Eucharistic Adoration is the adoration of Jesus Christ present in the Holy Eucharist. In the many churches that have this adoration, the Eucharist is displayed in a special holder called a monstrance, and people come to pray and worship Jesus continually throughout the day and often the night.
Christ’s great love for us was shown when He was crucified on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and give us eternal life. He loves us without limit, and offers Himself to us in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.
The worship and custody of the Holy Eucharist, independently of Mass and Holy Communion, can be traced to post-apostolic times. St. Justin, writing in his Apology around the year 150, says that deacons were appointed to carry the Blessed Sacrament to those who were absent from the liturgy. The young St. Tarsisius was taken captive and put to death while carrying the consecrated Species on his person. St. Eudocia, martyred under Trajan, was first permitted to visit her oratory and remove a particle of the Host which she took with her to prison. What appears to be the first explicit reference to a tabernacle occurs in the Apostolic Constitutions, compiled towards the end of the fourth century, which provided that “deacons should take the remaining particles of the Sacred Species and place them in the tabernacle.”
Implicit in these and similar provisions was the Church’s constant belief in the Real Eucharistic Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Thus, in the words of St. Augustine, “No one eats that flesh without first adoring it” (“Expositions on the Psalms,” 98:9). It was on this doctrinal basis that the cult of adoring the Eucharist was founded and gradually developed as something distinct from the Sacrifice of the Mass. At the Council of Trent, Protestants were condemned for denying that the Eucharist is at once a sacrifice and a sacrament; that it differs from other sacraments in not only producing grace “ex opere operato Christi” (deriving their power from Christ’s work), but containing in a permanent manner the Author of grace Himself.
In his 1965 encyclical “Mysterium Fidei,” Pope Paul VI wrote, “The Catholic Church has always devoutly guarded as a most precious treasure the mystery of faith, that is the ineffable gift of the Eucharist which she received from Christ her Spouse as a pledge of His immense love, and during the Second Vatican Council in a new and solemn demonstration she professed her faith and veneration for this mystery...
“No one can fail to understand that the Divine Eucharist bestows upon the Christian people an incomparable dignity. Not only while the sacrifice is offered and the sacrament is received, but as long as the Eucharist is kept in our churches and oratories, 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, virtues, consoles the afflicted, strengthens the weak. He proposes His own example to those who come to Him that all may learn to be, like Himself, meek and humble of heart and to seek not their own interests but those of God.”
Adoration means coming before the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. But what does that mean? What, or better who, is the reality of which we speak when we talk about the Real Presence?
This reality, as the Church has solemnly defined the truth for the faithful, is the “totus Christus,” the whole Christ: body and blood, soul and divinity. This is not a rhetorical expression nor a verse of poetry. It is an article of the undivided Roman Catholic faith.
There can be no doubt what the faithful are told when they are told to believe in this mystery. Once the words of consecration have been pronounced by a validly ordained priest, what used to be bread and wine are no longer bread and wine. Only the appearances or, rather, only the external physical properties of the former elements, remain. There is now on the altar Jesus Christ, true God and true man, full God and full man.
Does this mean that Jesus is present in the Eucharist? Yes. Is it Jesus in His divine nature? Yes. Is it Jesus in His human nature? Yes. But if Jesus in the Eucharist is really and truly present, is He there with all that makes Him not only man, but makes Him this man? Yes. After all, when God assumed human nature, He assumed this nature as a particular single human being. The divine Person of the Son of God did not merely in some abstract sense become human. He became a definite, historically specific human being.
Thus in the Eucharist is present the Jesus of history: the one who was conceived of His mother Mary at Nazareth; who was born in a stable at Bethlehem; who lived for 30 years in Palestine; and who walked and talked and wept and slept and ate and drank; who shed real red blood on the cross and who rose from the grave, and after His resurrection had the incredulous disciples put their fingers into His pierced side.
