Saint Mary, Saint Michael & Saint Kilian Parishes
Saint Mary, Saint Michael & Saint Kilian Parishes
  • Home
  • About
    • Homilies
    • Pastor's Column
    • Parish Histories
    • Cemetery Rules & Regulations
  • Bulletin
  • Mass Schedule
  • Religious Education
  • Resources
  • Sacraments
    • Baptism
    • Sacrament of Penance
    • First Communion
    • Confirmation
    • Holy Matrimony
    • Becoming Catholic
  • Online Giving
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • About
    • Homilies
    • Pastor's Column
    • Parish Histories
    • Cemetery Rules & Regulations
  • Bulletin
  • Mass Schedule
  • Religious Education
  • Resources
  • Sacraments
    • Baptism
    • Sacrament of Penance
    • First Communion
    • Confirmation
    • Holy Matrimony
    • Becoming Catholic
  • Online Giving
  • Contact Us

Eucharistic Adoration Series Part I - Real Presence and Transubstantiation

11/10/2016

 
​Praised be Jesus Christ!
 
As you may know, on the first Thursday/Friday of the month, at the end of the daily Mass at each of our parishes, I would expose the Blessed Sacrament for a few minutes while we pray together the Litany to the Sacred Heart to renew our parishes’ (as well as personal) consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  After the Sacred Heart devotion, I have also had Benediction before reposing the Blessed Sacrament back in the tabernacle.  Over the last couple months, however, instead of immediately reposing the Blessed Sacrament at St. Mary’s on First Friday, we have had additional hours in which anyone has been welcome to come to pray in church before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, i.e., a period of Eucharistic Adoration. 
 
I would like to again invite and encourage you to come at Adoration on First Fridays if you are able, but I realize you may have some questions first.  Perhaps you are unfamiliar with Adoration and might wondering: What exactly is Eucharistic Adoration and why do we have it?  Isn’t that just something they used to do in the Church many years ago?  Why now?  What exactly do I do when I come for adoration?   These are all good questions and I will attempt to answer them in this and future bulletin columns.  Also, I have invited Fr. Dan Thelen, associate pastor of St. Matthew’s and Holy Name Parishes in Wausau to come and celebrate our weekend Masses on November 26th-27th, the first Sunday of Advent.  During the homily, he will speak about Adoration and share some of his own personal experience.  (This will also give me the chance to celebrate Mass at my own home parish of St. Matthew’s in Wausau, which I have been unable to do in years.)
 
First of all, in order to understand what Eucharistic Adoration is all about, we have to understand what we as Catholics believe about the Eucharist; i.e., Holy Communion, as we call it in the Mass.  At the moment of consecration in the Mass, the bread and wine on the altar are changed into the actual Body and Blood of Christ.  As Catholics, we call this “transubstantiation,” which means that the bread and wine maintain the appearance of bread and wine, but their substance is changed into the actual Body and Blood of Christ.  We also refer to this as the “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Eucharist, because Christ is really and truly present, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.  Christ isn’t just spiritually or symbolically present, but really and truly present.
 
Our Catholic belief about the Eucharist is a radical one, and is not shared to the same degree by many of our Christian brothers and sisters.  But Christians since the earliest days of the Church have believed that Christ is present in the Eucharist in a profound way and that he desires to be with us in that way.  In fact, Christ’s words in the New Testament fully support the Catholic teaching on the Eucharist.  Just read chapter six of John’s Gospel, and you will see that Jesus speaks very clearly about the Eucharist being his Body and Blood, and he even acknowledged that many people stopped following him because it was such a hard teaching to accept.  Jesus instituted the Eucharist in order to remain with us in a real, profound, and physical way.  Adoration is a way for us to remain with him as he remains with us.

Comments are closed.
    Pastor's Column
    Posted here is the weekly column featured in the bulletin of Saint Mary, Saint Michael & Saint Kilian parishes.

    Archives

    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.