As we continue to look at the beautiful practice of spending time in front of the Blessed Sacrament, I offer yet another reason: that it is the way to make God's will the driving force in our lives. It is in the quiet of these visits that the Lord speaks to us. Worshiping God helps us to stop worshiping ourselves. Taking time very often to let God into our hearts lets Him tell us what He wants from us and stops us from simply telling Him what we are willing to give Him. Almost everyone sets boundaries for God, “Use me but don’t disrupt my comfortable life. Don’t ask me to put away my toys and games and luxury activities in order to spend time with You or to do Your work. “Any or all of these thoughts have entered most minds. It means we are settling for spiritual mediocrity. Try to spend time with the Lord, often, and in the quiet of His home, and learn His plan for you. It is a beautiful way, also, to get to know Him. We cannot love and serve the Lord if we don’t know Him. How many hours can we add up of enjoyment and how many minutes can we add up of worship and adoration in our lives? I bet you the totals are startling. Of course, if you are ill or house-bound, make a holy hour in your home as often as you can. Turn off the computer and television and place yourself in the presence of the Lord. Let us see what Pope Francis said in his homily this weekend about worshiping the Lord.
I would like all of us to ask ourselves this question:
You, I, do we worship the Lord? Do we turn to God only to ask him for things,
to thank him, or do we also turn to him to worship him?
What does it mean, then, to worship God? It
means learning to be with him, it means that we stop trying to dialogue with
him, and it means sensing that his presence is the most true, the most good,
the most important thing of all.
All of us, in our own lives, consciously and perhaps
sometimes unconsciously, have a very clear order of priority concerning the
things we consider important. Worshiping the Lord means giving him the place
that he must have; worshiping the Lord means stating, believing – not only by
our words – that he alone truly guides our lives; worshiping the Lord means
that we are convinced before him that he is the only God, the God of our lives,
the God of our history.
This has a consequence in our lives: we have to empty ourselves of the many small or great idols that we have and in which we take refuge, on which we often seek to base our security. They are idols that we sometimes keep well hidden; they can be ambition, a taste for success, placing ourselves at the center the tendency to dominate others, the claim to be the sole masters of our lives, some sins to which we are bound, and many others.
This evening I would like
a question to resound in the heart of each one of you, and I would like you to
answer it honestly: Have I considered
which idol lies hidden in my life that prevents me from worshiping the Lord? Worshiping is stripping ourselves of our idols, even the most hidden ones, and
choosing the Lord as the center as the highway of our lives. Dear brothers and
sisters, each day the Lord calls us to follow him with courage and fidelity; he
has made us the great gift of choosing us as his disciples; he sends us to
proclaim him with joy as the Risen one, but he asks us to do so by word and by
the witness of our lives, in daily life. The Lord is the only God of our lives,
and he invites us to strip ourselves of our many idols and to worship him
alone. May the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Paul help us on this journey and
intercede for us.
Psalm to contemplate in a time of adoration: Psalm
27:4 One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of
my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
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