power. The act of taking time to simply bow and sit before this mystery acknowledges in some small way the awesomeness of Jesus' gift of himself that we are also called to enter into. We let silence say what words cannot.

When Jesus gathered his disciples in the upper room before his death it was a very ordinary thing. He gathered with others for Passover to recall the goodness of God throughout history, how God had saved and blessed us. On this night Jesus was also preparing to face his own death. His betrayer was among those at the table with him. He washed their feet and called them to love one another. He gave himself as food to feed their lives and encouraged them to be strengthened by this food to serve and love others. He told us to "do this in memory of me."

I need time to take it in. It is so unfathomable that Jesus would love us so much and would die with so much love. I need time and I need to be silent to hear.

I need time to simply welcome this love in my own heart, to hear it and let it heal me of my own sin and betrayals as well as from the wounds I have received. I need time to bring before this mystery the things I don't understand and especially the things I cannot change. I need time to understand and remember what Jesus said and did so that I can "do" in memory of him.

There is another aspect to this adoration that I have learned from Charles de Foucauld, the French priest hermit who inspired the founding of my congregation, the Little Sister of Jesus. By trying to live a contemplative life that is part and parcel of the lives of others, the experiences and people who fill my days shape my prayer in a privileged way. I am affected and changed by what I live, where and with whom I work, whether in a factory or an office or just hanging out in the neighborhood. I carry all of this within me as I sit before the Lord.

It is not just that I carry it in my prayer as an act of devotion or intercession. But more so the events that have happened to me or around me change who I am over time, change my way of thinking and understanding, and focus my prayer as I sit in silence. I don't need to go away to pray, although times of real aloneness are precious.

Just like Jesus, we are all called to contemplate the mystery of God from the context of the ordinary life that is ours. There are times when the weight of the day can seem heavy. My prayer can seem far from the contemplation that I imagine to be that of Jesus, Foucauld, or other great mystics. On those days my prayer may simply be the physical prayer of being faithful to this time. I think that this is no less prayer than the days when I seem more centered. I also doubt that those more centered times would even happen if I didn't allow the habit of prayer to hew out the space and silence within me little by little.

At that "last" supper Jesus said that we would not be able to understand it all at once. Little by little the Holy Spirit would lead us into the whole truth. This, too, is why I sit in silence before the Blessed Sacrament. I need time to savor and struggle with it, calling on the help of the Holy Spirit. Psalm 46 says, "Be still and know that I am God."

In the end I must keep silence in adoration before the God who loves us and is with us through it all. I am reminded of Job who is reduced to silence at the end of too many words. I bow and allow the Lord to gaze on me and on all the members of his body whom I carry with me. Rereading the stories of Jesus' life in the light of the last of his many suppers brings those stories into a new focus.

There is a wonderful hymn that speaks about coming to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses and of meeting the beloved there. It is very reminiscent of the love expressed in the Song of Songs. Something of that love is also at the heart of adoration. I imagine that this beloved is the Jesus of Easter who still bears the marks of the wounds and who understands everything. The refrain of the hymn ends with "And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known." I think that adoration is simply that moment of tarrying with the one we love. It is good to be there.

I want to thank the parishioners (about 420 of them) who faithfully come to the Chapel once a week for a holy hour. Only God knows the impact of such ongoing prayer in our parish. I thank in a special way those of you who come to the chapel at 11 PM, midnight, 1 AM, 2 AM, 3 AM, 4 AM, and 5 AM. Most of us are in bed during those hours. May the Lord bless you in a special way for your willingness to take hours that the vast majority of us do not want.

All kinds of people come to our chapel, retired people, fathers and mothers with young children and with teenagers, doctors, teachers, engineers etc. Each come for their own reasons. I appeal to all of you not involved in this devotion to consider it. Most likely you will not have mystical experiences and often you will experience lots of distractions, but at the end of the hour you will have spent an hour in prayer in the presence of the Divine Lord in the Eucharist. You will be glad you did. And you can be certain that Jesus will be glad that you took the time to spend an hour with him. Even though you may sometimes if not often think it was a "wasted hour", don't worry, it's never a waste when we spend time with our Lord-even if the time was very distracted. All of us probably agree that prayer is important, but how many of us take time, actually make time to be totally present to our Lord. Am I doing nothing else except trying to be totally present to Jesus?

My hour is Thursday at 6 AM. Sometimes, I drag myself there. Sometimes I am distracted as I try to be present to our Lord. But I am glad that I did go. I know many of you did come to adoration for a while and then quit. Maybe at this time, our Lord is calling you back to this devotion. When we had our first sign-up for this devotion about three years ago, many signed up but never actually ended up coming to the chapel. Maybe this time you will. I am sure many of you are reluctant to commit yourselves to one hour a week. Many think, "I am often away." "I don't want to be tied down to a particular hour each week." Many who are now active in this devotion have had the same feelings, but somehow did not allow them from signing up. They do their best to get a substitute. But if they can't get a substitute-I am sure Jesus understands. He is most grateful for hours they are present. So this week I invite you to open your hearts to a devotion that could be a very lovely blessing in your life.

Adoration Witness

Dear Father,

You asked why I go to the chapel each week. The answer is that I started at my former church in Arlington, VA and have continued the practice here. Why do I continue? I don't really know. What I do know is that ever since I started, good things have happened to me. The hurt I felt is gone, the anger has vanished, the envy has evaporated...I rarely need to ask the Lord for favors. He keeps sending them to me and I think it's because I spend an hour with Him. In one hour I usually run out of time thanking Him before I run out of things for which I give thanks. If that's not God at work, I don't know what is (well, He does a marvelous job on sunsets, and sunrises, and Florida weather, and baby cranes, and good priests at MY church-see what I mean?!!) Next to Reconciliation, it's also great therapy: it's quiet, reflective, relaxing and insightful.

A good way for "bashful" adorers to get started is to take a pad of paper and pretend that you are interviewing the Lord. He is actually right there, so you ask Him questions and He responds. It's amazing!

I firmly believe that God uses short witnesses like Cheryl to move the hearts of others to sign up for Adoration. So please consider sharing with me your thoughts. It can be anonymous if that is your preference. Such witnesses could be a part of a website on Adoration.