A Retired Rector's Reflections

One of the most memorable images for me of Covid days was that of Pope Francis praying in adoration, alone, before the Blessed Sacrament in an empty St Peter’s Square on March 27th 2020.

Then, and though his papacy, Pope Francis encouraged people to spend lengths of time in adoration before the Sacrament. His encouragement is as much needed today as it was then. In days of war, unrest, and confusion stillness and silence in Christ’s presence is soothing and healing for the individual, the church and the world.

Pope Francis frequently spoke of the need and value of such prayer. Here are some of his words:

“The amazement of adoration, the wonder of worship, is something essential in the life of the Church, especially in our own day.”

“When one places oneself, docile and humble, before God, often one receives a specific understanding of the meaning of one’s own life: It is in faithful and unwavering prayer, in particular in adoration, that everything assumes harmony, that one grasps more clearly one’s aims, finding in the Lord the strength and the light to put them into practice according to his plans”

“In Bethlehem, as crowds of people were caught up in the excitement of the census, coming and going, filling the inns and engaged in petty conversation, a few were close to Jesus: Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and then the Magi. Let us learn from them. They stood gazing upon Jesus, with their hearts set on him. They did not speak, they worshipped Adoration is the way to embrace the Incarnation. For it is in silence that Jesus, the Word of the Father, becomes flesh in our lives. Let us do as they did, in Bethlehem, a town whose name means ‘House of Bread.’ Let us stand before him who is the Bread of Life. Let us rediscover adoration, for to adore is not to waste time, but to make our time a dwelling-place for God. It is to let the seed of the Incarnation bloom within us; it is to cooperate in the work of the Lord, who, like leaven, changes the world. To adore is to intercede, to make reparation, to allow God to realign history.” (Midnight Mass homily 2023)

“Adoration is the first response we can offer to God’s gratuitous and astonishing love. The amazement of adoration, the wonder of worship, is something essential in the life of the Church, especially in our own day in which we have abandoned the practice of adoration”

“We have lost the prayer of adoration; and everyone … needs to recover it, this ability to be quiet in the Lord’s presence. Mother Teresa [of Calcutta], busy about so many things in life, never neglected adoration, even at times when her faith was shaken and she wondered if it was all true or not”