To the extent that all prayer is thanksgiving toward God, prayer is Eucharistic. For the word “Eucharist” means thanksgiving.
How good it is to pray often in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament. If we are not sure what to do during Eucharistic Adoration, we might pray in words inspired by the beautiful apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis.
- I believe that in the Eucharist, the Son of God comes to meet us, desiring to become one with us.
- Christ nourishes us by uniting us to himself; he draws us into himself.
- O Jesus, come and meet me and be my companion along the way.
- Our wounded nature would go astray were it not already able to experience something of future fulfillment. We find that in your Eucharist.
- The mystery of the Eucharist contains a divine power making it the principle of new life within us. Lord Jesus, let me experience that new life!
- The Eucharist makes possible, day by day, the constant transfiguration of those who believe. May my life more and more reflect the image of the Son of God.
- The radical newness brought by Jesus in the Eucharist touches every aspect of our existence. Lord Jesus, let the grace of the Eucharist reach my most trying challenges and struggles.
- Lord Jesus, may the Eucharist provide me with moral energy for sustaining a life of authentic freedom lived for God.
- The memorial of the Eucharist keeps me mindful that each of us, united with Jesus, is called to be bread broken for the life of the world.
- May the Gift of the Eucharist give new impulse to my life and commit me to becoming a witness of love.
- May the sacrament of the Eucharist keep me committed to doing everything for God’s glory.
We can close our time of Eucharistic Adoration by meditating on these words of Catholic author François Mauriac:
The Eucharist is what is most real in the world. The person who once pronounces this acceptance will no longer be able to keep away from Communion (whereas formerly they may have been unable to refrain from committing sin). When tormented by doubt, by anguish, by troubles of the soul and of the flesh, in the midst of the worst perturbations of mind and soul, they will be safe as long as they remain worthy to sit at the banquet — prepared to alleviate all miseries. It is not when everything seems to be lost that one must forsake the Host; on the contrary, it is when all seems lost and, if the state of grace is maintained or recovered, that one must feed on the Host and rely on the solemn and reiterated promises of the Lord. The Eucharist never deceived those who remained faithful to it through all vicissitudes; Christ is never the first to leave us.
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Follow Fr. Cameron’s series on prayer here.
