Blessed John Paul II and the Eucharist

"You who are really present in the Blessed Sacrament,

spread Your blessings abundantly on Your people."

~ Blessed John Paul II ~

Pope John Paul II: Importance of Reverence for the Blessed Sacrament

"Every act of reverence,

every genuflection that you make before the Blessed Sacrament is important

because it is an act of faith in Christ,

and act of love for Christ.

And every sign of the cross and gesture of respect made each time you pass a church

is also an act of faith."

~ Pope John Paul II, Sept. 29, 1979 ~ 

Pope John Paul II: Love, Adore, and Celebrate the Eucharist

"Set the Eucharist at the center of your personal life and community life:

love the Eucharist, adore the Eucharist, and celebrate the Eucharist."

~ Pope John Paul II on the occasion of World Youth Day, Rome, 2000 ~

Pope John Paul II: Eucharistic Adoration--Fulfilling an Eminent Service

"It is invaluable to converse with Christ, and leaning against Jesus' breast like his beloved disciple, we can feel the infinite love of His Heart. We learn to know more deeply the One who gave Himself totally, in the different mysteries of His divine and human life, so that we may become disciples and in turn enter into this great act of giving, for the glory of God and the salvation of the world. Through adoration, the Christian mysteriously contributes to the radical transformation of the world and to the sowing of the Gospel. Anyone who prays to the Savior draws the whole world with him and raises it to God. Those who stand before the Lord are therefore fulfilling an eminent service. They are presenting to Christ all those who do not know him or are far from him; they keep watch in His Presence on their behalf."

~  Pope John Paul II, 1996 ~

Pope John Paul II: Mary, Model of Eucharistic Faith and Love

"In a certain sense Mary lived her Eucharistic faith even before the institution of the Eucharist, by the very fact that she offered her virginal womb for the Incarnation of God's Word. The Eucharist, while commemorating the passion and resurrection, is also in continuity with the incarnation. At the Annunciation Mary conceived the Son of God in the physical reality of his body and blood, thus anticipating within herself what to some degree happens sacramentally in every believer who receives, under the signs of bread and wine, the Lord's body and blood.

 

"As a result, there is a profound analogy between the Fiat which Mary said in reply to the angel, and the Amen which every believer says when receiving the body of the Lord. Mary was asked to believe that the One whom she conceived “through the Holy Spirit” was “the Son of God” (Lk 1:30-35). In continuity with the Virgin's faith, in the Eucharistic mystery we are asked to believe that the same Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Mary, becomes present in his full humanity and divinity under the signs of bread and wine.

“Blessed is she who believed” (Lk 1:45). Mary also anticipated, in the mystery of the incarnation, the Church's Eucharistic faith. When, at the Visitation, she bore in her womb the Word made flesh, she became in some way a “tabernacle” – the first “tabernacle” in history – in which the Son of God, still invisible to our human gaze, allowed himself to be adored by Elizabeth, radiating his light as it were through the eyes and the voice of Mary. And is not the enraptured gaze of Mary as she contemplated the face of the newborn Christ and cradled him in her arms that unparalleled model of love which should inspire us every time we receive Eucharistic communion?"

~ Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistica ~ 

Pope John Paul II: Kneel Before Jesus in the Eucharist to Make Reparation

"Let us take the time to kneel before Jesus present in the Eucharist,

in order to make reparation by our faith and love for the acts of carelessness and neglect,

and even the insults which our Saviour must endure in many parts of the world."

~ Pope John Paul II ~

Pope John Paul II: The Word Became Flesh and is Present Today in the Eucharist

"This is the wonderful truth, my dear friends:

the Word, which became flesh two thousand years ago,

is present today in the Eucharist."

~  Pope John Paul II ~

Too late for Christmas, but a beautiful meditation on the Word made flesh Who still dwells among us.

Blessed 2011!

Pope John Paul II: Acts of Reverence for the Blessed Sacrament

"Every act of reverence,

every genuflection that you make before the Blessed Sacrament is important
because it is an act of faith in Christ,

and act of love for Christ.

And every sign of the cross and gesture of respect made

each time you pass a church

is also an act of faith."

~ Pope John Paul II ~

Pope John Paul II: "May Our Adoration Never Cease."

“The Church and the world have a great need of Eucharistic worship. Jesus waits for us in this Sacrament of Love. Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him in adoration and in contemplation that is full of faith and ready to make reparation for the great faults and crimes of the world. May our adoration never cease.”

