I had a wonderful experience tonight. I had an experience of adoration in the group of a retreat for young people. These are not kids who have never been to adoration. We aree so fortunate that it is making a comeback in our diocese at camps, at youth groups and at Youth 2000.
This is very different from the way I was raised. Don’t get me wrong, I was raised in the Catholic Church. I went to Catholic schools for 12 years. But this was post-Vatican Council 2 and all things were new. Those old rituals just weren’t emphasized like they had been. They were trying to appeal to a younger, more hip generation. Adoration, even though it was still offered, was not emphasized. I remember my mother going but my class seldom went. We went from going to Mass every day, wearing a chapel veil, to Mass once a week, no chapel veil required. In high school we didn’t go to daily Mass, not even once a week. I guess that wasn’t cool.
But adoration is making a comeback. And I love it. I love to be given the opportunity to sit with the Lord and just have a heart-to-heart talk with him. I don’t get to do it often enough.
So tonight, while I was supporting these kids who were making an attempt to get closer to God, I noticed that the gold in the monstrance was shining. It is designed as rays of light and those rays were picking up what little light was in the room. And I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if the Body of Christ, in that monstrance, began to shine like it was on fire. Wouldn’t it be cool if there was really a fire inside that monstrance. Wouldn’t that show these kids that Christ is alive and He calls on them to be lit by His spirit and they are to take what they have learned at this retreat and hit the streets running. This is their sign to go and spread His word.
And then I stopped.
And then I shook my head.
Because even though His Body, in that monstrance, was as dull as a piece of cardboard, His spirit was alive in that room. Even though there was no blaze emitting from the middle of that make-shift altar, you could tell there was a blaze all through that room. It might not have been from the kids, but those who were there supporting those kids and working with those kids had enough fire to burn down the building. This retreat is long and emotional and you could tell that those kids were worn out. But you could tell all around them that there was more energy to keep those kids going to the end of the retreat. And all of that energy, all of that fire, came from that monstrance.
I remember the first retreat that I went on as an adult. I knew people, but not. Quite a few of the people there had family with them and they were all so supportive of each other. I felt like an outsider. But it wasn’t long that I felt like one of them. Because even though it sounds like a cliche, and a little corny, we are one Body, one Body in Christ. So no matter where we go around the world, we belong. And it’s our job as members of Christ’s body to see that body grow and to make everyone welcome. And if we can continue to do that then we still might not see a fire in that monstrance, but we’ll feel it every time, in our hearts and in our souls.