Hope in the Eucharist

By Sophia Hosford

​Over the past two weekends, I was present for the First Communion Retreats our young people attended as they prepare to receive the Sacrament in April. The youth and their parents were so attentive throughout the day as we read stories from the Gospel, learned about the miracle of the Eucharist, and practiced how to come up for Communion. I heard parents sharing their own stories of faith with their kiddos and asking questions.
 
My favorite part of the retreats was ending in Adoration. I've always had a great love for this form of worship: coming right up next to Jesus who is truly present in the host. I find it incredible that we have a God who is so great and so powerful that He created the universe, and yet so humble He would just sit in silence with me, without demanding or asking of me. Both of us just sit together, loving each other, seeing how beautiful the other truly is. In this crazy world, where everything is so noisy, from our cars to our radios to our video chats for work and school, it is a miracle to be given time (even just 5 minutes) to be in silence. Often in Adoration, I find myself wondering how often I take time to simply see the people who are in my life - how can I take time to adore my husband, my family, my friends, the nature around me? I'm so busy filling it up with activities and noise that it's easy to forget to love. This silence and opportunity to love is the gift Adoration offers us.
 
It was incredibly moving to watch everyone at the retreat enter into this kind of prayer, some of them for the first time ever. Parents and children knelt down together and as a family they worshipped and prayed. Before Adoration began, I explained what we were about to do and encouraged everyone to take this time to talk to Jesus, to tell Him about what they did today or what they were most looking forward to over the weekend. Bring fears and hopes and joys and nervousness. Jesus wants it all. Jesus wants you. It may not be easy, but it is simple - He just wants to love you. After I explained Adoration, we prayed together, and I invited a young girl sitting up front to join me in front of the altar. She excitedly came forward and suddenly we were surrounded by other young people who all wanted to be close to Jesus in the Monstrance.
 
As I looked around and saw all these amazing parents and children praying together, I was filled with hope! The Eucharist is life - not just a story or a fairytale. Not just the legends of a man who lived 2000 years ago. But real life. This year Pope Francis has asked us to celebrate a Jubilee Year of Hope! In the midst of war and sickness and political divide, and now as we enter the prayer, fasting, and almsgiving of Lent, I saw our families completely embrace Jesus Christ as their hope.