New film a catalyst to increase Eucharistic Adoration
Deacon Steve Greco’s new film, *Adore Him*, will screen in U.S. theaters October 4–8, following his film *Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist*. The docudrama focuses on how the Eucharist and Eucharistic Adoration transform people’s lives, building on the earlier film’s explanation of the Church’s belief in the Real Presence. Greco hopes the film will help Catholics deepen their understanding of the Eucharist and encourage them to listen to God in Adoration. He hopes the film inspires more frequent Eucharistic Adoration, including a goal of 24-hour availability, and a revival of Eucharistic processions.
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The docudrama Adore Him, opening in U.S. theaters October 4–8, aims to encourage Eucharistic Adoration and build on the earlier film Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist. Executive producer Deacon Steve Greco says it focuses on how the Eucharist and Adoration have transformed people’s lives.
Greco describes Jesus Thirsts as explaining the Church’s belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, with an emphasis on the Mass. Adore Him, he says, addresses what viewers might ask after learning about that belief: what to do next.
The film is intended in part for Catholics who do not understand or accept the Real Presence. Greco hopes it will help them recognize, through the Eucharist, Christ’s love for them.
Greco encourages people attending a Holy Hour not to feel they need to bring activities with them. He says listening in Adoration is central to his own practice, and that he believes listening to God can lead people to act in the world.
He hopes the film will help more people discover Jesus in the Eucharist and experience his love and blessings. Greco also envisions more frequent opportunities for Adoration, with a long-term goal of making it available around the clock, and hopes for renewed Eucharistic processions.
After its theatrical run, Adore Him is expected to become available for parishes to rent for screenings. Greco presents the film as a way to teach about the meaning and purpose of Adoration and its potential to transform lives.
Eucharistic adoration as a formative practice of Catholic spirituality
Eucharistic adoration forms Catholic spirituality by teaching the faithful to remain with Christ, receive his self-gift with gratitude, and carry a contemplative, Christ-centered way of life into the world. It is not a substitute for Mass: properly understood, adoration grows from the Eucharistic celebration and prepares us to participate in it more deeply.
In adoration, the believer spends time before Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament. This is not simply quiet reflection on a religious idea: it is prayerful attention to the living Lord. The Church recommends the practice both individually and communally, and calls for catechesis that helps people understand its meaning.
That time can form a person in patient attention. Rather than treating prayer as a task to complete or a way to obtain a particular result, the adorant learns to stay with Christ: listening, giving thanks, bringing personal concerns before him, and praying for others. The Church’s Directory describes this as a deepening friendship with Christ and an offering of one’s life with him to the Father in the Holy Spirit.
Adoration is inseparable from the Mass because the reserved Eucharist is the sacrament of Christ’s sacrifice and abiding presence. The Church describes adoration as expressing the connection between the celebration of the Lord’s sacrifice and Christ’s continued presence in the sacrament.
This connection shapes the adorant’s spiritual life: time before the Eucharist draws the faithful more deeply into the Paschal mystery—Christ’s saving death and Resurrection—and disposes them to celebrate the Mass and receive Communion with greater devotion. The Synod likewise presents Eucharistic worship outside Mass as directed toward both sacramental and spiritual communion, intensifying the desire for union with the Lord.
Adoration therefore does not compete with receiving Communion. It can awaken a deeper desire for sacramental communion, while also sustaining spiritual communion when someone cannot receive sacramentally.
The Church’s Directory names faith, hope, and charity among the fruits of Eucharistic adoration. It also describes the faithful opening their hearts to Christ and praying for the peace and salvation of the world. These fruits suggest that adoration forms more than private devotion: it can train the heart to trust God, hope in his grace, and love both those close to us and the wider human family.
A scholarly reflection describes adoration as a “school” for spiritual attentiveness: reverence before Christ can teach people to be more attentive and respectful in their everyday relationships. In this way, contemplation and action belong together. Prayer before the Eucharist should not leave a person enclosed in private piety; it can help form a life in which gratitude, reverence, and Christ’s presence shape ordinary choices and encounters.
The heart of adoration is Christ, not the experience of calm, a particular style of prayer, or the length of time spent in church. Its purpose is to worship the Lord, grow in communion with him, and be formed for a fuller life of faith. The Church accordingly presents adoration as a preparation for more fruitful participation in the liturgy, not as a replacement for it.
Adoration can be simple: being present, calling to mind that Christ is there, reading Scripture, praying silently, offering thanks, or entrusting others to him. The formative work may be quiet and gradual. Over time, the practice invites the Catholic to receive the Eucharist not only as a gift to be adored, but as the source of a life offered to God and lived in charity.