Saint Peter Julian Eymard
Founder, Blessed Sacrament Fathers
METHOD OF ADORATION ACCORDING TO THE FOUR ENDS OF THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS
THE Adoration Hour is divided into four parts. During each quarter our
Lord is honored through one of the four ends of the Sacrifice; namely,
Adoration, Thanksgiving, Reparation, and Petition.
First quarter-----ADORATION
1. First of all, adore our Lord in His Divine Sacrament by the exterior
homage of the body. Kneel down as soon as you see Jesus in the adorable
Host. Prostrate yourself before Him with deep respect as a proof of
your dependence and love. Adore Him in union with the Magi Kings when,
falling prostrate to the ground, they adored the Infant-God lying in
His lowly crib and wrapped in swaddling-clothes.
2. After this first spontaneous and silent act of homage, adore our
Lord by an outward act of faith. This act of faith most advantageously
disposes the senses, the heart, and the mind to Eucharistic piety. It
will unlock God's heart and His treasures of grace; you must be
faithful to it and perform it in a pious and devout frame of mind.
3. Offer to Jesus Christ the homage of your whole being. Present to Him in detail the homage of each one of your
soul's faculties: of your mind, to know Him better; of your heart, to
love Him; of your will, to serve Him; of your body and its senses to
glorify Him, each one in its own way.
Offer Him above all the homage of your thoughts, desiring the
Divine
Eucharist to be the dominant thought of your life; the homage of your
affections, calling Jesus the King and the God of your heart; the
homage of your will, desiring henceforth to have no other law, no other
end than His service, His love, and His
glory; the homage of your memory, in order to remember Him alone and
thus to live of Him, by Him, and for Him alone.
4. Since your adoration is so imperfect, unite it to that of the Most
Blessed Virgin at Bethlehem, at Nazareth, on Calvary, in the Cenacle,
at the foot of the tabernacle; unite it to the adoration which is being
actually offered up by Holy Church, to that of all the saintly souls
who are adoring our Lord at the present moment, as well as to the
entire celestial court which is glorifying Him in Heaven. Your
adoration will then appropriate the holiness and merit of theirs.
Second Quarter-----THANKSGIVING
1. Adore and praise the immense love Jesus has for you in this
Sacrament of Himself. In order not to leave you a lonely orphan in this
land of exile and misery, He comes from heaven for you personally, to
offer you companionship and consolation. Thank Him therefore with all
your love and all your strength; thank Him in union with all the Saints.
2. Express your wonder at the sacrifices He imposes on Himself in His
sacramental state. He conceals the glory of His Divinity and humanity
so as not to dazzle and blind you. He veils His majesty so that you may
dare come to Him and speak to Him as friend to friend. He binds His
power so as not to frighten or punish you. He does not manifest the
perfection of His virtues so as not to discourage your weakness. He
even checks the ardor of His Heart and of His love for you because you
could not stand the strength and tenderness of it. He lets you see only
His goodness, which filters through, as it were, and escapes from the
Sacred Species like a ray of sunshine through a thin cloud.
How kind indeed is our sacramental Jesus! He welcomes you at any hour
of the day or night. His love never knows rest. He is always most
gentle toward you. When you visit Him, He forgets your sins and
imperfections, and speaks only of His joy, His tenderness, and His
love. By the reception He gives you, one would think He has need of you
to make Him happy.
Pour out your whole soul in thanksgiving to this good Jesus! Thank the
Father for having given you His Divine Son. Thank the Holy Ghost for
having reincarnated Him on the altar through the ministry of the
priest, and that for you personally. Call upon Heaven and earth, Angels
and men, to help you thank, bless, and exalt so much love for you.
3. Contemplate the sacramental state in which Jesus has placed Himself for love of you, and draw inspiration from His
sentiments and His life. He is as poor in the Eucharist as He was at
Bethlehem, and poorer still; for at Bethlehem He had His Mother, but
here He is without her; He brings nothing with Him from Heaven but His
love and His graces.
See how obedient He is in the Divine Host: He obeys everybody, even
His
enemies, promptly and meekly. Marvel at His humility: He descends to
the edge of nothingness, since He unites Himself sacramentally to
worthless and lifeless species which have no other natural support, no
other stability than that which His omnipotence gives them, sustaining
them by a continual miracle. His love for us makes Him our
Prisoner. He has bound Himself to the end of time in His Eucharistic
prison, which is to be our Heaven on earth.
