Living in a tangible world, we experience our surroundings by seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting and touching. In His infinite wisdom, God knows this so He has given us the ultimate tangible gift, Himself in the Eucharist!

I’m blessed that my parish has a Eucharistic adoration chapel where I can drop in from 8:30 AM to 10 PM any or every day for a visit. I can go and offer all my fears, questions, petitions and thanks to Him in His visible presence. Seeing the Eucharist displayed in the monstrance gives me focus. That sacred host is, after all, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus which allows me to tangibly see Him. It also allows me to be open to His love and peace. When I am there sitting directly in front of the Blessed Sacrament, there is a sense of His love washing over me and time seems to stand still.

While the chapel provides the opportunity to encounter Jesus at a time that fits into my schedule, it is when I take time for Mass that I can fully experience Jesus. At Mass we are given the opportunity to not just see Jesus, but to touch and taste Him by receiving Him in Holy Communion. Through this sacrament, He wants to be a part of us and wants us to be a part of Him.

After the Last Supper, Jesus prayed to God the Father: “And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17:22-23) This oneness that Jesus prays for is found in the Eucharist. He also prayed: “I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one.” (John 17:15) Being part of the world is to experience it through our senses.

God gives us multiple opportunities to encounter Him through His creation, but none so intimate as to be in the presence of or to receive the Holy Eucharist. He comes to us so that we can have a relationship with Him that goes beyond the tangible world into the spiritual.