100 Holy Hours for Women

By Mary Raphael Lubowidzka

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you (James 4:8). Christ waits for us, every day, in the Eucharist. But, in the chaos of our lives, we often find it difficult to draw near to him. Even when we make the time to be in his presence, we lose focus, become distracted, or grow impatient with ourselves. 100 Holy Hours for Women provides a solution with its collection of one hundred Eucharistic meditations, giving inspiration for directed, efficacious prayer before Our Lord in the Eucharist. Whether you are a mother, a single woman, or a consecrated religious, this spiritually uplifting work is a valuable resource for cultivating an intimate relationship with our Eucharistic Lord.

Originally written as a religious sister s guide for daily adoration, 100 Holy Hours for Women contains a plethora of profound spiritual insight into the mystery of the Eucharist. Each of the mediations focuses on a single verse from Scripture. The first part of the mediation explores the deeper implications of the verse, especially in light of the Eucharist. Then, the second half of the mediation takes the form of a personal examination and a prayer, with questions and exhortations to encourage the adorer to look at and cultivate her own spiritual life.

These meditations draw from the entirety of Sacred Scripture, particularly following Christ s life, death, and resurrection. Through them, learn to look to the Virgin Mary and the angels as models of perfect adoration.

Be inspired to comfort Our Lord in his agony, as he suffered it in his passion and as he suffers it today through people s abuse and neglect of the Eucharist, his great gift to the Church. By fruitful meditation and grace, develop virtues such as gratitude, faith, love, trust, and humility, all of which are absolutely essential for living in union with Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: TAN Books
• Release date: May 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781505110302

Book preview

Adoration 2

For he has given you his Angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.

PSALM 90:11

1

IN order to help us attain the Beatific Vision, we receive from the luminous retinue of angelic spirits who reflect the glory of the Holy Trinity and who are permeated with love, a Guardian Angel for our guide—an Angel who is our companion on this earthly exile and the guardian of heavenly treasures.

This companion is given to us by God, to shield us from wrong and to inspire us to do good on the road which will lead us to a happy eternity. This angel, appointed by God to be my guardian, nobly loves my soul, and his aim is to fulfill the holy will of God and to lead me to true happiness. This dear guardian understands the designs of Jesus within my soul. He is well aware of the frailty of human nature; therefore, he helps me every minute of my life. The Holy Spirit speaks about the Guardian Angel in the following words: Take notice of him, and hear his voice, and do not think him one to be contemned … and my angel shall go before thee (EXODUS 23:21-23).

Surely, we ought to be very grateful for this great privilege of having at our side one of these angelic spirits who always sees the face of our heavenly Father and has the sole responsibility of watching over us, aiding us in our prayer, and inspiring us to do good works. It is our duty humbly and fervently to thank the Lord who unites us with Himself through this angelic partner, who brings us closer to Jesus and encourages us to give glory to our Creator. With the Psalmist, in joy, we cry out, I will extol thee, my God, my king; and I will bless thy name forever and ever (PSALM 144:1).

2

WHEN the Israelites set out on their journey through the desert which led to the Promised Land, they received a heavenly guide from God. Behold, said the Lord, I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared (EXODUS 23:20).

I too, due to God’s goodness, have a Guardian Angel at my side. He will lead me across the desert of this world, and he will bring me to the promised land of eternal happiness with God.

During this holy time of my adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, I ought to think always of my angelic partner. I should earnestly invoke him to help me adore my Lord with the deepest homage of humility and love and ask him to direct my thoughts towards Christ in a spirit of respect and interior recollection.

In union with my Guardian Angel, I should spend these moments of colloquy with my sweetest Savior in order to praise and adore the majesty of God, for the Holy Spirit Himself exhorts me through the Wise Man, saying, In all thy ways think on him, and he will direct thy steps (PROVERBS 3:6).

O my dearest Jesus, hidden in the Holy Eucharist, I thank you for giving me an Angel as a friend and a guide on my journey to heaven!

Together with my heavenly guide, I give thee, O Lord, homages of adoration and praise, and I hope that on his account, they will be more pleasing to thee, hidden for me in this holy mystery of love. My heart, which is filled with an earnest desire to adore thee, O my sweetest Savior, wishes this very minute to call all the souls to your holy feet as I repeat with the Archangel Raphael, Bless ye God, and publish [proclaim] his wonderful works (TOBIAS 12:20).

