There are specific moments when we should adore our Eucharistic Lord during the Mass. The elevation of the Host and Chalice after the words of Consecration (which change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ) have from the 13th Century been special moments to adore our Lord. Many have been taught to look up at the Host and Chalice and to pray: "My Lord and my God, Thee I adore, help me to love Thee more and more. Amen." As I have repeatedly stated priests are instructed in the sacramentary to hold up the Host and Cup so that our Lord may be adored. They are themselves to genuflect after the elevation in adoration of our Lord. Another such moment is the acclamation at the end of the Eucharistic prayer (The Canon of the Mass) when the priest holds up again the Host together with the Chalice and proclaims: "Through Him, with Him, and in Him in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor are yours, Almighty Father, forever and ever".

In spite of the fact that there is a concerted effort to discourage adoration or any sign of reverence before receiving the Blessed Sacrament, the 1967 instruction Eucharisticum Mysterium notes that the faithful may receive Holy Communion either standing or. kneeling. If they kneel, no other form of reverence is needed; if they stand, an appropriate acknowledgment of the Real Presence (profound bow or genuflection) should be given.

There are then specific moments during Mass when we should adore our Blessed Lord. However, Mass is primarily Christ's Sacrifice of Calvary renewed. The Mass is also our sacrifice united to our Lord's sacrifice. Christ offers Himself once until the end of time in the sacrifice of the Mass. He allows us to offer ourselves with Him to the Father. We should offer our hearts and minds, our wills and our bodies, our sorrows and joys. In other words we offer Him everything.

There are moments when we should adore our Lord during the Mass but primarily we are offering during Mass Christ and ourselves. Our participation in the Mass is first our sharing in His sacrifice on Calvary. Adoration of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is vital and necessary but it should take place primarily outside of the Mass.

I say that adoration of our Eucharistic Lord is vital and necessary because it is the principle means of growing in our understanding of the meaning of the Mass. If many no longer know the meaning of the Mass and even are uncertain that Christ is present with His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist, it is because adoration of our Eucharistic Lord has radically declined in the Church. (I can recall in seminary young men who never witnessed Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament). Where there is adoration of our Eucharistic Lord there will be a greater love for the Mass. If children are taught to genuflect to our Lord in the tabernacle there will be a greater reverence in the house of God. Where there is perpetual adoration, holy hours before our Eucharistic Lord and processions with the Blessed Sacrament there will be miracles, vocations to the priesthood, conversions, and countless graces and blessings.

All of us can do our part to bring in the Kingdom of God. All of us can take time to visit our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, to offer our love and consolation to His Sacred Heart, to make reparation for our sins and the sins of others. When we give him our time we give Him ourselves. As we offer ourselves we acknowledge His Lordship and the reign of the Sacred Heart over us. We also advance the Kingdom of God in this world so that one day the Sacred Heart of Jesus will reign and triumph over all nations.