When, then, we speak of the Real Presence we imply that part of this reality, which is Christ, is the heart of flesh and blood that every human being has and also Christ has in the glorified body He now possesses since the resurrection.
Note what we are saying. We are affirming that the Sacred Heart of Jesus is not only a historical memory, as recorded by St. John when he tells us that the sacred side of the Savior was pierced on Calvary. Nor are we saying merely that, rising from the dead, Christ is now at the right hand of His heavenly Father in body and soul and therefore also with His human heart. Nor are we saying simply that in the Eucharist is some sort of abstract memorial of the real Christ, who is actually in heaven and no longer on earth. No; we profess on faith that Jesus is now simultaneously both in heaven and on earth; that He truly ascended into heaven and is truly still on earth; that although He left us visibly He is with us really.
This means that the heart of Christ is in our midst, because Jesus is in our midst. He is the same Jesus in heaven and on earth. So He must be present here with His Sacred Heart of flesh, living and beating in the bosom of a living human being.
He is present with His Sacred Heart, at once human and divine: human because He has a genuine human nature, like ours in all things but sin, and a truly divine nature, like that of the Father, with whom He is one God, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
But that is not all. We know that the heart of Christ is more than just a physical organ of His human body. It is also the symbol of God’s love for the human race, and, indeed, of the eternal love (that obtains) within the Blessed Trinity.
The important aspect of this is the fact that we have in the Holy Eucharist not only the physical Christ in His human and divine natures and therefore His heart of flesh substantially united to the Word of God. We have in the Eucharist the effective means by which we can show our love for God, since it is not just our own affections when we unite them with the heart of the Eucharistic Christ. It is His affections joined with ours. His love elevates ours, and ours as a consequence is raised to a participation in the divinity.
But more than that. By our use of the Eucharist, that is, by our celebrating the Eucharistic Liturgy and by our reception of the heart of Christ in Holy Communion, we receive an increase of the supernatural virtue of charity. We are thus empowered to love God more than we would ever be able to do otherwise, especially by loving the people whom He graciously – though often painfully – places into our lives.
Whatever else the heart symbolizes, it is the world’s most expressive sign of outgoing charity.
It is precisely here that the Holy Eucharist supplies what we could never do by ourselves: loving others with total self-sacrifice. We must be animated by the light and strength that comes from the heart of Jesus Christ. If, as He said, “without me you can do nothing,” it is certainly impossible to give ourselves to others, tirelessly and patiently and continually, in a word, heartily, unless His grace gives us the power to do so.
And where does His grace come from? From the depths of His divine heart, present in the Eucharist, offered daily for us on the altar and available to us always in the sacrament of Holy Communion.
— Jesuit Father John A. Hardon
At www.therealpresence.org: Read about the history and miracles associated with Eucharistic Adoration, get resources for introducing
children to Adoration, find lots of tips on how to pray a Holy Hour, and learn more about practices such as the Forty Hours Devotion and the First Friday Devotion
Spend time with Our Lord
The Diocese of Charlotte is blessed to have Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament offered in five locations. All of the faithful, of any age, are invited to participate! Stop by anytime or sign up for a regular Holy Hour:
BELMONT
Belmont Abbey College’s St. Joseph Perpetual Adoration Chapel, 100 Belmont-Mt. Holly Road
Margaret Fox 704-648-8947
Details: www.belmontabbeycollege.edu/about/community
CHARLOTTE
St. Gabriel Church, 3016 Providence Road
Estelle Wisneski 704-364-9568
HICKORY
St. Aloysius Church’s Immaculate Heart of Mary Perpetual Adoration Chapel, 921 2nd St. N.E.