4. Unite your thanksgiving to that of the Blessed Virgin after the
Incarnation; do that especially after Communion. In joy and gladness
repeat with her the Magnificat of your gratitude and love, and say over
and over again: "O Jesus Hostia, how good, how loving, how lovable Thou
art!"
Third Quarter-----REPARATION
1. Adore and visit Jesus, abandoned and forsaken by men in His
Sacrament of love. Man has time for everything except for visits to his
Lord and God, Who is waiting and longing for him in His tabernacle. The
streets and the houses of amusement are filled with people; the House
of God is deserted. Men flee from it; they are afraid of it. Ah! Poor
Jesus! Couldst Thou have expected so much indifference from those whom
Thou hast redeemed, from Thy friends, from Thy children, from my own
self?
2. Sympathize with Jesus Who is betrayed, insulted, mocked, and
crucified far more ignominiously in His Sacrament of love than He was
in the Garden of Olives, in Jerusalem, and on Calvary. Those whom He
has the most honored, loved, and enriched with His gifts and graces are
the very ones who offend Him the most and disgrace Him in His temple by
their lack of respect, who crucify Him anew in their body and soul by
sacrilegious Communion, thereby betraying Him to the devil, the master
of their hearts and lives. Alas! Have I nothing to reproach myself
with? Couldst Thou have imagined, O my Jesus, that Thy too great love
of man would be the object of his malice, and that he would turn even
Thy most precious gifts and graces against Thee? And I, have I not been
unfaithful to Thee?
3. Adore Jesus and make reparation for sin; my ingratitudes,
profanations and sacrileges, of which the world is full. Offer up for
this intention all that you have
suffered during the day or week. Inflict on yourself some atoning
penance for your own offenses, and for those of your relatives or of
people whom you may have scandalized by your lack of respect and piety
in church.
4. But since all your satisfactions and penances are too petty and
deficient to atone for so many crimes, unite them to those of your
Savior Jesus, lifted up on the Cross. Receive His Divine Blood as it
flows from His wounds, and offer it up to appease Divine justice. Take
His sufferings and His prayer on the Cross and, through them, beg the
Heavenly Father for pardon and mercy for yourself and all sinners.
Unite your reparation to that of the most Blessed Virgin at the foot of
the Cross or of the altar, and from the love of Jesus for His Divine
Mother you will obtain everything.
Fourth Quarter-----PETITION
1. Adore our Lord in His Divine Sacrament as He prays His Father for
you unceasingly, showing Him His wounds, His Heart open to you and for
you, in order to move Him. Join your prayer to His; pray for what He
prays.
2. Now, Jesus prays His Father to bless, defend, and exalt His Church
so that she may make Him better known, loved, and served by all men.
Pray earnestly for Holy Church, so sorely tried and persecuted in the
person of the Vicar of Jesus Christ. Ask God to deliver him from his
enemies, who are his own children, to touch and convert them and bring
them back in humility and repentance to the feet of Divine mercy and
justice. Jesus prays continually for all the members of His priesthood
that they may be filled with His Holy Spirit and His virtues; that they
may burn with zeal for His glory and be entirely devoted to the
salvation of the souls He redeemed at the price of His Blood and life.
Pray for your Bishop that God may keep him, bless all the desires of
his zeal, and console him. Pray for your Pastor that God may grant him
all the graces he needs for the good direction and sanctification of
the flock entrusted to his solicitude and conscientious care. Pray God
to send His Church numerous and holy priests; a holy priest is heaven's
greatest gift, for He can be the salvation of a whole country. Pray for
all the religious Orders that they may be faithful to the graces of
their evangelical vocation, and that everyone whom God destines to the
religious life may have the courage and generosity to answer the Divine
call and persevere. A Saint keeps watch over his country and obtains
its salvation. His prayers and virtues are more powerful than all the
armies in the world.
3. Pray God to give the grace of fervor and perseverance to the pious
souls who dedicate themselves to His service in the world and are
therein like the religious of His love. They are in greater need of
help, for they have more dangers and sacrifices to put up with.
4. Ask for the conversion of some great sinner within a certain time.
There is nothing more glorious to God than one of these master strokes
of His grace. Lastly, pray for yourself that you may become better and
spend the day well. Make your gifts of soul and body into a spiritual
bouquet for Jesus, your King and God, and ask Him for His blessing.
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