Devotion at Benediction: April 2016

At this time, the disciples gazed upon their Risen Lord in joy and wonder as the conventions of Nature are overturned and the dead receives life again. We too gaze upon the same Risen Lord under the form of the Blessed Sacrament.

In this we are permitted to gaze with the disciples, sharing their fellowship of joy. This is why we have been given this sacrament that we might become one body across Time and Space. We shall die, but Christ on whom we gaze will bring us His life. Then we will not see Him in Sacraments for Sacraments will cease. Then we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He really is.

Therefore we before Him bending...

Devotion from Benediction: October 2015

There are those who would tell us that the Blessed Sacrament is not to be gazed upon nor carried about. Yet, if Christ is truly present in the Sacrament, how can we not gaze at Him? If we carry Christ about within ourselves after consuming Him, why can we not carry Him when He can be seen? We bear witness to a mystery that some would call foolish and some would call idolatry. Yet we bear witness to what we believe in our hearts, just as we have taken with our lips, a witness that Holy Church has borne from her birth, through today and into Eternity.

We stand here upon the very threshold between the physical world and the world beyond ready to bear Christ out into the world. Like Our Lady, we can bear Christ within us and live to bring His work to birth in us. Like St Francis, we bear the marks of Christ through the suffering we receive at His service. In the Sacrament of the Altar, we gaze upon His glorious scars and prepare to show Him our own that we bear for the sake of Him.

As we look now upon Christ with the eyes of our Faith, let us bring ourselves before Him, broken as we are by our sins and the sins of others and know that what we see Christ's expression of love to be with us always unto the end of the age.

Therefore we before Him bending...

Devotion from Benediction: September 2015

As we gaze up and see Our Lord with the eyes of our Faith, let us offer ourselves to Him wholly in all our lives. Let us see Him and bring all that we are before Him knowing that He is here with us now.

This day, let us commend to Him our Bishop, Damien on this the seventh anniversary of His consecration. Let us remember the Lord's choice of Apostles to work His will and serve His people throughout the world, remembering that service to which all bishops, priests and deacons are called, that the church may be served by their efforts and that all members of the Church may go out to preach the word of God. Let us offer to Our Lord this threefold Apostolic ministry that all who are called to serve may indeed serve in holy devotion, and may ever be good examples of what it means to be holy in this world.

Let us offer ourselves to Him that we may all be made holy, remembering our sinful nature and our fall from Him, and ever remember that we cannot ever be completely bad, for why, then, would He want to save us in such a fashion as He has?

Therefore we before Him, bending...

Devotion from Benediction: July 2015

O Lord Jesus Christ here present with us, open our eyes of faith to gaze upon Thyself and to know in our hearts that Thou lovest us so much as to stoop down to feed these Thy little children here assembled and be present with them. Grant us, O Lord, that as we believe that Thou art here, so we may learn to be in the world and not of it. Give us Thy strength to cope with the changes and chances of this fleeting world.

Give grace, O Lord Jesu Christ, to Thy bishops, priests and deacons that, in following the most excellent example of Thy humility, they may serve Thy congregations, especially this little flock here present so that they, working at life's coal face may ever more diligently bring the Good News of Thy love to a world that loveth darkness and live lives that shine with Thy light for all Eternity.

Therefore we before him bending...

Devotion from Benediction: June 2015

We gaze upon a mystery, knowing that Christ has promised us His true presence, and that He is faithful. We gaze upon Our Lord who is always merciful and loving, giving us that which we do not deserve and withholding from us that which we do deserve.

As sinners, we cannot be where God is as darkness cannot be where light is, yet Christ Himself cleanses us through the water and blood that pour forth from his pierced sacred heart. By His blood we are washed free from sin and may stand in the presence of God.

By water in our Baptism we are made new and our wills cleansed so that we may love God all the more perfectly, our spiritual senses opened to His divine mercy. By His heart we are pulled up into the heavenly presence there, through careful practice of our faith, to dwell at His good pleasure.

Therefore we before Him bending...

Devotion from Benediction: May 2015

My friends, we kneel before the Blessed Sacrament remembering that we are to see not with our eyes of flesh,but with our eyes of faith.

We kneel before Christ in a mystery, not before a created thing, but One Who is truly present, really Present, more present than even anyone of us can be even to ourselves.

We kneel before the ascended Christ Who keeps His promise that He will be with us until the end of the Age and Who gives us Himself in the Sacrament to honour that promise.

We kneel before Christ whose ascension pulls our little humanity up into the heights of heaven yet still shrouded by a sacred veil.

As Our Lord willingly presents Himself to us, so we present ourselves to Him bringing our concerns and our joys, remembering those who need our prayers and those who have passed behind the veil.

Therefore we before him bending...