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“I urge
priests, religious and lay people to continue and redouble their efforts
to teach the younger generations the meaning and value of
Eucharistic adoration and devotion. How will young people be able to
know the Lord if they are not introduced to the mystery of his presence?
Like the young Samuel, by learning the words of the prayer of the heart,
they will be closer to the Lord, who will accompany them in their
spiritual and human growth, and in the missionary witness which they
must give throughout their life. The Eucharistic mystery is in fact the
"summit of evangelization" (Lumen Gentium, n. 28), for it is the
most eminent testimony to Christ's Resurrection. All interior life needs
silence and intimacy with Christ in order to develop. This gradual
familiarity with the Lord will enable certain young people to be
involved in serving as acolytes and to taking a more active part in
Mass; for young boys, to be near the altar is also a privileged
opportunity to hear Christ's call to follow him more radically in the
priestly ministry.”
- Holy Father, Pope John Paul II,
From the Vatican, 28 May 1996
“...Yes,
beloved brothers and sisters, it is important that we live and teach how
to live the total mysteries of the Eucharist: the Sacrament of
Sacrifice, of the Banquet, and of the permanent Presence of Jesus Christ
the Savior....the several forms of worship of the Most Holy Eucharist
are an extension and at the same time a preparation for the Sacrifice of
the Mass and Communion. Will it be necessary to insist again on the
deep spiritual and theological motivations of worship to the Most Holy
Sacrament outside of the celebration of the Mass? It is true that the
reservation of the Sacrament was made, from the beginning, in order to
be able to take Communion to the sick and to those absent from the
celebration. But, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, ‘for
the deepening of the faith in the Real Presence of Christ in His
Eucharist, the Church became aware of the meaning of the silent
adoration of the Lord present under the Eucharistic species’” (n. 1379).
(Pope John Paul II, June 1993 homily at the 45th International
Eucharistic Congress in Seville, Spain) |
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“I come
to celebrate, above all, Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, Who gives
Himself to us in the Eucharist as the expression of Infinite Love, the
mystery of our faith, the fountain of our Christian life...”
"Every
member of the Church must be vigilant in seeing that this sacrament of
love shall be at the center of the life of the people of God so that
through all the manifestations of worship due to it, Christ shall be
given back 'love for love,' and truly become the life of our souls,"
“Our
communal worship at Mass must be together with our personal worship of
Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration in order that our love may be complete,”
“Outside
the Eucharistic celebration, the Church is careful to venerate the
Blessed Sacrament ... Remaining in silence before the Blessed Sacrament,
it is Christ totally and really present whom we discover, whom we adore
and with whom we are in contact. ...” |