Falling in love with Christ
Friday night Adoration: All are invited to spend at least a few minutes with Jesus in the Eucharist this Friday in the SAA Church from 7-8 pm.
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"I know what the Lord has done for all of us and yet there is some resistence to say the rosary, go to the Eucarist, go to Mass and all it is plain laziness nothing more. How can I overcome this?" I greatly appreciate this question from an anonymous blogger that strikes a cord for all of us more than we'd like to admit.
During my college years, I had great trouble waking up in the morning (I love sleep!). When I first started to go to Adoration as a junior at Maryland, I committed to the 6-7 am hour on Thursdays (in those days, St. Mark's in Hyattsville had Perpetual Adoration - this is when Jesus is exposed in the Blessed Sacrament 24/7 - at least one person has to be there every hour of the day). I woke up every Thursday morning at 5:30 to be there by 6...a minor miracle! I was highly motivated to spend time with Jesus. It was the best hour of my week, outside of Mass!!
The spiritual life of any Christian is all about a relationship with Christ. If it's on this level, I really can't imagine someone being lazy for too long. If you fall in love with someone, you WANT to be with them. So it is with Christ. When we enter into a friendship with Him and try to get to know Him better (which is different from knowing about Him), we find ourselves falling in love with Him. We fall in love with the peace and joy that only He can give us. We fall in love with the Truth that he brings us. We fall in love with Him who is Love.
If we have a REAL experience of His peace and joy, then we want more. An example of this involved a woman from another parish. I was walking her to the rectory door after our meeting, and as we walked past the door to the rectory chapel, she asked, 'what is in there?'. I said 'Jesus'. We went into the chapel, and prayed in the presence of our Lord for a few minutes. Something happened to her in those brief moments. She experienced a REAL presence in that chapel. She experienced a REAL peace that moved her. Since then, she has spent many hours with Christ in chapels around town, and at one point said, "I just want to be with Him all the time!"
I would suggest to a person suffering from laziness, then, that he/she make a commitment (no matter how small) to consistently spend time with Christ. An idea would be to come to what we're doing now at St. Andrew's on Friday nights: Adoration! We will expose the Eucharist on the altar in Church every Friday from 7-8 pm. Make a commitment to stop by and spend at least a few minutes with Christ each week with an open heart and mind. Trust me, He will reward you.
"If but a pin is given in homage, and given with a good heart, it will be enough for Jesus, Who loves only the good will" - St. Louis de Montfort.
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"I know what the Lord has done for all of us and yet there is some resistence to say the rosary, go to the Eucarist, go to Mass and all it is plain laziness nothing more. How can I overcome this?" I greatly appreciate this question from an anonymous blogger that strikes a cord for all of us more than we'd like to admit.
During my college years, I had great trouble waking up in the morning (I love sleep!). When I first started to go to Adoration as a junior at Maryland, I committed to the 6-7 am hour on Thursdays (in those days, St. Mark's in Hyattsville had Perpetual Adoration - this is when Jesus is exposed in the Blessed Sacrament 24/7 - at least one person has to be there every hour of the day). I woke up every Thursday morning at 5:30 to be there by 6...a minor miracle! I was highly motivated to spend time with Jesus. It was the best hour of my week, outside of Mass!!
The spiritual life of any Christian is all about a relationship with Christ. If it's on this level, I really can't imagine someone being lazy for too long. If you fall in love with someone, you WANT to be with them. So it is with Christ. When we enter into a friendship with Him and try to get to know Him better (which is different from knowing about Him), we find ourselves falling in love with Him. We fall in love with the peace and joy that only He can give us. We fall in love with the Truth that he brings us. We fall in love with Him who is Love.
If we have a REAL experience of His peace and joy, then we want more. An example of this involved a woman from another parish. I was walking her to the rectory door after our meeting, and as we walked past the door to the rectory chapel, she asked, 'what is in there?'. I said 'Jesus'. We went into the chapel, and prayed in the presence of our Lord for a few minutes. Something happened to her in those brief moments. She experienced a REAL presence in that chapel. She experienced a REAL peace that moved her. Since then, she has spent many hours with Christ in chapels around town, and at one point said, "I just want to be with Him all the time!"
I would suggest to a person suffering from laziness, then, that he/she make a commitment (no matter how small) to consistently spend time with Christ. An idea would be to come to what we're doing now at St. Andrew's on Friday nights: Adoration! We will expose the Eucharist on the altar in Church every Friday from 7-8 pm. Make a commitment to stop by and spend at least a few minutes with Christ each week with an open heart and mind. Trust me, He will reward you.
"If but a pin is given in homage, and given with a good heart, it will be enough for Jesus, Who loves only the good will" - St. Louis de Montfort.
posted by Fr Greg at
1:12 AM
3 Comments:
When I first read the title "Falling in love with Christ," my heart jumped and I just about skipped FG's comments (sorry FG :)) and started to write. Well, glad that I read them first because he is referring to me as the woman who had the profound experience in SFA tabernacle! On that day, I was suffering much and when I entered the tabernacle (just out of curiosity), I felt a peace and love wash over me that is not of this world. The peace and love that only comes from Christ(know there is a scripture describing this?).
Soon after, our parish was blessed when FG suggested that my family and any other parishioners should come for holy hour on Thursday nights, during Lent. THis involved a short teaching by Father G, listening to some music, and adoring Jesus in the Holy Eucharist with my family, close friends, and new friends in CHrist.
TEENS,
I have a houseful of teens. Two of them attended (they had never been to adoration) and about 8 other teens were there. THis experience has profoundly changed my family. We are just a typical family enduring all of life's ups and downs. Yet we all have fallen in love with Christ. My high school daughter said the other day, "I used to try to avoid bad decisions because I was a little bit afraid of God now I try to do what is right in His eyes because I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!"
Trust me, my daughter attends a public school and has to deal with temptation every day.
Lastly, I try to adore Jesus in the tabernacle whenever I can get there. I have never experienced such a total and complete love=the love of Christ. Never have I been able to say that I LOVE HIM MORE THAN ANY THING OR ANY ONE. YES, I AM FOREVER CHANGED.
ST. ANDREW'S PARISHIONERS - ESPECIALLY TEENS - DON'T MISS OUT ON ADORATION! IT IS A GIFT TO HAVE THIS EXPERIENCE WHEN YOUR LIFE IS JUST BEGINNING.
By
Anonymous, at 1:12 PM
do they have this at st. francis?
By
Anonymous, at 12:08 AM
To anonymous this is at St. Francis.
ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
All are welcome! Join the Ministry of Eucharistic Adoration and assist with adoration in the following manner:
Become a regular attendee at adoration in the Parish.
Commit to a specific hour and faithfully pray during that hour.
Pray that Eucharistic Adoration will increase.
Foster Eucharistic Adoration in our parish by evangelizing His Eucharistic Presence.
Deepen your personal relationship with Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
First Friday Mass will be at 8:00 p.m., September 1st, followed by all night adoration until Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m.
By
Anonymous, at 5:22 PM
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