St. Pope John Paul II started Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament in the Vatican in 1981, a couple of years after he became Pope. He always had an hour or two of adoration each day even with his busy schedule throughout his life. In fact he would spend long periods in the Presence of our beloved Lord, often prostrate before the Eucharist, particularly before any missionary trip he would undertake. Both as Bishop and as Pope he would write much of his work while in Eucharistic adoration including many Encyclicals. Here are some of his quotes on the importance of Eucharistic Adoration in our lives:
Mar. 4, 1979 – “Redemptor Hominis (Redeemer Of Man)” Encyclical
-
“Our communal worship at Mass must go together with our personal worship of Jesus in Eucharistic adoration in order that our love may be complete.”
-
“Every member of the Church must be vigilant in seeing that the 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 Him shall be given back ‘love for love’ and truly become the life of our souls.”
-
“Our essential commitment in life is to preserve and advance constantly in Eucharistic life and Eucharistic piety and to grow spiritually in the climate of the Holy Eucharist.”
Jun. 19, 1979 – Angelus Address At The Vatican
-
“In this silence of the white Host, carried in the Monstrance, are all His words; there is His whole life given in offering to the Father for each of us; there is also the glory of the glorified body, which started with the Resurrection, and still continues in Heavenly union.”
Feb. 24, 1980 – “Dominicae Cenae (On The Mystery And Worship Of The Eucharist)” Encyclical
-
“The Church and the world have a great need of eucharistic worship. Jesus waits for us in this sacrament of love. Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him in adoration and in contemplation that is full of faith and ready to make reparation for the great faults and crimes of the world by our adoration never cease.”
-
“Eucharistic worship is … the merciful and redeeming transformation of the world in the human heart.”
Dec. 8, 1982 – Sermon Upon The Opening Of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration At The Vatican
-
“Your faith will help you realize that it is Jesus Himself Who is present in the Blessed Sacrament, waiting for you and calling you to spend one special specific hour with Him each week.”
May 28,1986 – Letter To The Bishop Of Liege On Feast Of Corpus Christi
-
“Contemplation (of the Eucharist) prolongs Communion and enables one to meet Christ, true God and true man, in a lasting way, to let oneself be seen by him and to experience his presence.”
-
“When we contemplate him present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar, Christ draws near to us and becomes more intimate to us than we are to ourselves. He grants us a share in his divine life in a transforming union and, in the Spirit, he gives us access to the Father, as he himself said to Philip: ‘He who has seen me has seen the Father’ (Jn. 14:9). Contemplation, which is also a Communion of desire, intimately associates us with Christ, and in a very special way associates those who are prevented from receiving it.”
-
“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.”
-
“Closeness to Christ in silence and contemplation does not distance us from our contemporaries but, on the contrary, makes us attentive and open to human joy and distress and broadens our heart on a global scale. It unites us with our brothers and sisters in humanity and particularly with children, who are the Lord’s dearly beloved.”
-
“Through adoration, the Christian mysteriously contributes to the radical transformation of the world and to the sowing of the Gospel. Anyone who prays to the Savior draws the whole world with him and raises it to God. Those who stand before the Lord are therefore fulfilling an eminent service. They are presenting to Christ all those who do not know him or are far from him: they keep watch in his presence on their behalf.”
-
“I…encourage Christians regularly to visit Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar, for we are all called to abide in the presence of God, thanks to him who is with us until the end of time. In contemplation, Christians will perceive ever more profoundly that the paschal mystery is at the heart of all Christian life. This practice leads them to join more intensely in the paschal mystery…”
-
“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?”
Oct. 7, 1989 – Homily At Nonyong- Dong South Korea Parish
-
“If we are to experience the Eucharist as the ‘source and summit of all Christian life’ (Lumen Gentium, 11), then we must celebrate it with faith, receive it with reverence, and allow it to transform our minds and hearts through the prayer of adoration. Only by deepening our Eucharistic communion with the Lord through personal prayer can we discover what he asks of us in daily life.”
-
“It is all the more important that you be men of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, that you ‘ask God for a true spirit of adoration’ … in order to be filled with love of Christ. Only in this way can you hope to grow in the pastoral charity that makes your life and ministry fruitful.”
Jun. 12, 1993 – “We Adore God’s Presence Among Us” Sevil, Spain Homily
-
“United with the angels and saints of the heavenly Church, let us adore the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. Prostrate, we adore this great mystery that contains God’s new and definitive covenant with humankind in Christ.”
May 24, 1998 – Address During Pastoral Visit To Turin Italy
-
“Our age needs to rediscover the fruitfulness of silence, in order to overcome the dissipation of sounds, images and chatter that too often prevent the voice of God from being heard.”
