‘The Way’ on Eucharistic Adoration

No study of united worship, however slight, could possibly be complete without touching on the Holy Eucharist, which is the highest point of all earthly worship. In an Armenian version of the Apocryphal Lives of the Prophets there is to be found an episode which stands out from the rest of the book by its spiritual beauty. In describing the death of Jeremiah, the writer tells us that the prophet had managed to rescue the Ark of the Covenant, and he took it, with all that was contained therein, and hid it under a rock, and with his ring he impressed on the rock the Name of God. Then a luminous cloud hid it so that nobody is able to find the Ark or read the Name. During each night there is a cloud of light, for the Grace of God never departs from that place. It seems to me there is in this account a fitting symbol of the place occupied in worship by the Blessed Sacrament. We come to that great sacrifice conscious of a luminous cloud, covering the very secret of God and his dwelling-place. We are aware that there, most truly, is to be found the centre of our worship, that there, are depths of adoration to be explored, and, at the end, the secret of God’s love. I do not think that either doctrine or theory can ever fully explain the Blessed Sacrament to the worshipper, for he is always conscious of an experience which refuses to be expressed in words. He knows that in some degree he has come into actual contact with the Living God, he knows that God has drawn out of him something which is the the height of his being, he knows that this adoration which is drawn out of him is strengthened and shared by the experience of those around him, and that, because of this union with them, he can give and receive more than if he were alone. This then is, and always must be, the climax of united worship, and it is a climax which, unlike all other earthly summits, permits of endless extension.

Whatever we may have found in worship at the Blessed Eucharist, we may be sure that still further treasure awaits our search. The Holy Grail did not leave this earth with Galahad, as the legend suggests, for it is still found by those who search in adoration for the secret of God’s love. For each spiritual adventurer, leaving self wholly behind in worship, the shrine which hides it is still opened. 

from pp. 142-3