~ Pope John Paul II, Dominicae Cenae, February 1980 ~

Pope John Paul II: Testimony of Faith in the Eucharist

Allow me, dear brothers and sisters, to share with deep emotion, as a means of accompanying and strengthening your faith, my own testimony of faith in the Most Holy Eucharist. Ave verum corpus natum de Maria Virgine, vere passum, immolatum, in cruce pro homine! Here is the Church's treasure, the heart of the world, the pledge of the fulfilment for which each man and woman, even unconsciously, yearns. A great and transcendent mystery, indeed, and one that taxes our mind's ability to pass beyond appearances. Here our senses fail us: visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur, in the words of the hymn Adoro Te Devote; yet faith alone, rooted in the word of Christ handed down to us by the Apostles, is sufficient for us. Allow me, like Peter at the end of the Eucharistic discourse in John's Gospel, to say once more to Christ, in the name of the whole Church and in the name of each of you: “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68).

~ Pope John Paul II, from Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistica ~

Pope John Paul II: "You Must Always Be Eucharistic Souls"

"Only through the Eucharist

is it possible to live the heroic virtues of Christianity:

charity, to the point of forgiving ones enemies;

love for those who make us suffer;

chastity in every age and situation of life;

patience in suffering

and when one is shocked by the silence of God in the tragedies of history

or of ones own personal existence.

You must always be Eucharistic souls in order to be authentic Christians."

~ Pope John Paul II ~

Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration: Devotion of Devotions

"Perpetual Eucharistic adoration is the devotion of devotions."

~ Pope John Paul II ~

Pope John Paul II Encourages Eucharistic Adoration for Children

“I urge priests, religious and lay people to continue and redouble their efforts to teach the younger generations the meaning and value of Eucharistic adoration and devotion. How will young people be able to know the Lord if they are not introduced to the mystery of his presence? Like the young Samuel, by learning the words of the prayer of the heart, they will be closer to the Lord, who will accompany them in their spiritual and human growth, and in the missionary witness which they must give throughout their life. The Eucharistic mystery is in fact the "summit of evangelization" (Lumen Gentium, n. 28), for it is the most eminent testimony to Christ's Resurrection. All interior life needs silence and intimacy with Christ in order to develop. This gradual familiarity with the Lord will enable certain young people to be involved in serving as acolytes and to taking a more active part in Mass; for young boys, to be near the altar is also a privileged opportunity to hear Christ's call to follow him more radically in the priestly ministry.”

~ Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, From the Vatican, 28 May 1996 ~

~ Information about Eucharistic adoration for children from Children of Hope ~

Pope John Paul II Prayer for the Spread Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration

Heavenly Father,

increase our faith in the Real Presence of Your Son Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
We are obliged to adore Him, to give Him thanks and to make reparation for sins.

We need Your peace in our hearts and among nations.

We need conversion from our sins and the mercy of Your forgiveness.
May we obtain this through prayer and our union with the Eucharistic Lord.

Please send down the Holy Spirit upon all peoples

to give them the love, courage, strength and willingness

to respond to the invitation to Eucharistic Adoration.

We beseech You to spread Perpetual Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament

in parishes around the world.

We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen
Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament,

help us to spread the glory of Your Son through Perpetual Adoration.

~ Pope John Paul II ~

Pope John Paul II: Church and World Need Eucharistic Adoration

“The Church and the world have a great need of Eucharistic adoration.

Jesus waits for us in this Sacrament of Love.

Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him

in adoration and in contemplation that is full of faith

and ready to make reparation for the great faults and crimes of the world.

May our adoration never cease.”

~ Pope John Paul II, Dominicae Cenae, February 1980 ~

Pope John Paul II: Power of Eucharistic Adoration to Obtain World Peace

"The best, the surest, and the most effective way of establishing everlasting peace on the face of the earth is through the great power of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament."

~ Pope John Paul II ~

on beginning Perpetual Adoration,

December 8, 1982 at St. Peter's in Rome ~

Pope John Paul II: Eucharistic Adoration Necessary

"To live the Eucharist, it is necessary, as well,

to spend much time in adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament,
something which I myself experience every day,

drawing from it strength, consolation and assistance."

~ Venerable Pope John Paul II ~