Pope Francis Urges Us to Rediscover Eucharistic Adoration

Since 2001 when Pope Francis was still Cardinal Bergoglio, he has spoken on the importance of adoration of the Eucharistic Lord at least 99 times. The website  Eucharistic Adoration Quotes gives over 118 quotes from Pope Francis that mention adoration, most of which include the date of the address and the audience to whom Pope Francis was communicating or the document in which the quote was mentioned, as well as the link on the Vatican’s website where the original communication can be found. Pope Francis, who has been so outspoken about the need to reach out in love to those on the margins, also understands the indispensable need to reach up first—that our hope and strength to give of ourselves flows from our loving relationship with Jesus. Pope Francis said on Nov. 27, 2016, in his message to the 54th World Day of Prayer for Vocations: "The Christian life needs to be nourished by attentive listening to God’s word and, above all, by the cultivation of a personal relationship with the Lord in Eucharistic adoration, the privileged "place" for our encounter with God."

Hearts are set aflame with by quietly adoring the Lord. Our spiritual energy is renewed by this intimate time with Jesus in silent adoration. Without this time communing with Jesus, we end up following our own plans for how to build the Kingdom instead of focusing our efforts on what the Lord wants. Jesus says in Jeremiah 29:13 that we will find the Lord when we seek Him with all our heart. Adoration is what creates the yearning to seek Him with our whole hearts. Pope Francis agrees with this need for adoration as he said in his Oct. 14, 2017, address to the Vincentian Family in St. Peter's Square: "Once discovered, adoration becomes indispensable, because it is pure intimacy with the Lord, who gives peace and joy, and dissolves the stresses of life." On Nov. 29, 2020, in his homily at the Eucharistic Concelebration with new Cardinals in St. Peter's Basilica Pope Francis said this: "How much we need Christians who keep watch for those who are slumbering, worshippers who intercede day and night, bringing before Jesus, the light of the world, the darkness of history. How much we need worshippers. We have lost something of our sense of adoration, of standing in silent adoration before the Lord." And again on Jan. 25, 2021, in his homily at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls he said, "Personal prayer, spending time with Jesus, adoration, these are essential if we are to abide in Him."

Some in the Church believe adoration is a waste of time. How can spending time at the feet of the Lord ever be a waste of time? Would they say this  if the physical Jesus were sitting in a room talking to them? Certainly not. Time spent in adoration of the Eucharistic Lord is no different than sitting in front of the physical Lord, soaking in His wisdom and uniting your heart to His. The physical Jesus and the Eucharist are one in the same person. Lord Himself told Martha that Mary, who chose to sit at His feet and listen to Him speak, had chosen the better part. (Luke 10:41-42). Without spending time with the Lord to receive guidance, our efforts can be misdirected and lead to burnout. Pope Francis vehemently disagrees that adoration is a waste of time, stating repeatedly that we need to rekindle the lost art of adoring God in the Eucharist. On July 8, 2016, in a message to  Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Pope Francis said,  "Moreover, I want to encourage everyone to visit – if possible, every day – especially amid life’s difficulties, the Blessed Sacrament of the infinite love of Christ and His mercy, preserved in our churches, and often abandoned, to speak filially with Him, to listen to Him in silence, and to peacefully entrust yourself to Him." On October 20,2016, in his morning meditation entitled “In a Shoreless Sea” given at the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Pope went so far as to say we cannot know the Lord without adoring Him in silence: “One cannot know the Lord without this habit of adoring, of adoring in silence. I believe, if I am not mistaken, this prayer of adoration is the prayer least known by us, it is the one we do the least”, as if it were a “waste of time before the Lord, before the mystery of Jesus Christ”. Instead, we should rediscover “the silence of sdoration: He is the Lord and I adore Him" Contrary to being a waste of time, according to Pope Francis our apostolic work finds its beginning and fulfillment in adoration. On Oct. 18, 2023, in his General Audience in Saint Peter's Square, Pope Francis states: "And do we, I ask myself, believe in the power of the Eucharist? Does our going out to others, our service, find its beginning and its fulfilment there, in adoration? I am convinced that we have lost the sense of adoration: we must regain it, starting with us, consecrated people, bishops, priests, religious sisters and all consecrated persons: "wasting" time before the tabernacle, regaining the sense of adoration."  On Aug. 2, 2023 in a homily during his Apostolic Journey to Portugal, XXXVII World Youth Day ar Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon, Pope Francis linked passion for evangelization to adoration: "Only in adoration, only in the presence of the Lord, do we truly rediscover our taste and passion for evangelization.  Oddly enough, we have lost the prayer of adoration; and everyone, priests, bishops consecrated men and women, need to recover it, this ability to be quiet in the Lord’s presence.  Mother Teresa (of Calcutta), busy about so many things in life, never neglected adoration, even at times when her faith was shaken, and she wondered if it was all true or not."

Let us listen to decades of ardent counsel by Pope Francis to rediscover adoration and Eucharistic worship as our lifeline to hope and our guiding light for our apostolic endeavors. One year ago, on June 19, 2023, Pope Francis gave a speech to  to Organizing Committee of the 2024 U.S. National Eucharistic Congress  where he said, “It is my hope, then, that the Eucharistic Congress will inspire Catholics throughout the country to discover anew the sense of wonder and awe at the Lord’s great gift of Himself and to spend time with Him in the celebration of the Holy Mass and in personal prayer and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. I believe that we have lost the sense of adoration in our day. We must rediscover the sense of adoration in silence. It is a form of prayer that we have lost. Too few people know what it is. It is up to the Bishops to catechize the faithful about praying through adoration. The Eucharist requires it of us." Let's take the wise counsel of Pope Francis to heart. Our Lord desires our company, and our mission requires our presence before the Lord to receive more docily the Holy Spirit’s inspirations. O Blessed Lady, spread the effect of your Flame of Love, your Eucharistic Son, over all humanity.

All quotes and sources for them were found on the website Eucharistic Adoration Quotes http://www.eucharisticadorationquotes.org/pope_francis.htm On this site, thereare links to the original document on vatican.va for each quote so that one can read the context of the original quote if one so desires.