My first trip to Eucharistic adoration began with a strange visit from a woman in my parish who I casually knew. She was very devoted to the holy rosary and a pious woman who believed in miracles and messages from Jesus. She had sacramentals and holy medals, and blessed prayer cards. She was much more faithful than myself at that time. 

It was in late spring, early summer of 2017.

She called me up and asked if she could stop by for a chat and to give me a few things. When she arrived she gave me a few blessed objects and told me that she received a message from the Holy Spirit that I would be tested and that I needed to pray and trust God and that the thing I was doing was according to God’s will, and not to fear. I thought it was strange and unusual visit. I was afraid to doubt her message, though, because she was a very holy woman.

The very next day I was tested and in a way that would have stopped me from doing what was God’s will. The only reason I persisted was because of her visit. This was a life changing experience for me about the power of the Holy Spirit and how God gives people messages to help others in their walk with Christ. 

Now the next part of this story is truly a testament to how God molded me from my stubbornness and unforgiveness toward that person who tested me into a person willing to be humbled and forgiving for His own sake. 

When I was tested, I told no one. The very next day I got a text message from that same lady who went to my house and warned me. She told me that Jesus wanted to speak to me and that I would hear Him more clearly in adoration. 

I replied, Okay.

Then I ignored her.

Day two arrives and she messages me again. She asks me if I had visited the adoration chapel yet, because the Lord wanted me to come.

I said I was planning on it and hadn’t gotten the chance yet.

This was a lie. 

I was not planning on it. I was still very mad about the person who had tested me and said and accused things that were absolutely not true. 

Day three arrives. 

The same lady texts me again. She repeats the same message and I finally realize that God means business and I should obey Him and go finally. 

So I decide I’ll go. 

On my own terms.

I live in a metropolitan area with many parishes. I decided to pick one a few miles away and visit their adoration chapel, so as to avoid the possibility of running into the person who offended me three days prior and I was unable to forgive. 

The first chapel I arrived at was closed.

The second chapel I arrived at was in the middle of a Divine Mercy recitation and I was too embarrassed to enter. I decided to go to the third chapel nearest my parish which was run by an order of nuns.

I arrived there and rang the bell of the convent. The sister promptly told me that the chapel was closed on Saturdays and I must wait and return on Monday.

I sat into my car and laughed. It was a deep rolling belly laugh. I realize in that moment that I was not God and it was not an issue that was to be dealt with on my terms. He showed me that I must obey and do it His way. Although He allowed me to burn gas all over town in the mean time. 

So I turned the key in the ignition and drove straight to my parish adoration chapel, which I knew was open.

I entered the small peaceful space unaware of how to act or worship. I slipped in a side seat near the Blessed Sacrament. Not kneeling or bowing, because I was unaware of how to worship in His Real Presence in adoration. I had never been shown the truth and beauty of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in Eucharistic adoration in the many years I attended Catholic Mass. I knew Jesus was truly present in the Eucharist, but I did not know the power of Eucharistic adoration nor the graces received by going there regularly to worship Him.

I sat in silence. I looked at Him a long time. I felt His gaze on me in a way that’s indescribable. He has a way of looking right through your soul and the longer you sit in silence just thinking about His gaze the more you feel His Presence. 

I finally broke the silence in my mind. I said I was sorry for the delay and disobedience and I had learned my lesson. I was proud and unforgiving and even though I felt the other person was wrong and I knew I was wrongly accused I needed to forgive. I asked Him to help me forgive. 

I felt a weight lifted. 

A moment or two later I hear a soft voice in my mind say, “Go now.”

I thought to myself, “Really? I pour out my heart and God says ‘Go now’?!” I wouldn’t dare complain to God, so I obediently got up and left as He told. My whole experience lasted 20 minutes at most. 

I genuflected and blessed myself with holy water then opened the door to the chapel and exited. 

And do you know what happened?

The very person who offended me was standing right there. 

And we had a most beautiful reconciliation. 

This is why you must go to the adoration chapel. He is so intimately aware of all your deepest darkest secrets and failings and all the things about you that you hide from the world. He knows when you avoid Him, when you are driving around the city thinking you’ll outsmart Him, when you can’t forgive or forget, when you don’t want to come. He knows all of it. And still, He loves you deeply in a way that you can never comprehend in this life. So deeply that He sends holy people who hear His voice to come to your aid, and He calls you gently until you come. 

So this is what I discovered about Jesus on my first trip to the adoration chapel. And after this trip I began a very personal and meaningful relationship with Him through the many days, weeks, months, and years I spent sitting with Him, loving Him in my incomplete and inadequate way, never feeling I can measure up, but always feeling completely loved anyway. This is Jesus. 

If you haven’t been, come and see. 

He is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, and there is no place on earth I’d rather be on any given day.

Learn more about growing a relationship with Christ in adoration.