Word from Adoration

"Why do you run, why do you hide, oh don't you know I just just want to be with you, to be with you." Kutless, Run

I woke up early Saturday morning. About an hour and a half before I needed to leave for my scheduled time to adore the Lord.

I tried to fall back to sleep with no success. The Lord placed upon my heart the need to get up and head down to the Adoration Chapel. I struggled against that need for a bit wanting to sleep as I was pretty tired.

The burden became stronger. Like the disciples in the Garden, I wanted to sleep (Matthew 26:40).

When I finally relented, I ended up arriving about 45 minutes early. I sat with Him, and relaxed to pray.

Again, He wanted my company. He wanted me to sit with Him and to spend time with Him.

And yet, it was a tough time as I was filled with a lot of interior noise and distractions. The only thing I could do was offer the struggles with them to Him.

Two things that come to my heart are the following:

1. When the Lord places a burden on our heart to do something, pray for something or someone, get up and pray (even in the middle of the night), call us to receive Him in the Eucharist, or spend time with Him in the Most Blessed Sacrament do we respond with a, "Yes Lord!", or perhaps like me (and St. Augustine at one point), "not now Lord, later", or, "forget it Lord"?
2. Do we realize that He values everything, and I mean everything, that we do and say for Him and in His Name?

When we spend a lot of time listening to Him we tend to become a lot more sensitized to the gentle calls that He places upon our heart and spirit. If we keep ourselves busy and do not take the time to spend with Him we may miss those calls. Because of that, we miss the opportunity to cooperate with His grace and bring that grace to bear upon the needs of His Most Sacred Heart.

We tend to look towards doing "great" things for the Lord. And yet, it is the very "little" things that tend to mean the most and carry the most value with Him. This is especially true in light of His telling us that we must become as a child! (Matthew 18:3, 19:14; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17)

And finally, the words from the song Run. Do we realize that He really does want to be with us? Do we realize that He indeed values us more than anything? He died and rose for us (John 3:16)! If we experienced His yearning for us to be near with Him for but a moment, we would probably die!

Pax vobis,

J.E.