Oblates will often ask what “work” they could do around the monastery. There is an important “work” that needs to be done, particularly in the summer months while the students are away. This would be to volunteer to spend an hour a week at the Eucharistic Adoration Chapel hosted by Belmont Abbey. Volunteers give an hour of their time so that others have the opportunity to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Even non- Catholics have found the chapel a place of prayer and peace. This is also a way that Benedictines can welcome the stranger. Often, it is the only chapel or church open when people are dealing with the tragedies and joys of life. St. Joseph Adoration chapel is open because many people volunteer just one hour a week. The following are 12 additional reasons for volunteering:
1. You are greatly needed!
“The Church and the world have a great need of Eucharistic Adoration.” (Pope John Paul II, Dominicae Cenae)
2. This is a personal invitation to you from Jesus.
“Jesus waits for us in this Sacrament of Love.” (Pope John Paul II, Dominicae Canae)
3. Jesus is counting on you because the Eucharist is the center of life.
“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.” (Pope John Paul II, Redeemer of Man)
4. Your hour with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament will repair for evils of the world and bring about peace on earth.
“Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Jesus and ready to make reparation for the great evils of the world. Let your adoration never cease.” (Pope John Paul II, Dominicai Cenae)
5. Day and night Jesus dwells in the Blessed Sacrament because you are the most important person in the world to Him!
“Christ is reserved in our churches as the spiritual center of the heart of the community, the universal Church and all humanity, since within the veil of the species, Christ is contained, the Invisible Heart of the Church, the Redeemer of the world, the center of all hearts, by Him all things are and of whom we exist.” (Pope Paul IV, Mysterium Fidei)
6. Jesus wants you to do more than to go to Mass on Sunday.
“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.” (Pope John Paul II, Redeemer of Man)
7. You grow spiritually with each moment you spend with Jesus!
“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.” (Pope John Paul II, Redeemer of Man)
8. The best time you spend on earth is with Jesus, your Best Friend, in the Blessed Sacrament!
“How great is the value of conversation with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, for there is nothing more consoling on earth, nothing more efficacious for advancing along the road of holiness!” (Pope Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei)
9. Just as you can be exposed to the sun without receiving its rays, neither can you come to Jesus exposed in the Blessed Sacrament without receiving the Divine Rays of His Grace, His Love, His Peace.
“Christ is truly the Emmanuel, that is, God with us, day and night, He is in our midst. He dwells with us full of grace and truth. He restores morality, nourishes virtue, consoles the afflicted, strengthens the weak.” (Pope Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei)
10. If Jesus were actually visible in church, everyone would run to welcome Him, but He remains hidden in the Sacred Host under the appearance of Bread, because He is calling us to faith, that we many come to Him in humility.
“The Blessed Sacrament is the Living Heart of each of our churches and it is our very sweet duty to honor and adore the Blessed Host, which our eyes see, the Incarnate Word, Whom they cannot see.” (Pope Paul VI, Credo of the People of God)
11. With transforming mercy, Jesus makes our heart one with His. “He proposes His own example to those who come to Him, that all may learn to be like Himself, gentle and humble of heart, and to seek not their own interest but those of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei)
12. If the Pope himself would give you a special invitation to visit him in the Vatican, this honor would be nothing in comparison to the honor and dignity that Jesus Himself bestows upon you with the Invitation of spending one hour with Him in the Blessed Sacrament.
“The Divine Eucharist bestows upon the Christian people the incomparable dignity.” (Pope Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei)
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So, if you are looking to set aside with Our Lord that is unhurried, deliberate, and special, volunteer for Eucharistic Adoration. If you are interested in volunteering at the Abbey, please contact Marie Siebers, OblSB, at (704) 827-6734.
