40 Days of Seeking Him 2011 ~ Day 18

I have been, or can be if you click on a link and make a purchase, compensated via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value for writing this post. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

8 With the clock quickly closing in on midnight here, I almost didn’t bother to write anything. But, I wanted to continue with the thread I began yesterday.

One of the points I mentioned was that we need to have an individual quest for holiness.   Something that has been tugging at my heart for quite a while is finding time to really just sit with the Lord.  While I might be able to grab a few minutes here and there at home, it can be a challenge to both read and reflect upon Scripture.  Just like being on the phone, the boys seem to have an uncanny ability to sense Mom is NOT actively paying attention to them.

Thankfully, there is a place where I can find this silence I crave.  I just have to get myself there.
Perpetual adoration is where I can both sit with our Lord and find that uninterrupted time to read, reflect and pray.

Our parish is about to begin a true perpetual adoration, after years of adoration over 5 1/2 days (Tuesday morning after Mass until right before the Sunday evening Mass.)  A push at the parish the last few weeks had enough volunteers come forward to ensure someone could be present for this to be a 24/7 occurance.  Only regular Mass times are left with no one on the schedule.

As my schedule is still prone to bouncing about month to month, I am only on the books as a sub.  My first time might be a middle of the night time as that is where an upcoming need exists.  But, after the training for adorers last night, I feel relatively secure with knowledge of the lock box combo and where the emergency panic button is located.

For anyone who has not participated in Eucharistic Adoration, I am not sure if words can do it justice.  There have been times when only that environment allowed me the silence needed for God to reach out and touch my heart.  I have vivid memories of an hour adoration during a mom’s retreat for Catholic homeschoolers in the Akron, OH area.  Within 15 minutes of entering the quiet and holy place, I could feel grace washing over me taking with it pent up emotion that then released through tears.  Things that I had not even allowed to come to mind suddenly came to the forefront of my thoughts.  I left that hour feeling as if a heavy weight I didn’t know I was holding had been taken away.

That’s not to say such powerful experiences are the norm for regular adorers.  But, I do know that if I do not actively make the time to be still and listen, I will not continue to grow in holiness as the Holy Spirit would have a hard time getting through the din of ordinary life.