Adoration

As a teenager, while everyone was getting their wisdom teeth removed and getting on with their lives, I was having mine filled. All four had come in without an issue so my dentist suggested I just have them filled. Easier said than done. It was an all-day event with a rubber dam to keep my tongue out of the way of the tools, drills, and fingers that filled my mouth. To be fair, for thirty-plus years, they weren’t a problem.

A few months before embarking on my Camino de Santiago (almost ten years ago now), one of the fillings from my wisdom tooth came out. My dentist at the time suggested having the wisdom teeth on that side removed. Both would have to come out because the one will keep growing without the other to knock up against so they both had to be removed. As a forty-nine-year-old woman, I felt like a teenager. I recalled my youngest nearly falling off the chair and the things he said when he was gassed up and having his removed.

On the Camino of nearly ten years ago, after I departed from my priest friend and began my own Camino, I met two lovely women along the way. One was Kathy from Texas, and the other was Denise from Nova Scotia. Denise was very spiritual and talked at length about how her marriage was made stronger by attending Adoration on a regular basis.

All the time growing up Catholic, going to Mass on Sundays, and attending an all-girls Catholic high school, never had I heard of nor taken part in Adoration. For those who don’t know what Adoration is, it’s spending time in God’s presence in front of the Eucharist which is usually held in a monstrance, a holder with beautiful radiating rays of brass or gold. The monstrance is not touched by the priest, and he uses a special cloak with, for lack of a better term, mittens to process the Eucharist before setting it on the altar.

Shortly after returning from the Camino, an adoration popped up, and I tried it. I didn’t know exactly what to do, so I sat and meditated. Typically, people sign up to sit with the Eucharist for an hour. I hadn’t signed up. I didn’t last long, maybe fifteen minutes, but it was quiet, peaceful, and memorable. I tried it a couple more times and it wasn’t much better.

Yesterday was Holy Thursday, the lead-in to Easter, the Mass of the Last Supper. After the Last Supper, Christ went into the garden and prayed. After a while, Jesus checked on Peter, who along with James and John, was asleep. Jesus said to them, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (NRSVCE Matthew 26:40-41).

Yesterday, I had a dentist appointment in the late afternoon, to take care of a cavity that had been forming for some time between my remaining wisdom tooth and its neighbor. They gave me laughing gas, numbed the area, and drilled the cavity away, filled it with something, and sent me on my way. I had already identified the Mass I wanted to attend at a small, random church a few blocks from my Airbnb, and wanted to have my own supper, so chose an Italian restaurant a few blocks the other way from where I was staying. I ordered the veal piccata because I always test it in different places. This one did not disappoint, but there was a little too much garlic. I chewed slowly and carefully so as not to disrupt my new filling.

I walked into the random church, knelt, and looked around. There, just in front of me were friends from Colorado Springs! Their youngest and my youngest were in the same class in grade school and I hadn’t seen them since. What were the chances? Mass hadn’t started so I went over to them. They hadn’t changed one iota. I, on the other hand, wreaked of garlic, my hair was now the color of snow, straight and pulled back, and my face was beginning to swell as the numbing agent was beginning to wear off. We visited for a bit and they asked me to join them, and I gladly accepted.

After Mass, before dismal, the priest explained that there would be adoration after the procession. I knew I was going to stay. I would touch base with my new-place-old-friends soon enough.

My mouth was really uncomfortable but I really wanted to stay (the spirit is willing). I knelt for a while, some people stayed, and some left. I sat for a longer while. I looked at my watch five minutes had passed. I did my meditation, looked at my watch, and five more minutes had passed. My mouth was really hurting (the flesh is weak). I began to pray for others, family members, family of family members, friends, family members of friends, readers of this blog, and their families. The net kept growing. I thought of my aunt who said she had to go to bed a half hour earlier so she could finish her prayers without falling asleep. I prayed for my dearly departed and all those families, and the net grew some more. I looked at my watch. Fifteen more minutes had passed.

I started thinking about my dogs, prayed for them, and needed to take care of them. They hadn’t eaten, and it was 8:30 pm. I left thirty-five minutes into the adoration though I don’t think God kept time. Four people remained.

I don’t think Jesus was upset with me for not staying longer, I think He was grateful for even that time. We are in such a rush, for what? Why not spend good quality time with God? Even during my meditation, which I like to view as good, quality time with God, it’s not as focused as being in a church with the Eucharist, Christ’s body upon the altar, radiating God’s love for me, for us.

I can see how spending more time in adoration can improve one’s marriage, one’s life. By honoring God with one hour of your time, you’re letting Him know that He is important to you, in your life. By setting aside that time, we are showing that we honor our relationship with Him/Her. Without God’s love, we would not be here.

Thank you, God, for putting me on this path with these wonderful people who have made a difference in my life, in one way or another. Whether it be an encounter at a farmer’s market or a life-long family member, thank you for these people, your people who you loved into existence. Please, Lord, help people make Your will their priority. Please help our leaders lead with Your better good in mind.

As we enter this Good Friday, may we be grateful for Christ’s ultimate sacrifice for us and our sins. This coming Easter, may we see beyond the brunch, the bonnets, and egg hunts to the most miraculous event of Christ’s Resurrection at Easter, and may we become more aware of the miracles that surround us in every moment of every day.