November 2019 - First Friday Holy Hour - All Saints & the Eucharist

Last month, our first Friday Holy Hour fell on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and we reflected upon Francis’ Eucharistic spirituality.

This month, we gather on the great Solemnity of All Saints to adore our blessed Lord. So many of the saints have written or preached on the importance of the Eucharist in their lives and for the Church. St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross wrote that “it is most important that the Holy Eucharist becomes life’s focal point: that the Eucharistic Savior is the center of existence.”

To grow in sanctity is certainly to grow in one’s hunger and desire for the Eucharist. Our own patron saint, St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote of his desire for Christ in the Eucharist. He wrote: “I hunger for the bread of God, the flesh of Jesus Christ ...; I long to drink of his blood, the gift of unending love.”
St. Therese the Little Flower, spoke of how what we do here tonight, spending time in Eucharistic Adoration, is a little taste of heaven. “Heaven for me” says the Little Flower, “is hidden in a little Host Where Jesus, my Spouse, is veiled for love. I go to that Divine Furnace to draw out life, and there my Sweet Saviour listens to me night and day.”

This connection between Eucharistic Adoration here on earth and the Adoration of God in heaven is not surprising. After all, in our first reading from the book of Revelation for this Solemnity of All Saints, we heard of the Adoration of God by the Saints in heaven. “I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb” Up and down the centuries we witness the saints, men and women of every nation, race, people, and tongue adoration the Eucharistic Lamb, and we join them tonight, that we may join them in eternity.

May the Saints continue to teach us to make the Eucharistic Lord the center of Our Life, to love him, to desire him, to allow him to set our hearts on fire with divine love, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.