Adoration 3

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of goodwill.

LUKE 2:14

1

BY the homages rendered to the Almighty at the time of the birth of the Savior of the world, the Angels teach us that the adoration of God in the Blessed Trinity is our first and foremost duty, which will bring blissful, internal peace to our souls. God deserves all glory, for He alone has in Himself the source of all being. He is independent of all creatures, and from Him, everything that exists receives its life and happiness.

God alone is infinite in His essence and in His attributes. In Him alone is beauty, truth, and goodness in an infinite degree. He reveals this externally with the majesty of His power, wisdom, justice, and love, as St. Paul aptly explains: For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen—his everlasting power also and divinity—being understood through the things that are made (ROMANS 1:20).

Truly, we cannot adequately comprehend the great glory that God in the Blessed Trinity receives from Mary Immaculate, the Angels, and the Saints. In addition to this praise, the Holy Church on earth offers God honor and thanksgiving through the Sacraments and the adoration of the Blessed Eucharist, thereby glorifying the work of redemption, Christ’s eternal sacrifice of love. In the same manner that the Son of God took upon Himself our human nature at the Incarnation in order to bring us peace, so too, in the Holy Eucharist, He unites us with Himself through Holy Communion and gives us the grace of participating in His peace, which He verifies with His holy words: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you (JOHN 14:27).

2

MY beloved Savior in this Blessed Sacrament of the Altar shows me the sacrifice He endured for love of me, which indeed, is similar to that of the crib and the cross. Jesus speaks to me here with His power, wisdom, and goodness; therefore, I should extol and bless Him and His holy Name upon seeing these works of His great love. Through His merits, the Angels received great and gratuitous favors for the purpose of spreading His glory; hence, together with these heavenly spirits, from the depth of my soul, I call out, Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to Him (APOCALYPSE 19:7).

The Angels announced peace to men of goodwill; therefore, I ought to desire this peace and manifest it by submission and total trust in God’s most holy will concerning all the sufferings and the trials I must endure during my earthly life. Then, indeed, will I find that long sought-for peace, which will be the promise of my union with God. I will rejoice for all eternity in seeing God’s holy face, as the Apostle promises us: Be at peace; and the God of peace and love will be with you (2 CORINTHIANS 13:11).

O sweetest Infant Jesus, greeted by the Angels, I give you thanks that in your ineffable goodness you graciously invite me and draw me to your holy feet that I might praise and glorify you in the Holy Eucharist.

Together with Holy Mother Church who teaches me to come to you, O Jesus, and to honor your divine mysteries, I pray, It is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Holy Lord, Father almighty and everlasting God because by the mystery of the Word made flesh the light of thy glory hath shone anew upon the eyes of our mind (PREFACE FOR CHRISTMAS).

Adoration 4

For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

LUKE 12:34

1

THE only treasure of Mary Immaculate and St. Joseph in Nazareth was Jesus. Their hearts were wholly drawn to Him, and in the greatest homage of love, they rendered continuous adoration to the God-Man. There, Christ as the Eternal Word, inseparable from the Father and the Holy Spirit, was unceasingly adored by the Angels. The Blessed Mother and St. Joseph united themselves with these holy spirits as they raised their pure souls to God and with the Prophet and all the Saints of the Old Testament sang this song of exultation: Give praise, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath shown mercy (ISAIAS 44:23).

How ideal the prayer of the Holy Family was, this prayer of the occupants of the poor home in Nazareth! The Child Jesus communicated from His burning heart the most ardent flame of love to the heart of His Immaculate Mother. In turn, these two burning flames encompassed the heart of their gentle guardian, St. Joseph. In this manner, united in heart and with a hymn of adoration, they adored God Himself in the Blessed Trinity. Truly, this was the most wonderful homage rendered to the Almighty for the entire world. Later, it would blossom forth in the Holy Church, and the faithful could say with the Psalmist, May the name of the Lord be blessed both now and forever (PSALM 112:2).

