Over the summer and during the beginning of this new academic year, I’ve spent more time in prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, either in the monstrance in my home parish or concealed in the tabernacle within our chapels on campus.
As the Catechism says, the Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324). Spending time with Jesus in the Eucharist everyday during prayer allows me to have a personal audience with the creator and sustainer of all that was, is, and will come. Even a papal audience pales in comparison to this divine date.
The fork-in-the-road question of Jesus was not about his moral teaching as anyone who did not have a personal stake in shutting him up saw the man as an excellent moral teacher and exemplar, but, rather, who he was. C.S. Lewis articulates the trilemma of Jesus’ identity when he says “either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.”
The sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, the writings of the Church fathers, Church history, and the Last Supper, among other pieces of evidence demonstrate the truth of the Real Presence, inviting us into a greater union with God than all the Old Testament prophets could have dreamed about while on earth.
I’ve been blessed to experience significant consolation and insight during this time of formal and contemplative prayer about my relationship with God and who He is, how I can serve Christ and His flock better, my loved ones, my struggles and wounds, my vocation, among other things. God’s will is highly accessible to us in the movements of the heart and thoughts of the mind during this time. Rather than being a far-off God only there for the greatest minds to glimpse at, our God lets His sheep stare at Him in the Eucharist and feel Him in their interior life without fear, as “perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18).
I had recited parts of the Liturgy of the Hours, the official prayer of the Church that incorporates the Psalms and other Scriptural readings, before this time, but looking at my dorm wall or some random building on campus made this prayer time less tangible and real. If you wrote a love poem that came out better than the best work of John Donne, would you be satisfied with reading it out of earshot of the person you love? Of course not. You would go to see your treasured other and enflesh the meaning of the words with your own, unique voice. Surely God hears all of our prayers, but His presence in chapels across our campus and throughout the world invites us to show our appreciation for His infinite love in a concrete fashion.
Personal prayer with Jesus is even more important than morning prayer as we allow ourselves to be who we really are, in all our sufferings, joys, and idiosyncrasies, with the God who knows us perfectly. Speaking with one’s creator allows me to put all that’s going on into its proper context from the eternal and true perspective of Heaven. Just sitting in silence, too, has real fruit as I’ve found myself able to listen best when I quietly wait for the wisdom and knowledge that can come only from God.
I plan to continue praying in front of and near the Blessed Sacrament as much as I can in the future. The one who made me spiritually pregnant, Jesus, is near me and all of us there. Just as a couple rejoices over the tangible expression of their love they have procreated in the womb, so should we rejoice in the presence of the one who loves us more than any person can love us here: Jesus Christ.
Max Montana is a senior studying philosophy and theology. When not writing for The Torch, he enjoys reading more about the Catholic faith and philosophy, serving the unborn and mothers in need, and hanging out with friends. Max is honored to hail from the state with many gators and the bishop of the moon: Florida.
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