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I. Adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament

My soul thirsts for God,for the living God.

When shall I come and beholdthe face of God?

— Psalm 42:2

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.

— 1 Corinthians 13:12

Gazing on Jesus with St. Faustina

St. Faustina’s description of one part of her time spent in adoration shows a relationship with Christ that was profoundly simple but deeply intimate. It was the look — the gaze — of love.

Some six decades after her death in 1938, the Catechism of the Catholic Church named and explained that way of “looking”: “Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus” (CCC 2715, emphasis in original).

“I Look at Him and He Looks at Me”

“This is what a certain peasant of Ars in the time of his holy curé [St. John Vianney] used to say while praying before the tabernacle. This focus on Jesus is a renunciation of self. His gaze purifies our heart; the light of the countenance of Jesus illumines the eyes of our heart and teaches us to see everything in the light of his truth and his compassion for all men. Contemplation also turns its gaze on the mysteries of the life of Christ. Thus it learns the ‘interior knowledge of our Lord,’ the more to love him and follow him.” (CCC 2715)

Once Jesus said to me, My gaze from this [Divine Mercy] image is like My gaze from the cross. (326)

Now I see only dimly, Lord, but because of Your Divine Mercy the time will come when I see you face-to-face.

From the very first time that I came to know the Lord, the gaze of my soul became drowned in Him for all eternity. Each time the Lord draws close to me and my knowledge of Him grows deeper, a more perfect love grows within my soul. (231)

Now I see only dimly, Lord, but because of Your Divine Mercy the time will come when I see you face-to-face.

O my Jesus, delight of my heart, You know my desires…. I want to live beneath Your divine gaze, for You alone are enough for me. (306)

Now I see only dimly, Lord, but because of Your Divine Mercy the time will come when I see you face-to-face.

At that very moment, I felt some kind of fire in my heart. I feel my senses deadening and have no idea of what is going on around me. I feel the Lord’s gaze piercing me through and through. I am very much aware of His greatness and my misery. (432)

Now I see only dimly, Lord, but because of Your Divine Mercy the time will come when I see you face-to-face.

Jesus, my Love, today gave me to understand how much He loves me, although there is such an enormous gap between us, the Creator and the creature; and yet, in a way, there is something like equality: love fills up the gap. He Himself descends to me and makes me capable of communing with Him. I immerse myself in Him, losing myself as it were; and yet, under His loving gaze, my soul gains strength and power and an awareness that it loves and is especially loved. It knows that the Mighty One protects it. Such prayer, though short, benefits the soul greatly, and whole hours of ordinary prayer do not give the soul that light which is given by a brief moment of this higher form of prayer. (815)

Now I see only dimly, Lord, but because of Your Divine Mercy the time will come when I see you face-to-face.

During a Forty Hours Devotion I saw the face of the Lord Jesus in the Sacred Host which was exposed in the monstrance. Jesus was looking with kindness at everyone. (433)

Dearest Jesus, look with kindness on me. Have mercy on me as I look at the One whom, by my sins, I have pierced. And when You look at me, love me, and say, “Come, follow me,” help me answer, “Yes. Yes. Yes.” Right here, right now, Dearest Lord, let me gaze on You with my simple love and adoration, as You gaze on me with your infinite love and compassion.

Seeing the Hidden God Under the Fragile Form of Bread

“When I was seven years old,” St. Faustina writes, “… before the Lord Jesus in the monstrance, the love of God was imparted to me for the first time and filled my little heart” (1404).

As she grew in wisdom and age and grace, that love deepened, but still Our Lord remained “hidden” in the Eucharist: “body, soul and divinity, under the fragile form of bread” (1718).

“Truly, thou art a God who hidest thyself, / O God of Israel, the Savior.” (Is 45:15)

Later, she came to realize, to truly believe,

When you unite Yourself with me in Communion, O God,

I then feel my unspeakable greatness,

A greatness which flows from You …

[W]ith Your help, I can become a saint. (1718)

O Blessed Host, take up Your dwelling within my soul,

O Thou my heart’s purest love!

With Your brilliance the darkness dispel.

Refuse not Your grace to a humble heart.