Jun. 27, 1999 – Homily At The Papal Mass At Trans World Dome St. Lous, MO
-
“In the Mass and in Eucharistic Adoration we meet the merciful love of God that passes through the Heart of Jesus Christ.”
April 20, 2000 (Holy Thusday) – “Letter To Priests” Signed In The Upper Rm
-
“May we dwell long and often in adoration before Christ in the Eucharist. May we sit at the ‘school’ of the Eucharist.”
Jan. 6, 2001 – Apostolic Letter “Novo Millennio Ineunte”
-
“Yes, dear brothers and sisters, our Christian communities must become genuine “schools” of prayer, where the meeting with Christ is expressed not just in imploring help but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion, until the heart truly “falls in love”. Intense prayer, yes, but it does not distract us from our commitment to history: by opening our heart to the love of God it also opens it to the love of our brothers and sisters, and makes us capable of shaping history according to God’s plan.”
July 27, 2002 – World Youth Day In Toronto Canada
-
“Visit the Lord in that ‘heart to heart’ contact that is Eucharistic Adoration. Day after day, you will receive new energy to help you to bring comfort to the suffering and peace to the world. Many people are wounded by life: they are excluded from economic progress, and are without a home, a family, a job; there are people who are lost in a world of false illusions, or have abandoned all hope. By contemplating the light radiant on the face of the Risen Christ, you will learn to live as ‘children of the light and children of the day’ (1 Th 5:5), and in this way you will show that ‘the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true’ (Eph 5:9).”
April 17, 2003 – “Ecclesia De Eucharistia (Church Of The Eucharist)” Encyclical
-
“It is the responsibility of Pastors to encourage, also by their personal witness, the practice of Eucharistic adoration.”
-
“Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is … an important daily practice and becomes an inexhaustible source of holiness … It is pleasant to spend time with (Christ), to lie close to His breast like the Beloved Disciple and to feel the infinite love present in His Heart.”
-
“If in our time Christians must be distinguished above all by the ‘art of prayer’, how can we not feel a renewed need to spend time in spiritual converse, in silent adoration, in heartfelt love before Christ present in the Most Holy Sacrament?”
-
“The Eucharist is a priceless treasure: by not only celebrating it but also by praying before it outside of Mass we are enabled to make contact with the very wellspring of grace.”
Oct. 7, 2004 – “Mane Nobiscum Domine (Stay With Us Lord)” Apostolic Letter
-
“There is a particular need to cultivate a lively awareness of Christ’s real presence, both in the celebration of Mass and in the worship of the Eucharist outside Mass. Care should be taken to show that awareness through tone of voice, gestures, posture and bearing. In this regard, liturgical law recalls – and I myself have recently reaffirmed – the importance of moments of silence both in the celebration of Mass and in Eucharistic adoration. The way that the ministers and the faithful treat the Eucharist should be marked by profound respect. The presence of Jesus in the tabernacle must be a kind of magnetic pole attracting an ever greater number of souls enamoured of him, ready to wait patiently to hear his voice and, as it were, to sense the beating of his heart. “O taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Ps 34:8).”
-
“Let us take the time to kneel before Jesus present in the Eucharist, in order to make reparation by our faith and love for the acts of carelessness and neglect, and even the insults which our Saviour must endure in many parts of the world. Let us deepen through adoration our personal and communal contemplation, drawing upon aids to prayer inspired by the word of God and the experience of so many mystics, old and new.”
Oct. 24, 2004 – Message For World Mission “Eucharist And Mission”
-
“To live the Eucharist, it is necessary, as well, to spend much time in adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament.”
-
“In order to evangelize the world, we need experts in celebration, adoration and contemplation of the Holy Eucharist.”
Feb. 19, 2005 – Lenten Message
-
“With ever-living ardor, contemplate Christ in the mystery of the Eucharist. Following His example, be ready in all circumstances to make yourselves instruments of mercy and communion.”
-
“As you well know, in order to be eloquent signs of His love and instigators of His peace in all environments, everyone is first of all asked to cultivate an intimate and constant familiarity with Him. From intense participation in the Eucharist springs the spiritual energy needed to bring all projects of goodness to fruition.”
Other Pope John Paul II Eucharistic Adoration Quotes
-
“The spiritual lives of our families are strengthened through our Holy Hour.”
-
“Jesus is not an idea or a feeling or a memory. Jesus is a living ‘person’ always present among us. Love Jesus present in the Eucharist.”
-
“The love of God and neighbor, the greatest commandment, is expressed in, and the fruit of, Eucharistic worship.”
-
“Places cannot but be praised and held up for imitation that promote the practice of Perpetual (Eucharistic) Adoration.”
-
“We must understand that in order ‘to do’, we must first learn ‘to be’, that is to say, in the sweet company of Jesus in adoration.”