Karen Sadlowski 828-308-5454
Details: www.staloysiushickory.org/perpetual-adoration
HIGH POINT
Pennybyrn at Maryfield Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel, 1315 Greensboro Road
Edna Corrigan 336-324-4366
Details: www.maryfieldeucharistic.org
HUNTERSVILLE
St. Mark Church’s Monsignor Bellow Perpetual Adoration Chapel (located in the Monsignor Joseph A. Kerin Family Center), 14740 Stumptown Road
Mary Sink 704-892-5107 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Details: www.stmarknc.org/adoration
Editor's note: Follow the links to read in-depth biographies of each of the Church Fathers. Check out what Pope Benedict XVI says about them and other Church Fathers not listed here at www.annusfidei.va.
The Church Fathers were influential theologians, bishops or scholars whose writings explained key Scriptural principles in the early Church. They were not all ordained, not all of them became saints, and they were not infallible. But they had powerful communication skills, personal holiness and doctrinal orthodoxy, so we honor them unofficially as "fathers" for their proximity to the Apostles, their explanations of how to understand and apply Scripture, and their ability to teach the Catholic faith.
They are generally divided into four categories based on when or where they lived: the Apostolic Fathers, the Greek (Eastern) Fathers, the Latin (Western) Fathers, and others such as the Desert Fathers.
The era of the Church Fathers, called the Patristic period, ended in 749 with the death of St. John of Damascus.
Apostolic Fathers
The Apostolic Fathers lived and wrote in the second half of the first century and the first half of the second century. They were taught by the Apostles and personally witnessed the birth of the Church. Most were martyred – crucified, beheaded, fed to the lions at the Roman colosseum, boiled in oil or burned alive. They were the ones empowered by the Holy Spirit and who personally handed on the oral teaching of Jesus Christ, before the New Testament canon was collected in the late 4th century and then translated into Latin by a later Church Father, St. Jerome.
St. CLEMENT One of these Fathers: St. Clement, is actually mentioned in the Bible – in Philippians 4:3. Before he died in about the year 96, he wrote an epistle (1 Clement) calling on the Christians of Corinth to maintain harmony and order. His letter was copied and widely read in the early Church, and it is the earliest Christian epistle outside the New Testament.
St. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (c. 35-110): He was the third bishop of Antioch (the see of Peter before he went to Rome) and a student of John the Evangelist, believed to be the author of the Gospel of John. En route to his martyrdom in Rome, where he was devoured by lions in the colosseum, Ignatius wrote a series of letters which we still have today. His hastily-written letters covered many topics: ecclesiology, the sacraments, the authority of bishops, and the Sabbath. He stressed the value of the Eucharist, and he coined the term "Catholic Church."
St. POLYCARP OF SMYRNA (c. 69-c. 155): He was a bishop of Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey) and a disciple of John the Evangelist known more for his spectacular martyrdom than anything he wrote. Around 155, Polycarp was captured and dragged to the stadium to be burned alive for not paying homage to the emperor. He shouted to the watching proconsul: "You threaten me with fire, which burns for an hour, and after a little is extinguished. But you are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment ... What are you waiting for? Bring forth what you will." Many witnesses reported that the rising flames did not burn his body. Losing patience, his killers stabbed him to death, and so much blood flowed from his body that the fire was doused.
Greek Fathers
The Greek Fathers, who wrote in Greek, included St. Irenaeus of Lyons, St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Athanasius of Alexandria, St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Alexandria, the Cappadocian Fathers (St. Basil of Caesarea, St. Gregory Nazianzus, St. Peter of Sebaste and St. Gregory of Nyssa), Maximus the Confessor, and St. John of Damascus.
ST. IRENAEUS OF LYONS A bishop in Gaul (now Lyons, France), notable early Catholic apologist and disciple of St. Polycarp. His best-known book, "Against Heresies" (c. 180), enumerated heresies and attacked them. He proposed that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all be accepted as canonical.
ST. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA One of the most distinguished teachers of the Church in Alexandria. He united Greek philosophical traditions with Christian doctrine, and he wrote on such topics as "Who is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved?" and "Exhortation to the Heathen."
