Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Adoration
Do you have perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in your area? Our parish has an adoration chapel and I always have high hopes of making it over there "in my spare time" to just be with our Lord. What's the problem, you ask? I can't turn my brain off when I get there! I don't like reading while in there, even though it's spiritual reading. My goal is always to pray unceasingly while in the chapel. But I just can't do it. I start out praying, but invariably, end up mentally going through my grocery list, chores I need to do when I get home, lesson plans, etc. Anyone else have this same issue? What do you do to quiet yourself so that you might actually HEAR God every once in a while?
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Our state has one perpetual adoration chapel, which is under the patronage of Bl. Margaret of Castello. Our Catholic homeschool group annually makes a mini-pilgrimage down to the chapel for Adoration, Rosary & Mass. We will actually be making that trip this Friday, then heading over to one of the family's homes for a picnic. I can sympathize with the difficulty of stilling your on-the-go mom brain while in Adoration...I think it comes naturally with the vocation of motherhood. I find that praying the +Jesus Prayer (also called the Prayer of the Heart), slowly & with each breath, helps me to be still & focus on His Presence (though distraction is an on-going battle for me at times): "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." May God bless you for your sincere effort to incline the ear of your heart to Him in Adoration.
ReplyDeleteMy parish has adoration on Fridays from 7 am till midnight. The past few times I've tried to go, I have left after a few minutes because each time there has been someone there who was whispering prayers out loud. It was so distracting that I couldn't focus on my own prayer, and then I started getting really annoyed and figured that I better leave before I sinned. But thankfully this past Friday I went, and everyone there was quiet and respectful, and I stayed almost an hour. I usually pray the Rosary when I'm there. I do all four sets of mystery, and offer one intention for each decade. I do get distracted, but not as much as when I pray in other settings.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm not even sure what Perpetual Adoration is. Our church has a "Blessed Sacrament Chapel" -- a little room where the tabernacle resides. I've tried to pray in front of the tabernacle but I can't get past the extreme physcial ugliness of it. Such a disgrace, some bizarre 1970s aesthetic, I guess. In the almost 20 years that I have been a parishioner, I don't think I have ever seen a monstrance.
ReplyDeleteAs for distractions during prayer, I find that if I sing a hymn in my head it helps a lot. And sometimes my best prayers come while I am making art -- nothing fabulous, and not even obviously religious, just something I set out intentionally to do with God. The book "Praying in Color" got me started in that direction.
All great ideas! Thank you! Anne. I've read Praying in Color and loved it. I just need to get past my hang-up of what others might think of me "coloring" in the chapel and just do it. As for perpetual adoration...most parishes in our diocese have a chapel where you can pray before the Blessed Sacrament twenty-four hours a day. There are people on a schedule for every minute of the day and then, of course, anyone can drop in at any time to pray.
ReplyDeleteSorry I haven't commented in the last couple days. We had a crazy weekend. Our son passed out at school at 2:45 on Friday afternoon, so we ended up in the ER making sure he didn't have a concussion. He hit his head on the desk on the way down to the floor. Ouch! Thankfully, he didn't have a concussion and seems to be fine. We're following up with our family doctor on Thursday. And, of course, it happened on the same afternoon that our daughter had dance pictures on the other side of town. Hubby went to the ER and I went to dance pictures...divide and conquer. ;)
Praying the doctor finds out the cause of your son's fainting & that it is nothing serious!
DeleteI'm so sorry to hear about that incident with your son! How scary. Prayers that you get some reassuring answers on Thursday.
DeleteThanks, ladies. We're pretty sure we know what happened, but I'd like to hear my own doctor reassure us. He was telling a joke to a friend and making a face and then held his breath for just a moment. The ER doctor said that when you contort your face, the position of the rest of your body can block your carotids and make you pass out cold. One of my sisters has vaso-vagal syndrome and heart issues run in our family, as well. So I just want to make sure it was nothing more than that. Boys! They are certainly a different breed! LOL
DeleteAgreed! I am glad to hear it is probably nothing of concern & can see a certain son of ours doing the same thing... ;)
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