I knelt in awe before Jesus in the monstrance. It was finally 5 p.m., I’d finished all my classes for the day and it was time for adoration. I went to my seat in the chapel and knelt down in my pew as one of the faculty priests exposed Our Lord in the monstrance and lead “O Salutaris Hostia.” We concluded with the drawn-out “Amen,” and all was silent. I whispered a small prayer inviting the Holy Spirit into my heart and then Jesus took the lead of my holy hour.
Slowly, I became aware that I was in the presence of God himself, the God who became man and walked on the same earth as I do. The same God who is present at every Mass celebrated around the world. In my Foundations of Catholicism class, we are learning about sacramental theology, covering all seven sacraments of our church and how they are efficacious encounters with God. Particularly, we have been learning much about the sacrament that Vatican II calls the “source and summit of Christian life, the holy Eucharist.”
The Eucharist, as we have been learning, is the greatest treasure of the church. It is Jesus himself we receive every time we go to Mass. It is Jesus who was willing to humble himself to become bread so that we might have eternal life. It is Jesus who, the day after instituting this sacrament of bread and wine made body and blood, suffered through his passion and died for us. At every Mass, the institution of the Eucharist and sacrifice on Calvary are celebrated to demonstrate God’s love for us. Jesus gave us himself. In every tabernacle, and especially when the Eucharist is exposed in the monstrance, it is Christ — body, blood, soul and divinity present before us. He did not want to leave us alone. He wanted to remain with us always.
What I have read and learned in this class has become a constant reminder to me of what the Eucharist is, and why we cherish it so much as Catholics. It is the greatest gift we have received from God himself, because it is God himself. The Eucharist is the reason I am in the seminary today: to one day be able to give people God himself. There is no better life that I can think of.
In that holy hour, I was reminded of why I was here: I had fallen in love with Jesus in the Eucharist. He changed my life and continues to do so. It was a great reminder of why we have adoration and Mass as Catholics. All I could do or say for the rest of the time of adoration was to simply be present and receive his radiant light of love. May we all fall in love with Jesus in the Eucharist, and grow in our love for him in adoration and Mass.
Rhee, who is from St. Paul Chung Church in Fairfax, is in his third year of college seminary at St. John Paul II Seminary in Washington.
Disconnected spirituality