ST. ATHANASIUS (c. 293-May 2, 373) A theologian, patriarch of Alexandria, Doctor of the Church (called the "Doctor of Orthodoxy"), and a noted Egyptian leader of the 4th century. He is remembered for his role in the conflict with Arianism and for his affirmation of the Trinity. At the First Council of Nicaea in 325, he argued against the Arian heresy that Christ is not truly God with the Father.
THE CAPPADOCIANS A 4th-century monastic family led by St. Macrina the Younger (324-379) to provide a place for her three younger brothers to study and pray and a home for their mother. Abbess Macrina fostered her brothers' education, and they became scholars, bishops and saints. The brothers, called the "Cappadocian Fathers," were St. Basil the Great (330-379), a Doctor of the Church (called the "Doctor of Monasticism"); St. Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-after 394); and St. Peter of Sebaste (c. 340-391), the youngest brother. These remarkable brothers and their close friend, St. Gregory Nazianzus (also a Doctor of the Church, called the "Doctor of Theologians"), demonstrated that Christians could hold their own in conversations with Greek-speaking intellectuals of their day. They argued that Christian faith, while it was against many of the ideas of Plato and Aristotle, was an almost scientific philosophy – with the healing of the soul and a person's union with God at its core. They made major contributions to the definition of the Trinity and the final version of the Nicene Creed.
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM (c. 347-c. 407): Perhaps the greatest preacher in Church history. Known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, he was nicknamed "chrysostomos" (Greek for "golden tongued"). A Doctor of the Church ("Doctor of Preachers"), he left hundreds of recorded homilies and writings, and his Divine Liturgy is still celebrated by Eastern churches. The themes of his talks were always practical, explaining how to apply the Bible in everyday life, and he lived a simple, unpretentious lifestyle even after being pushed into becoming archbishop of Constantinople. There he denounced the lavish lifestyles of local Church and political leaders – making him popular with the laity but causing his exile to a desolate area along the Black Sea, where he died from ill health.
ST. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA (c. 378-444): Bishop of Alexandria when the city was at its height of influence and power within the Roman Empire. He wrote extensively and was a leading defender of Christ's dual identity – both fully divine and fully human. A central figure in the First Council of Ephesus in 431, he is a Doctor of the Church ("Doctor of the Incarnation").
MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR (c. 580-Aug. 13, 662): A Christian monk, theologian and scholar. In his early life, he was a civil servant and an aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. However, he gave up politics to become a monk. After moving to Carthage, he studied several Neo-Platonist writers and became a prominent author, defending against heresies denying Jesus' dual humanity and divinity. His title of Confessor means he suffered for the faith, but not to the point of death, and thus is distinguished from a martyr. His "Life of the Virgin" is thought to be the earliest complete biography of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
ST. JOHN OF DAMASCUS (also known as St. John Damascene) (c. 676-Dec. 4, 749): A Syrian Christian monk and priest, and the last of the Church Fathers. Born and raised in Damascus, he died at his monastery, Mar Saba, near Jerusalem. A noted scholar, his expertise included law, theology, philosophy and music. Before being ordained, he served as an administrator to the Muslim caliph of Damascus, wrote works expounding the Christian faith, and composed hymns still sung in Eastern monasteries. He is a Doctor of the Church, often referred to as the "Doctor of the Assumption" because of his writings on the Assumption of Mary.
Latin Fathers
The fathers who wrote in Latin are called, not surprisingly, the Latin Fathers.
TERTULLIAN (c. 160-c. 225) He converted to Christianity before 197 and was a prolific writer of apologetic, theological, controversial and ascetic works. He denounced Christian doctrines he considered heretical but later in life adopted views that themselves came to be regarded as heretical. He wrote three books in Greek and was the first great writer of Latin Christianity, thus sometimes known as the "Father of the Latin Church." He is said to have introduced the Latin term "trinitas" regarding the Trinity to the Christian vocabulary (but Theophilus of Antioch already wrote of "the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom," which is similar but not identical to the Trinitarian wording), and also probably the formula "three Persons, one Substance" as the Latin "tres Personae, una Substantia," and also the terms "vetus testamentum" ("Old Testament") and "novum testamentum" ("New Testament"). He used the early Church's symbol for fish – the Greek word for "fish", an acronym for "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior" – to explain the meaning of baptism since fish are born in water, saying that people are like little fish.