Our first parents, instead of adoring and admiring God in His creation, rebelled against Him, and insolently rejected His holy will. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in Nazareth, in complete resignation to the Almighty, gave the greatest honor to God, and every step of their holy, hidden life was an act of the most perfect adoration of the Holy Trinity.

2

IN the home at Nazareth we have the most sublime example of adoration of God Almighty. Here, the Savior of the world offered Himself to His heavenly Father as the greatest homage of reparation and the highest act of love. Christ manifested His humanity here in order to offer it up on the cross in its full beauty, and then to let it rest beneath the Eucharistic veil, for as St. John says, Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end (JOHN 13:1).

Hence, I ought to endeavor, after the holy examples of Mary and Joseph, to seek Jesus always; with Him I ought to work and pray and delve into the deep ocean of His love. Together with my Mother, Mary, and Guardian, St. Joseph, I should humbly adore Jesus and remember that He is my Savior and the Spouse of my soul. When sorrows, temptations, and discouragements come, then I should recall His goodness and remember the words of the Psalmist, who says about Him, To the righteous, he arises as a light in darkness; merciful, and kind, and just (PSALM 111:4).

O my Immaculate Mother and dear St. Joseph, please allow me, your unworthy child, to unite myself with you now and to adore Jesus hidden in the Holy Eucharist together with you. United thus, in deepest humility, I desire to adore my sweetest Savior and to praise His majesty and His immolation in His tabernacle of love.

My heart, which is overflowing with gratitude, ardently wishes to invoke all the souls who contemplate the life of Christ in Nazareth and in the Sacred Host, so that together we can say, "Praise ye his holy name; let the heart of them rejoice, that seek the Lord (1 PARALIPOMENON 16:10).

Adoration 5

Praise our God, all you his servants, and you who fear him, the small and the great.

APOCALYPSE 19:5

1

IN the Holy Eucharist, this miraculous Sacrament of Love, the Eternal Father exalts His only Son whose divinity and humanity are veiled under the appearance of bread and wine. Filled with love and joy that they have in their midst the Savior and Spouse of souls, the faithful, encouraged by Holy Mother Church, come to adore Christ hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, saying, Come let us glorify the Lord with exultation, let us lift up our voice to the Rock of our salvation (PSALM 94:1).

The holy humanity of Jesus Christ hidden in the Blessed Host is at the same time glorified in a thousand places on this earth, for everywhere Christ is the same in His essence and power as in the attributes He possessed when He assumed our human nature.

Christ, concealed in the Blessed Sacrament, experiences inexpressible joy that through Him, God is adored in the Blessed Trinity. Our dear Savior would like to be in every corner of the earth to extend the honor and glory of His Father, thereby confirming what He Himself said: I and the Father are one… The Father is in me and I in the Father (JOHN 10:30, 38).

Jesus receives our adoration and offers it to His Father, and in doing so, adequately honors the Father for us. The Apostle speaks about this union of ours with Christ when he says, For all things are yours and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s (1 CORINTHIANS 3:22-23).

How happy I ought to feel that I belong to this Church, which in so many diverse ways manifests its living faith and renders the most humble homages of love and adoration to God, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. The Church unceasingly encourages its faithful children to remember the presence of the Savior of the world, the Head of the Holy Church, who is in their very midst. By means of public processions and adorations the Church leads the faithful to give Christ loving praises of faith and gratitude for so sublime a grace of having God dwelling among them.

2

CONSEQUENTLY, I should derive the greatest benefit possible from these precious moments of my visit to the Holy Eucharist, and I ought to unite my adoration with that of the entire Church. These moments spent alone with God, remind me that from Him I received my being and to Him I will return to enjoy everlasting happiness with my Creator. He remains here for me, so that at the very fountain of life, I can obtain grace and strength to serve God faithfully. Surely, I wish to remember always the words of the Prophet: The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with gladness, he will be silent in his love, he will be joyful over thee in praise (SOPHONIAS 3:17). [Zephaniah]

Give me, O my sweetest Jesus, at least a tiny ray of your light; enkindle within my heart sentiments worthy of your eternal love, and then with your holy grace, I will follow the footsteps of the Psalmist, who says, I will meditate on thy commandments, and I will give thought to thy ways (PSALM 118:15).

