The Blessed Sacrament and Eucharistic Adoration
Blessed Sacrament: A term Roman Catholics and Greek/Russian Orthodox Christians have for the consecrated bread that they believe becomes the actual body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. Only after it is "consecrated" by a priest in a Mass, does it experience this transformation. The transformation of the bread (and the wine for that matter) into the body and blood of Christ is often referred to as "trans-substantiation". Once this occurs, they believe that Jesus Himself is physically present right then and there.
Now for those who might say that God is everywhere, I would like to offer the following example if I may:
Now say you lived at the time in which Jesus walked the face of the earth and you heard all about him from friends and neighbors who had heard him teach and had seen him heal the sick, the blind, and the lame. And suppose further that you also believed and longed to see him face to face. Just think of the longing in your heart as they told you stories, one after another. You would probably find yourself saying that you could just "feel" Jesus near you and his presence in your heart as you prayed.
Now suppose finally that you were walking around a corner and you came "face-to-face" with a benevolent man, whose countenance you had never seen before, but who somehow you just KNEW.
Imagine your eyes transfixed on him as he smiled at you........ The feeling in your heart that says: "I'm home !".
Just stand there and let yourself FEEL that moment and what it would be like ............ And when you are finished doing that, rest assured that THAT is precisely what we are talking about when we say the "REAL PRESENCE"..........
So now you might say: "Well, I sense that the word Blessed is pretty straightforward, but what the heck is a Sacrament?". Well, the Latin word Sacramentum means a "covenant-sign" and a covenant is not merely a contract, but rather something much more ......... It is quite frankly a living "family-bond". In the context of Catholic theology, the covenant is with God and the sign is not only a symbol, but is actually the "presence" of God himself. Put simply, a Sacrament is a SIGN that not only reminds us of God's presence, but is a SIGN that IS GOD'S PRESENCE. One great example of this from the Old Testament of the Bible is the story of the BURNING BUSH. In this case, God-Almighty (whom we know is present everywhere), manifests himself to a man (Moses) in a specific TIME and PLACE.
Considerations: The manifestation of the Son of God under this form is a thing, BUT ....... the SUBSTANCE of this manifestation is a PERSON. For this reason, we refer to Jesus (under this form) as "The Blessed Sacrament", but we should never loose sight of the fact that this "Blessed Sacrament" IS Jesus Christ and therefore a person and not a thing.
Now for the second part.......... What is Eucharistic Adoration ??
Eucharist: A Greek name that means (roughly) "Thanksgiving". I have personally heard slight variations of this. The early Christians had this name for not only the celebration (Mass) in which the Bread/Wine were consecrated into the Body/Blood of Christ, but also for the "transubstantiated" Body and Blood themselves. For this reason (at least in my experience), the terms Blessed Sacrament and Holy Eucharist are mostly interchangeable except for a few practical subtleties that I won't go into right now.
Adoration: The act of offering the highest worship and submission to another (usually God). Note that this is my definition and not Webster's. But I think you get the drift. This highest worship is for Mono-theistic religions, reserved for GOD ONLY. This type of worship has a name "latria" and is where we get our word "idolatry" from. Note that idolatry is offering "latria" to someone or something instead of God. For Catholics, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament or Adoration of the Holy Eucharist is perfectly licit because we are adoring that which we believe is Jesus himself and since we believe that He IS God, then there is perfect harmony in this type of devotion.
Blessed Sacrament in Eucharistic Adoration: It is hopefully now intuitive that if a person goes somewhere that the Eucharist (or Blessed Sacrament) IS (always a church or chapel, permanent or temporary) and offers prayers of thanksgiving, petition, praise, (maybe even respectful complaint), then they are "doing" Eucharstic Adoration or are adoring the Blessed Sacrament (Jesus).
Considerations: First, the consecrated bread (not the wine) is reposed (solemnly stored) in an ornate box called a "tabernacle". For Catholics, this would be akin to the Ark of the Covenant (at least in my mind). Now, people can do Eucharistic Adoration in one of two ways:
1) With the Blessed Sacrament (Jesus) reposed in the tabernacle. You can't see him, but he is there. Personally, I have had some incredibly POWERFUL experiences in this way, so don't think that it is any less powerful (That's superstition). Note that Jesus healed the centurion's servant without ever going to his house.
2) With the Blessed Sacrament (Jesus) exposed in a thing called a "monstrance" (pronounced mon-struns with a soft "s"). This is somewhat more intimate, as you can see the consecrated piece of bread (Jesus) through a glass lens. Usually, most monstrances are ornate gold (or gold-plated) stands that have a circular base and come up into a shaft, at the end of which is a placard that has the center hollowed out. It is into this hollowed out region that the glass-pix resides. This small glass container can be inserted and removed from the monstrance in order to put Jesus back into the tabernacle (when adoration is finished). The outer circumference of the placard usually has spike-like protrusions extending outward to make it look like a "sun-burst". This symbolizes the spiritual "light" that radiates from the Blessed Sacrament.
Why Do This ?? For a number of reasons. First, it is an incredible act of humility for God to humble himself to become one of us. Consequently, He gives us a little taste of the "work" that is involved in humbling oneself by allowing us to do likewise. If you have ever gone into a chapel and knelt down in front of a piece of bread, you might well know what I am talking about. Second, I believe that the silent prayer involved allows him to speak directly to our hearts (just like the example I talked about earlier). In fact, through the eyes of FAITH, this is PRECISELY the SAME as the example I talked about earlier. You see, if we saw God's glory and how great he was, we would ALL want to hang out with Him. Instead, he tests our love for Him by saying: "Will you come and see me even if I don't over-awe you ??". Would you care for me as the simplest of the simple and the humblest of the humble and the most vulnerable of the vulnerable? I can speak from experience in telling you that He doesn't leave you hanging. When I go to adoration, I sense he is there and sometimes I experience things that words cannot describe. But even so, it is generally a sacrifice to get myself there, even after all of the good things I have experienced. I guess you might liken it to a football player that is always nervous before a game, no matter how many times he has played in front of 70,000 people.
As Bishop Fulton J. Sheen would say ............ "God love you" ........
Thanks, ................ See-ya .....
TO BE CONTINUED ........
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