Adoration of the Lord

I heartily back Capuchin Father Mario Attard's letter on adoration of the Lord really present after the offering of the Eucharistic sacrifice (The Sunday Times, December 11). Such devotion should be greatly encouraged as a way of seeking contemplation and adoration of the Lord out of Mass.

At the same time, we should not allow such beautiful devotion to obscure the sacrificial presence in the one and unique sacrifice of Jesus Christ made sacramentally present in the Mass in which all of us living today can unite ourselves in the Holy Spirit to Christ's self-giving to the Father.

Unfortunately it is often happening that during Mass itself, we concentrate too much on adoring Jesus present instead of uniting ourselves with Him in adoring the Father and uniting ourselves with Him when the Father gives us back Jesus as the Bread of Life.

The primary means of uniting ourselves to Jesus Christ is by giving ourselves in total obedience with Him to the Father and being united to Him in Holy Communion which is an essential part of that same self-giving.

This self-giving, like that of Jesus Christ and united to His, should translate itself into practical love for our fellow human beings and all creation.

A misplaced practice is spreading and should not be encouraged, however devout it may seem, when after the words of institution (popularly called "the consecration") we stop for a longish time to adore Jesus Christ present and sing hymns of adoration to Him, making the congregation forget, instead of remembering, the sacrifice of His Death and its acceptance by the Father shown in His Resurrection.

Again I wish to insist that all I have said does not negate what was so well expressed by Fr Attard.