Hi! My name is Janet Glendening
and I have been involved in helping to spread
devotion to the Blessed Sacrament with a small group from
St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church in South Philadelphia.
It all began in the spring of 1995 when a friend
loaned me a video on Eucharistic Adoration.
It was a talk given by Fr. Martin Lucia,
who heads the Apostolate of Eucharistic Adoration
worldwide. I knew it was special to pray before
the Blessed Sacrament. I especially remember praying
before the Most Blessed Sacrament at the Dominican Retreat
House in Elkins Park, PA. as a youth feeling
something very special as I prayed to Jesus in His
true divine presence in the Blessed Sacrament,
but I did not realize fully just how special
and how important it was until I
heard Fr. Lucia's talk on the video.
Fr. Lucia is a hero in my book.
I've been blessed to have met him
on two occasions after I became involved in our mission
of helping to spread devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.
I would like to share some of the things I've learned
from Fr. Lucia and these things I will tell you with
much conviction, and love.
When you love someone,
you want to be with and spend time with that person.
When you visit Jesus Christ and spend time
with the Most Blessed Sacrament,
you are spending time with the One who loves you the most,
and when you are exposed to His love, you yourself
will grow with each visit in love and holiness.
You can come and read Scripture, say the rosary,
or just speak to the Lord heart to heart.
Even if you come and are too tired to pray,
it means so much to the Lord for you to be
there with Him.
Many people ask this question:
"what is the difference if Jesus is exposed
in the Blessed Sacrament or enclosed in the Tabernacle."
The answer is this; when Jesus is exposed in the Blessed Sacrament,
we are drawn into a deeper more intimate union with Him
who is "Love made visible."
Mother Teresa said this;
"When you look at the cross,
you see how much Jesus loved us then.
When you look at the Most Blessed Sacrament,
you see how much Jesus loves us now."
And what a heavy price He paid to remain
with us as the living bread of life.
How infinitely humble is our God,
Creator of everything,
to remain with us as bread in the Blessed Sacrament,
true Manna from Heaven.
If a nuclear explosion were to occur,
the effects of that explosion would be far reaching.
When you visit Jesus in this Sacrament of Love,
your being there has an effect on every man,
woman and child on the Earth.
When we are exposed to the rays of the sun,
we feel its warmth.
When we are exposed to the rays of His infinite love and mercy
in the Blessed Sacrament, how could we not
receive the effects of His goodness, grace and love?
In a vision, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque,
in the 17th century,
saw thorns surrounding our Lord's Sacred Heart.
She asked the Lord,
"why the thorns?"
He said, "My Heart suffers in agony over the ingratitude
and rejection in the world."
When you come and spend time with Jesus
in Adoration, you change those
thorns into beautiful flowers of consolation.
Many say that it seems the more
Jesus is insulted and offended,
the more He gives to those with the slightest
compassion in their hearts to repair the damage
of His offenders. Our Lord spoke these
words to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque,
"I have a burning thirst to be honored by men,
in the Blessed Sacrament."
Fr. Lucia said, "when you come to visit Jesus on a regular
basis you will begin to see miracles of His love."
I'd like to share with you a true story of two
little miracles that occurred one afternoon
during my holy hour before
the Blessed Sacrament.
When we first started one day of Eucharistic Adoration
a week, at St. Nicholas Church, our pastor expressed
his anger whenever the Blessed Sacrament was
left alone. And he was right to be angry,
because we had people who signed up for a holy
hour, who didn't take their commitment seriously.
I wanted Eucharistic Adoration to work
out so much, that I hoped our pastor would
be encouraged if he saw the times when
there were a substantial number of people present.
One afternoon I counted heads and there were 23
people there for one holy hour.
I prayed, "Lord, please let our pastor see this turn out.
I know it will please him."
Instantly, the door of the Sacristy opened
and Father poked his head in the church and I saw
the surprised look on his face as he looked around
the church. It happened instantly. That same afternoon it
began to rain. I could see and hear the rain, because I was
sitting in the back of the church. It was a warm day,
and the doors of the church were wide open. I talked
to the Lord inwardly, and said, "Lord, if only it
would stop raining until my newly cemented pavement has dried."
Astonishingly, the rain stopped, immediately.
I am convinced these were not two coincidences,
but Christ-incidences.
The Lord knows our every need,
every need.
Money can't give you what God wants to give you.
He's the One we must turn to for everything;
for direction, health, conversion,
everything.
The Eucharist is Jesus' greatest expression of
His love for us. Jesus expresses His love for us in three
ways in the Eucharist:
1. by re-presenting His sacrifice of the cross in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
2. by uniting His life with us in Holy Communion and
3. by giving us the gift of His continual presence in the Blessed Sacrament.
In this way, the Eucharist is a threefold
sacrament and the most efficacious, sure way of bringing about
the kingdom of peace, joy, love and happiness that
Jesus wants for us and this world of sin and
suffering. We can change the face of the Earth literally, and I
believe Eucharistic Adoration is our hope for a new and
better world.
Accept this invitation to sign up at your church
and spend one holy hour a week with the Lord
in Eucharistic Adoration and you will receive "free of
charge," the following five graces:
1. Restoration - the restoring of one's soul to the dignity of becoming holy in God's sight.
2. Reparation - when you visit our Lord, it means so much to Him, that it makes up for all that is wrong in the world.
3. Transformation - a new you will grow with each visit into the very image of Christ.
4. Sanctification - which is the means by which the soul becomes united to fulfilling God's holy will.
5. Salvation - the means of attaining eternal bliss.
Please sign up for Eucharistic Adoration.
You'll bring great joy to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
if you do. And it is a gift that you will not receive anywhere else.
The Lord said,
"Come to me all you who find life burdensome,
and I will refresh you."
Jesus stays with us in the Blessed Sacrament
to refresh us in mind, heart, and spirit
by lavishing on us, graces that encourage us,
console us, strengthen us, guide us and inspire us to
place all of our trust in His Sacred Heart, so that the
power of His love may cast out every fear, doubt, worry,
and anxiety that we have. Sign up!! You have
nothing to lose, and everything to gain...
God bless you...
Yours truly,
Janet Glendening
