In Sacred Heart Church, we come together as a parish community for the celebration of Mass on Sunday and Mass is celebrated daily also. In the evenings, from 8pm to 10pm, there is Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the side chapel. So, the Body of Christ consecrated at Mass is adored and contemplated, and this adoration leads to deeper appreciation of the Eucharist we receive. Pope Benedict's homily recently at the Lateran Basilica in Rome on June 7th 2012 was about the connection between the celebration of Mass and Eucharistic Adoration. It is well worth a read, and so, here it is below:
'Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This evening I would like to meditate with you on two
interconnected aspects of the Eucharistic Mystery: worship of the Eucharist and
its sacred nature. It is important to reflect on them once again to preserve
them from incomplete visions of the Mystery itself, such as those encountered in
the recent past.
First of all, a reflection on the importance of Eucharistic
worship and, in particular, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. We shall
experience it this evening, after Mass, before the procession, during it and at
its conclusion. A unilateral interpretation of the Second
Vatican Council penalized this dimension, in practice restricting the
Eucharist to the moment of its celebration. Indeed it was very important to
recognize the centrality of the celebration in which the Lord summons his
people, gathers it round the dual table of the Word and of the Bread of life,
nourishes and unites it with himself in the offering of the Sacrifice.
Of course, this evaluation of the liturgical assembly in which
the Lord works his mystery of communion and brings it about still applies; but
it must be put back into the proper balance. In fact — as often happens — in
order to emphasize one aspect one ends by sacrificing another. In this case the
correct accentuation of the celebration of the Eucharist has been to the
detriment of adoration as an act of faith and prayer addressed to the Lord
Jesus, really present in the Sacrament of the Altar.
This imbalance has also had repercussions on the spiritual life
of the faithful. In fact, by concentrating the entire relationship with the
Eucharistic Jesus in the sole moment of Holy Mass one risks emptying the rest of
existential time and space of his presence. This makes ever less perceptible the
meaning of Jesus’ constant presence in our midst and with us, a presence that is
tangible, close, in our homes, as the “beating Heart” of the city, of the
country, and of the area, with its various expressions and activities. The
sacrament of Christ’s Charity must permeate the whole of daily life.
Actually it is wrong to set celebration and adoration against
each other, as if they were competing. Exactly the opposite is true: worship of
the Blessed Sacrament is, as it were, the spiritual “context” in which the
community can celebrate the Eucharist well and in truth. Only if it is preceded,
accompanied and followed by this inner attitude of faith and adoration can the
liturgical action express its full meaning and value. The encounter with Jesus
in Holy Mass is truly and fully brought about when the community can recognize
that in the Sacrament he dwells in his house, waits for us, invites us to his
table, then, after the assembly is dismissed, stays with us, with his discreet
and silent presence, and accompanies us with his intercession, continuing to
gather our spiritual sacrifices and offer them to the Father.
In this regard I am pleased to highlight the experience we shall
be having together this evening too. At the moment of Adoration, we are all
equal, kneeling before the Sacrament of Love. The common priesthood and the
ministerial priesthood are brought together in Eucharistic worship. It is a very
beautiful and significant experience which we have had several times in St
Peter’s Basilica, and also in the unforgettable Vigils with young people — I
recall, for example, those in Cologne, London, Zagreb and Madrid. It is clear to
all that these moments of Eucharistic Vigil prepare for the celebration of the
Holy Mass, they prepare hearts for the encounter so that it will be more
fruitful.
To be all together in prolonged silence before the Lord present
in his Sacrament is one of the most genuine experiences of our being Church,
which is accompanied complementarily by the celebration of the Eucharist, by
listening to the word of God, by singing and by approaching the table of the
Bread of Life together. Communion and contemplation cannot be separated, they go
hand in hand. If I am truly to communicate with another person I must know him,
I must be able to be in silence close to him, to listen to him and look at him
lovingly. True love and true friendship are always nourished by the reciprocity
of looks, of intense, eloquent silences full of respect and veneration, so that
the encounter may be lived profoundly and personally rather than superficially.
And, unfortunately, if this dimension is lacking, sacramental communion itself
may become a superficial gesture on our part.
Instead, in true communion, prepared for by the conversation of
prayer and of life, we can address words of confidence to the Lord, such as
those which rang out just now in the Responsorial Psalm: “O Lord, I am your
servant; I am your servant, the son of your handmaid. / You have loosed my
bonds./ I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving /and call on the name
of the Lord” (Ps 116[115]:16-17).
I would now like to move on briefly to the second aspect: the
sacred nature of the Eucharist. Here too so we have heard in the recent past of
a certain misunderstanding of the authentic message of Sacred Scripture. The
Christian newness with regard to worship has been influenced by a certain
secularist mentality of the 1960s and 70s. It is true, and this is still the
case, that the centre of worship is now no longer in the ancient rites and
sacrifices, but in Christ himself, in his person, in his life, in his Paschal
Mystery. However it must not be concluded from this fundamental innovation that
the sacred no longer exists, but rather that it has found fulfilment in Jesus
Christ, divine Love incarnate.
The Letter to the Hebrews, which we heard this evening in the
Second Reading, speaks to us precisely of the newness of the priesthood of
Christ, “high priest of the good things that have come” (Heb 9:11), but does not
say that the priesthood is finished. Christ “is the mediator of a new covenant”
(Heb 9:15), established in his blood which purifies our “conscience from dead
works” (Heb 9:14). He did not abolish the sacred but brought it to fulfillment,
inaugurating a new form of worship, which is indeed fully spiritual but which,
however, as long as we are journeying in time, still makes use of signs and
rites, which will exist no longer only at the end, in the heavenly Jerusalem,
where there will no longer be any temple (cf. Rev 21:22). Thanks to Christ, the
sacred is truer, more intense and, as happens with the Commandments, also more
demanding! Ritual observance does not suffice but purification of the heart and
the involvement of life is required.
I would also like to stress that the sacred has an educational
function and its disappearance inevitably impoverishes culture and especially
the formation of the new generations. If, for example, in the name of a faith
that is secularized and no longer in need of sacred signs, these Corpus
Christi processions through the city were to be abolished, the spiritual
profile of Rome would be “flattened out”, and our personal and community
awareness would be weakened.
Or let us think of a mother or father who in the name of a
desacralized faith, deprived their children of all religious rituals: in reality
they would end by giving a free hand to the many substitutes that exist in the
consumer society, to other rites and other signs that could more easily become
idols.
God, our Father, did not do this with humanity: he sent his Son
into the world not to abolish, but to give fulfilment also to the sacred. At the
height of this mission, at the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of
his Body and his Blood, the Memorial of his Paschal Sacrifice. By so doing he
replaced the ancient sacrifices with himself, but he did so in a rite which he
commanded the Apostles to perpetuate, as a supreme sign of the true Sacred One
who is he himself. With this faith, dear brothers and sisters, let us celebrate
the Eucharistic Mystery today and every day and adore it as the centre of our
life and the heart of the world. Amen.'