O Blessed Host, enchantment of all heaven,

Though Your beauty be veiled

And captured in a crumb of bread,

Strong faith tears away that veil. (159)

At the feet of the Lord. Hidden Jesus, Eternal Love, our Source of Life, divine Madman, in that You forget Yourself and see only us. Before creating heaven and earth, You carried us in the depths of Your Heart. O Love, O depth of Your Abasement, O mystery of happiness, why do so few people know You? Why is Your love not returned? O Divine Love, why do You hide Your beauty? O infinite One beyond all understanding, the more I know You the less I comprehend You; but because I cannot comprehend You, I better comprehend Your greatness. I do not envy the Seraphim their fire, for I have a greater gift deposited in my heart. They admire you in rapture, but Your Blood mingles with mine. Love is heaven given us already here on earth. Oh, why do You hide in faith? Love tears away the veil. There is no veil before the eye of my soul, for You Yourself have drawn me into the bosom of secret love forever. Praise and glory be to You, O Indivisible Trinity, One God, unto ages of ages! (278)

O living Host, O hidden Jesus. You see the condition of my soul. Of myself, I am unable to utter Your Holy Name. I cannot bring forth from my heart the fire of love but, kneeling at Your feet, I cast upon the Tabernacle the gaze of my soul, a gaze of faithfulness. (1239)

“When I entered the chapel, I received an inner understanding of the great reward that God is preparing for us, not only for our good deeds, but also for our sincere desire to perform them. What a great grace of God this is!” (450)

My heart is drawn there where my God is hidden,

Where He dwells with us day and night,

Clothed in the White Host;

He governs the whole world, He communes with souls.

My heart is drawn there where my God is hiding,

Where His love is immolated.

But my heart senses that the living water is here;

It is my living God, though a veil hides Him. (1591)

Hidden Jesus, in You lies all my strength. From my most tender years, the Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament has attracted me to Himself. Once, when I was seven years old, at a Vesper Service, conducted before the Lord Jesus in the monstrance, the love of God was imparted to me for the first time and filled my little heart; and the Lord gave me understanding of divine things. From that day until this, my love for the hidden God has been growing constantly to the point of closest intimacy. All the strength of my soul flows from the Blessed Sacrament. I spend all my free moments in conversation with Him. He is my Master. (1404)

To stay at Your feet, O hidden God,

Is the delight and paradise of my soul.

Here, You give me to know You, O incomprehensible One,

And You speak to me sweetly: Give Me, give Me your heart.

Silent conversation, alone with You,

Is to experience what heavenly beings enjoy,

And to say to God, “I will, I will give You my heart, O Lord,”

While You, O great and incomprehensible One, accept it graciously.

Love and sweetness are my soul’s life,

And Your unceasing presence in my soul.

I live on earth in constant rapture,

And like a Seraph I repeat, “Hosanna!”

O You Who are hidden, body, soul and divinity,

Under the fragile form of bread,

You are my life from Whom springs an abundance of graces;

And, for me, You surpass the delights of heaven.

When you unite Yourself with me in Communion, O God,

I then feel my unspeakable greatness,

A greatness which flows from You, O Lord, I humbly confess,

And despite my misery, with Your help, I can become a saint. (1718)

Hidden Jesus, life of my soul,

Object of my ardent desire,

Nothing will stifle Your love in my heart.

The power of our mutual love assures me of that.

Hidden Jesus, glorious pledge of my resurrection,

All my life is concentrated in You.

It is You, O Host, who empower me to love forever,

And I know that You will love me as Your child in return.

Hidden Jesus, my purest love,

My life with You has begun already here on earth,

And it will become fully manifest in the eternity to come,

Because our mutual love will never change.

Hidden Jesus, sole desire of my soul,

You alone are to me more than the delights of heaven.

My soul searches for You only, who are above all gifts and graces,

You who come to me under the form of bread.

Hidden Jesus, take at last to Yourself my thirsting heart

Which burns for You with the pure fire of the Seraphim.

I go through life in Your footsteps, invincible,

With head held high, like a knight, feeble maid though I be. (1427)

My Lord and my God, “hidden” in the Eucharist, I want to use the faith you’ve given me, the grace with which you’ve blessed me, and the love with which you’ve filled my own “little heart,” to “tear away the veil” and to realize, to truly believe, that with your help, I, too, can become the person — can become the saint — you’re calling me to be.