ST. AMBROSE (340-397) Archbishop of Milan, one of the most influential Church figures of the 4th century and one of the four original Doctors of the Church (the others being St. Augustine, St. Jerome and St. Gregory I). His writings include "On the Christian Faith," "On the Mysteries," "On Repentance," "On the Duties of the Clergy," "Concerning Virgins" and "Concerning Widows."
ST. JEROME (c. 347-Sept. 30, 420) Best known as the translator of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin, what's known as the Vulgate. He also was a Christian apologist, and is a Doctor of the Church.
ST. AUGUSTINE (Nov. 13, 354-Aug. 28, 430) Bishop of Hippo, philosopher and theologian, Doctor of the Church, and one of the most important figures in the Church. Augustine was radically influenced by Platonism. He framed the concepts of original sin and just war as they are understood in the West. When Rome fell and the faith of many Christians was shaken, he developed the concept of the Church as a spiritual City of God, distinct from the material City of Man. Augustine was born in present day Algeria to a Christian mother, St. Monica. He was educated in North Africa and resisted his mother's pleas to become Christian. He took a concubine and became a Manichean. He later converted to Christianity, became a bishop and opposed various heresies. His works include "Confessions" (often called the first Western autobiography), "City of God," "Concerning Faith of Things Not Seen," "On the Good of Marriage," "On Lying," "On the Morals of the Catholic Church," "On the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin," "On the Spirit and the Letter" and "Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount."
ST. GREGORY I (c. 540-March 12, 604) Pope from 590 until his death, and the first pope with a monastic background. One of the four original Doctors of the Church, St. Gregory the Great's papacy had the most influence on the early medieval Church.
ST. ISIDORE (c. 560-April 4, 636) Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and Doctor of the Church (:Doctor of Education"). At a time when the remnants of the Roman Empire were crumbling and aristocratic violence and illiteracy were spreading, he helped convert the royal Visigothic Arians to Catholicism and played a prominent role in developing Visigothic legislation – regarded by historians as having influenced the beginnings of representative government.
Other fathers
The Desert Fathers were early monastics living in the Egyptian desert. Although they did not write as much, their influence was also great.
A small number of Church Fathers wrote in other languages. St. Ephraim the Syrian (306-373), a Doctor of the Church, wrote in Syriac. His works include "Miscellaneous Hymns – On the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh, For the Feast of the Epiphany, and On the Faith ('The Pearl')."
— Sources: The Catholic Encyclopedia, The Vatican, www.catholic.com, www.staycatholic.com, "Early Church Fathers Overview: A Snapshot of the Fathers of the Church" by Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio, www.catholicbible101.com, Wikipedia
Learn more online
Pope Benedict XVI has delivered many addresses about the Church Fathers, lauding their unique role in building up the Church and their continued relevance today.
Online at www.annusfidei.va: Read the pope's take on famous Church Fathers such as St. Leo the Great, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, St. Cyril, St. Basil, St. Gregory Nazianzus, St. Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen and St. Hilary of Poitiers, as well as some of the lesser known Fathers, including St. Paulinus, St. Chromatius of Aquileia and Aphraates "the Sage."
Complete biographies of the Church Fathers
All of the Church Fathers' writings (translated into English) are collected at: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/
Search the Church Fathers' writings by name or date at: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/
Why are they called "Fathers?" The Catholic Encyclopedia explains: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06001a.htm
More info about the Church Fathers and the topics they preached about is online at: http://www.churchfathers.org and at http://www.staycatholic.com/early_church_fathers.htm