Addressing the U.S. Bishops who are organizing our National Eucharistic Revival, Pope Francis recently said, “I believe that we have lost the sense of adoration in our day. We must rediscover the sense of adoration in silence. It is a form of prayer that we have lost.”

I have no doubt that Pope Francis is correct here – In recent decades, we’ve lost a “sense of adoration” in the presence of the Eucharist, and we would do well to strive to reclaim it.

First, what is adoration? The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, question 552, explains, “Adoration is the humble acknowledgement by human beings that they are creatures of the thrice-holy Creator.” When we are in the presence of the Lord – especially in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament – we ought to have sense of God’s infinite perfection and of our profound unworthiness to be with Him. What a gift it is that the Lord longs to be with us nonetheless!

It seems to me that children learn this sense of adoration more easily than adults. When I was a young child, I remember learning the importance of genuflecting toward the tabernacle and of being reverent in Church. I was fidgety and giggly like any other kid, but I remember how both my parents and my catechists explained that we act differently when we are in Church, because Jesus is present there. I gradually began to really sense the sacredness of the Eucharist, both because of the example of others and because of the teaching of Scripture that I slowly began to understand.

The Old Testament is full of stories that demonstrate the power of God and the sense of wonder that we ought to have when we are in his midst.  When Moses encountered the Lord in the burning bush, for example, the angel told him, “Do not come near! Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). When Elijah the prophet heard the whisper of the Lord on Mount Horeb, he hid his face before approaching (1 Kings 19:13). When Isaiah the prophet beheld a vision of God and his angels singing “Holy, Holy, Holy,” he feared for his life and cried out, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5) These men had a lively awareness of the holiness of God.

We might expect the New Testament to downplay the grandeur of God because of his closeness in Jesus, but that is not really the case. Whenever the disciples glimpse the glory of the Lord in Jesus, they, too, are overwhelmed.  At the Transfiguration, for example, when Jesus became dazzlingly bright and the Father’s voice was heard, the disciples “fell prostrate and were very much afraid” (Matthew 17:6). On Easter Sunday, when the women discover the empty tomb and two angels, “they were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground” (Luke 24:5). When Saul heard the voice of the Lord on his way to Damascus, he fell to the ground (Acts 9:4). Finally, when St. John the Apostle – the same beloved disciple that had reclined with Jesus at the Last Supper – beheld a vision of Jesus in glory on the island of Patmos, he “fell down at his feet as though dead” (Revelation 1:17). As St. John’s vision continues, he sees the angels and saints in heaven singing “Holy, Holy, Holy,” and falling down in awe of the glory of God (Revelation 4). Adoration is as central to the New Testament as it is to the Old.

The “newness” of the New Testament is not that the Lord has somehow become less glorious or less worthy of our adoration, but that he humbles himself even more to unite us to himself. In the person of Jesus, the thrice-holy God has become a man like us and is willing to eat with sinners and befriend outcasts (e.g., Matthew 9:9-13). This same Jesus makes himself really present to us under the appearance of bread and wine in order to spiritually nourish us (e.g., Matthew 26:26-28). Even though the Lord comes so close to us, we should never lose the sense of wonder and awe that Scripture calls us to have for our all-holy Creator.

Because the Lord is present in the Eucharist, St. Paul warns Christians in his First Letter to the Corinthians to have a proper reverence for Holy Communion. After recounting the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23 – 26), St. Paul offers this surprising warning:

Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying. If we discerned ourselves, we would not be under judgment; but since we are judged by [the] Lord, we are being disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:27 – 32).

Have we ever even considered the possibility that we might be judged for receiving Holy Communion without proper reverence? (1 Corinthians 11:20 – 32 used to be proclaimed in its entirety every Holy Thursday, but verses 27 to 32 have been strangely omitted from the Lectionary since 1970. Many Catholics therefore have never even heard those verses of Sacred Scripture.)

Because the glory of God is hidden in the Eucharist (not visible) it’s very easy for us to treat the Blessed Sacrament very casually. I know that I am sometimes guilty of this! We occasionally receive Holy Communion distractedly and half-heartedly, barely acknowledging the significance of what is happening. It’s so easy to forget how extraordinary it is that we Catholics are receiving God-in-the-flesh every time we receive the Eucharist!

If we have faith that Jesus is truly, fully present in Holy Communion, though, we ought to approach the sacrament with a deep, deep sense of adoration. If Moses, Elijah, and Isaiah were amazed that they could be in the presence of the Lord, how much more amazed should we be to receive him as our spiritual food! Just as the Apostles were humbled that God had become one of us in Jesus, we too ought to be humbled that he remains among us in the Blessed Sacrament.

During the National Eucharistic Revival, then, let us strive to recover a biblical spirit of adoration whenever we are in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Whether we are visiting the chapel for a time of prayer or receiving the Lord in Holy Communion, may each of us humbly acknowledge by faith the indescribable glory of the God who longs to come to us.