Page 19 - LOTN Autumn Issue 54 2023

EDUCATION AND FORMATION

the idea of a “Holy Hour,” of an hour spent with Jesus. The works are dependent on us and our own efforts, and that is
Eucharist is a source. It gives us strength for the battle that far too heavy a burden for us to carry alone.
our Christian life can be and certainly is. You will become a true evangeliser, that is you will
Of course, we can pray anywhere and if we can’t make it draw others to Christ, to the extent that you are a true
to a Church we can always pray in our homes. Don’t get me contemplative. To quote Dom Chautard again, “The efficacy
wrong, it is good to pray in our homes! At the same time, of an apostolate almost invariably corresponds to the degree
there is something very special about being in the presence of Eucharistic life acquired by a soul. Indeed, the sure sign
of Jesus in the Eucharist. Indeed, this is why He left us the of a successful apostolate is when it makes souls thirst for
Eucharist, so that He could give us His very presence: Body, frequent and fruitful participation in the divine Banquet.
Blood, Soul and Divinity. To use an analogy, during Covid And this result will never be obtained except in proportion
we couldn’t be physically present with our loved ones, but as the apostle himself really makes Jesus in the Blessed
we could still talk to them on the phone or have a Zoom Sacrament the source and centre of his life.”
3
call. Yet hasn’t it been so much better now that we can Thus we can ask ourselves: How is my life of prayer? Do
actually go to see them? To be with them? The same can I regularly spend time with Jesus? If possible, do I spend
be said with Jesus. It’s good to speak to Him in prayer at time in adoration? Or do I at least make regular time for
home, but it can be a very profound experience to be in His prayer at home if I cannot get to a Church? Can I honestly
Eucharistic presence. Just as a practical point, remember say that I have a relationship with Jesus? What does this
that it doesn’t have to be during scheduled times of relationship look like?
adoration when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed on the Like Jesus on the Cross who cried out, “I thirst!”, can I
altar (although this is very good and helpful!). Time in front truly say that I share in His thirst for souls and seek to bring
of the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle is already time others to Him? Is my ministry fuelled by a life of prayer? Is
spent with Jesus. Just like you can’t be in being an extraordinary minister of Holy
the presence of the sun without being Communion just something I do? Or
changed, it’s the same with the Eucharist. has it penetrated more profoundly?
We might not have too much sun here in Time in front of the Blessed And most importantly, what might
Scotland at the moment, but in Florida Sacrament in the tabernacle Jesus be trying to tell me today?
where I’m from, there’s lots of sun! You is already time spent with We’ve made three stops on our little
literally go outside for an hour and like it Jesus. Just like you can’t be walk with Mary. Can you remember
or not, you’re tanner. You’re changed. Yet in the presence of the sun what they were?
the sun is just a creature. The Eucharist without being changed, it’s The Call of the Lord
is the God of the universe. How much the same with the Eucharist. The Spiritual Good of Ministry
more will we be changed by being in His Devotion to the Eucharist
presence! I hope that from these words you’ve
Eucharistic adoration not only spiritually been able to receive something helpful
nourishes us, but it also has ripple effects for your own faith journey and ministry.
on those around us. Personal prayer is utterly vital for any I’ll conclude simply by quoting Pope St John Paul II who said
ministry to bear fruit, including yours. Dom Jean-Baptist “The Eucharist is the heart of the Church. Where Eucharistic
Chautard, a Trappist monk, wrote a book entitled The Soul life flourishes, there the life of the Church will blossom.” As
of the Apostolate in which he describes how necessary you continue to exercise your ministry, may a Eucharistic
the interior life is for ministry to bear fruit. This is simply life flourish in our parishes, so that the life of the Catholic
because the source of all grace is Christ Himself. If we cease Church here in Aberdeen may truly blossom. May Our Lady
to be connected to Him in prayer, then we cut ourselves of Aberdeen intercede for us and lead us to her Son, Jesus
off from that source like a branch cut off from a tree. To Christ our Lord. Amen.
quote him, “If the apostle [that’s you and me!] is going to
overflow with divine life and pour it out upon the faithful, Suggested Reading
and if the richest source for divine life he can find is the
Eucharist, how can we get away from the conclusion that Life of Union with Mary by Fr Emile Neubert
his works will have little efficacy except through the action Our Lady and the Church by Fr Hugo Rahner, SJ
of the Eucharist on those who are to be, either directly or The Soul of the Apostolate by Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard
indirectly, dispensers of that life through these works.” The World’s First Love by Bishop Fulton Sheen
2
Otherwise, this ministry can cease to truly be a ministry True Devotion to Mary by St Louis-Marie Grignon de
and devolve into a mere ‘doing.’ This can apply to everything Montfort
you’re asked to do in the Church. When ministry in the
Church becomes a mere doing, ‘busy-ness,’ then sooner or
later burnout will be around the corner. I once heard it said
– and I think it’s true – that burnout is not doing too much,
but receiving too little. Without that connection to Christ in
prayer, who is the Source of all strength and grace, then our
2 Chautard, Dom Jean-Baptiste. The Soul of the
Apostolate. Trans. Monk of Our Lady of Gethsemani. Tan
Books: Charlotte, North Carolina, 2012. p. 187. 3 Ibid, p. 189.
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