Adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament began slowly in the Church, but expanded rapidly in medieval and early modern times, writes Msgr. Lopez-Gallo. (CNS photo)
Adoration is the spiritual contact of our soul with Jesus. The Blessed Sacrament is the greatest gift and is celebrated with solemnity at each Eucharistic Congress.
Let me look at the history of this sublime devotion that is little known. A devotional cult of the Eucharist outside the liturgy became possible in the Western Church only after the ceremonial reservation of the Sacrament developed. While the custom of reserving the Sacrament to give Communion to the sick, the dying, or those absent from the Sunday assembly is very ancient, special signs of external adoration – e.g. genuflection, lighted candles – are not.
In the first millennium of Church history, there is no reliable evidence of the Eucharist being reserved so the faithful could “visit” it, pray in its presence, or honour it with special marks of devotion. To this day, the Greek Church knows no devotional cult of the Eucharist outside the liturgy.
For more than a millennium there was no uniform manner or place of Eucharistic reservation. Sometimes Christians took the Sacrament home for Communion, and often clergy reserved it in the sacristy without any ceremony.
Before the 12th century, any ritual or private honour to the Eucharist outside Mass was virtually impossible because there were no tabernacles visible in the churches. The Sacrament was kept privately for emergencies, as the holy oils are often kept today. But by the beginning of the 13th century, devotions to the reserved Eucharist started emerging as did the custom of genuflecting before the Blessed Sacrament.
Such devotional attention to the Eucharist, reserved in the churches, reflects both a growing consciousness of the important role of Christ’s human nature in salvation and a desire by the faithful to see and adore the consecrated Host.
Still, there remained considerable variation in the manner of reservation. Vessels of precious metals in the form of a tower or dove were common in England and France, while a “Sacrament house” was sometimes constructed on the north side of the church.
From the 13th century onward, there is mounting evidence that visits to the Blessed Sacrament were made to honour it or to pray for special favours. Thomas Becket told King Henry II that he prayed for him “before the Majesty of the Body of Christ.”
At the end of the 14th century, private devotion at the place of reservation was common among lay Christians, monks, and religious women. Luther and other reformers objected to this adoration. In 1551, the Council of Trent in its decree on the Holy Eucharist defended the feast of Corpus Christi and, in general, the honour and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
In the next two centuries there appeared many devotional books advocating visits to the place of reservation, notably St. Alphonsus Ligouri’s Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, which has gone through more than 2,000 editions in 39 languages since 1745.
Nocturnal and perpetual adoration: The devotional practice of adoring Christ present in the Eucharist thus expanded rapidly during medieval and early modern times. Isolated cases of nocturnal adoration had already appeared in 1226 when the Holy See approved adoration of the Eucharist, veiled on the altar at Avignon, at the request of Louis VII to give thanks for his victory over the Albigenses, the heretics.
In time, Eucharistic associations emerged whose primary purpose was to promote frequent or perpetual adoration of the reserved Sacrament. In 1810 this devotion became the Nocturnal Adoration Society, to pay homage to Christ in various churches in which Forty Hours were held successively during the night.
The Priests’ League for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, founded in 1879, was approved in Rome in 1887. In 1950, a society for perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for diocesan priests was canonically erected.
Forty Hours remained popular until the late 20th century. By decree, the Congregation for Divine Worship issued a new ritual that recommends solemn exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in all diocesan parishes.
Once you are in the silent recollection of your church, try to talk to Jesus and to adore him, fixing your eyes on the consecrated Host, repeating sincerely the example I give you:
“My beloved Jesus, I thank you for meeting me in this holy silence. What a gift this is. What a gift you are. Thank you, Jesus, for staying with me, even though you have so many problems with his world you created. You give me your time and listen to my voice as a father, a friend, a Redeemer. Teach me to know when you want me to be here with you and when you would prefer that I worship you by serving others or maybe sharing time with friends who need to be with me instead. Never let this become simply routine. Show me how to keep a balance.” (In the Silence – Meditations for Eucharistic Devotion, Vandy Brennan Nies, Ligouri, Missouri, 2010)