An In-Person Encounter

My sister Sarah lives in North Carolina.  Ever since she has lived out of the state, my mom and whoever else is at home at the time, calls her over FaceTime every weekend.  This past weekend, she was home for my sister Abbey’s graduation.  Since she was with us in person, we didn’t have to FaceTime her.  It’s great to have the technology to call her and talk to her with video, but nothing beats when she is home and we get to see her in person.  Seeing her in person is key to maintaining a relationship.  Similarly, there are many ways to practice our faith and various tools we have to do so, but nothing beats being able to sit in the presence of Jesus in eucharistic adoration and being able to receive Him at mass.  And it is the key to our relationship with Him.

Looking around at mass every week, the pews are empty.  Where is everyone?  One thing I hear from a lot of people is that they can just pray at home or wherever they are.  Other people say that they don’t get anything from mass.  We should pray wherever we are whenever we can.  And now more than ever, we have so many resources that can help us grow in our faith and strengthen our relationship with Jesus.  There are prayer and Bible apps, podcasts, Youtube videos, streaming abilities for getting on a video call with others to have a Bible or book study, and countless other tools.  These are all great options we have to grow in faith.  But how can anyone have a relationship with someone who they don’t ever see face-to-face?

The two best ways to come to know Jesus personally and not just know about Him are in eucharistic adoration and in the mass.  Jesus makes himself present so that we can encounter him, in-person.  It is in these places that we can be more attentive to Him and listen to how He is speaking to us.  When communicating with someone over the phone, we can be doing many other tasks and only giving the person part of our attention.  But when that person is with us in the flesh, we can more easily give our full attention.  It is the same with Jesus.  Praying on our own at home or using an app on our phones to listen to a homily or faith-based podcast only allows us to go to the surface level that can have more distractions.  But when we are in an environment that is conducive to encountering Christ, it is easier to give Him our full attention and to go deeper in our relationship with Him.
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We have been given a great gift in both the mass and in adoration.  Getting to be in the presence of Jesus should give us great joy.  How can we share that joy with others not in the pews so that they too might want to meet Jesus in-person?