At the "One Rock" celebration summer of 2012 several thousand young people gathered around to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament. We began outside as the sun was going down and ended in the dark with the candles around the Blessed Sacrament providing light. Most amazing was the non Catholics who were present and how this touched them. Praying before the Blessed Sacrament is one of those Catholic things that we do and often do not fully understand ourselves. It is one of those Ecumenical times when Christians can come together in prayer but it is also one of the dividing elements in the Christian faith. A friend of mine from University time used to give me a hard time about worshiping Mary but he found it even more strange that we would kneel in front of a "piece of bread" as he put it and expect something to happen. It is very hard to explain somethings to others, but that does not stop us from loving each other.
As we knelt there you could see people kneeling but it was what you felt. There was something very special happening. What I noticed was we all knelt, generally you kneel for a short time and then sit, no this time, this time we stayed kneeling. Jesus comes to us in the Eucharist to bring about change, but that change begins inside each of us. If I am not at peace, how can I bring peace into the world? If I am not at peace how can I expect peace around me or in my family? At the mass we offer each other the peace of Christ, but do we know what we are offering? When we offer Christ's peace to the other we are offering Christ's love.
As we knelt there you could see people kneeling but it was what you felt. There was something very special happening. What I noticed was we all knelt, generally you kneel for a short time and then sit, no this time, this time we stayed kneeling. Jesus comes to us in the Eucharist to bring about change, but that change begins inside each of us. If I am not at peace, how can I bring peace into the world? If I am not at peace how can I expect peace around me or in my family? At the mass we offer each other the peace of Christ, but do we know what we are offering? When we offer Christ's peace to the other we are offering Christ's love.
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