The door to the hall was opened. As I looked around, I could see that the floors were still damp from being mopped. Somebody had to be close at hand because one of the closet doors was also opened, with a bucket and mop sitting close by.“Hello”, I called out. “Is anyone in here?” A small gray haired man walked out from behind the closet doors. “Yeah, what do you need?” he asked me. “I read on the Internet that the church here has adoration on First Fridays, is that right?” “Yeah, you enter the church through those doors over there”, he grumbled at me. Then he went back into the closet to attend to whatever he had been doing before I had interrupted him.
As I entered the doors to the church however, I immediately felt a much warmer response, though I was the only person there. It was in the quiet of that moment, that I looked up at the altar and saw the body of my Lord exposed in the monstrance. As I knelt before Him, it was as if I heard Him say to me, “I’ve been waiting for you; come closer.”
I walked up to the front pew, genuflected, then lowered the kneeler to pray and pay Him homage. A simple Advent wreath stood next to the altar. The altar cloth itself , had four small banners hanging down the front of it. One banner read peace, the other love, and the two that followed read hope and joy.
As I prayed I whispered to Him, “I feel your peace and love right now, thank you Lord”.
I said my rosary, then read some pages from a book I have on St. Louis de Montfort’s, True Devotion…., and just relaxed in this much needed time with the Lord.
As I got up to said goodbye and started to leave, I realized the He had given me a gift. He had given me the gift of hope and joy that I would need to finish this day.
"Thank you",I said.
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