Glorifying you with my whole being in this earthly exile, I have hope that I shall adore you forever in the region of peace and happiness.

O Bread of Life, coming down from heaven and giving life to my soul, I adore you!

Adoration 6

Christ also loved us and delivered himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God to ascend in fragrant odor.

EPHESIANS 5:2

1

THE holy soul of our Lord and Savior was infinitely exalted and loved by God, the heavenly Father, when it was united with the Eternal Word.

In the solemn moment of the Incarnation, which generations longed for eagerly, the soul of Christ, in the fullness of its most holy faculties, rendered a most perfect homage of love to Almighty God. Thus, Christ made a magnanimous sacrifice of Himself, for the purpose of honoring God and saving man. He repeated this oblation, with all the richness of that sublime act, on the tree of the cross. From that moment, He renews it without ceasing in all the Sacrifices of Holy Mass that are daily offered in our churches, and at the same time, He is in the glory of His Father, as the Apostle says: But Jesus having offered one sacrifice for sins, has taken his seat forever at the right hand of God (HEBREWS 10:12).

The sacramental offering of our Savior continually renewed on our altars surpasses by far, with the intensity of its love, that of the blessed in heaven. Every minute Christ makes atonement for the outrages against God’s infinite majesty committed by sinners on this earth. He makes reparation for our negligence and indifference, and thereby, gives glory to His Father and fulfills His holy will. Christ intercedes for us incessantly in the manner that He Himself promised: Yet not for these only do I pray, but for those also who through their word are to believe in me, that all may be one, even as thou Father, in me and I in thee; that they also may be one is us, that the world may believe that thou has sent me (JOHN 17:20–21).

2

IN His ineffable goodness my dearest Savior allows me to unite myself with His sacrifice and thereby to participate in His merits. Through the union of His humanity with His divinity, Jesus honors the Father with the most adequate, the most perfect, and the most holy sacrifice which He proves with the following words: For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again (JOHN 10:17).

On my part, how do I appreciate this sublime grace? Do I zealously endeavor to make spiritual progress in order that I may be more closely united with my Lord and my God? Do I try to get rid of my self-love, which, being the greatest obstacle on my path to perfection, hinders me from coming closer to Jesus in order to receive His love and the graces I need each day? Truly, it is self-love that impedes my progress in virtue, of which fact the Apostle reminds me: Christ died for all, in order that they who are alive may live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again (2 CORINTHIANS 5:15).

O divine Holocaust! O loving Jesus who remains in this Holy Eucharist day and night for my sake, I bow down before you and beg you to unite my soul with yourself in a holy bond of everlasting love. From now on, I firmly resolve to follow your footsteps and amend the time lost by my imperfections. Oh, draw me to yourself, dear Lord, so that adoring you hidden here, I may one day see you face to face in the beauty of your humanity.

Jesus, eternal Priest and Victim of Love, have mercy on me!

Adoration 7

And presently the Lord whom you seek, and the angel of the testament whom you desire, shall come to His temple.

MALACHIAS 3:2

1

THE Holy Eucharist is the Word Eternal, which was united with the human nature of Jesus Christ—that is, with His august body and divine soul. The Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, which possesses the Giver of all the Sacraments in Holy Church, is, in truth, the greatest of them all, for it unites our soul with that of Christ, as He had promised: He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, abides in me and I in him (JOHN 6:57).

What miraculous unity of the divinity of Christ with His humanity is displayed here! The powerful Lord, happy in Himself and full of glory and perfections, takes our human nature and humbles Himself in order to raise us to God from our lowliness. Furthermore, He conceals Himself beneath the sacramental species, only to become our food and to strengthen within us the life of the sons and daughters of God. Jesus wishes us to imitate His life so that His example would be reflected in our virtues and good works and would become in the words of the Apostle, the sweet, wholesome fragrance of Christ (2 CORINTHIANS 2:15).

The great love of our Savior hidden in the Holy Eucharist is, indeed, above the comprehension of the world that Jesus embraces with His perfections. This love makes Him the ruler in the Holy Church, where He is ever ready to receive the visits of those subject to Him. Exalted above the heavens, He conceals Himself under the appearance of bread and wine, for the purpose of giving Himself to souls and of strengthening them with His body and blood. The