various stages it spread throughout the Catholic Church: There were Perpetual Eucharistic Associations starting in seventeenth century France and Men's Nocturnal Adoration Societies beginning in Rome in 1810 that both spread internationally. In 1857, the Forty Hours Devotion was first approved for the diocese of Baltimore, and in 1868 it was extended to all the dioceses of the United States. Most recently, the worship of the Holy Eucharist outside of Mass has been reaffirmed in the documents of liturgical reform issued subsequent to Vatican II. Analogous to the development of doctrine, we can witness in the case of Eucharistic adoration the slow, but organic development of a particular liturgical practice. Although the historical development of this practice is much richer and more complicated than the outline I have provided here, what does seem indisputable is the fact that the contemporary liturgical practice of Eucharistic adoration emerged from an early practice of reserving the consecrated elements. From there it developed through various stages into an increasingly widespread liturgical practice in the Catholic Church, a practice10 that has been repeatedly encouraged and promoted by the Magisterium.11

Explicit Magisterial Confirmation of Eucharistic Adoration

Because an integral component of the ongoing traditio of any liturgical practice in the Catholic Church is the way the Church's Magisterium theologically interprets and thus doctrinally confirms the liturgical practice, we would be in error if we were to regard the magisterial interpretation as somehow simply extrinsic to a proper understanding of the liturgical practice itself. The single most significant doctrinal confirmation in recent times of Eucharistic adoration was the last encyclical letter of the late Pope John Paul II from 2003, Ecclesia de Eucharistia. Allow me to indulge in a somewhat longer citation from this encyclical letter as

10 In the following, I understand "practice" roughly along the lines that Alasdair MacIntyre introduced the concept as being a distinct, describable, and inherently meaningful matrix of actions that are ordered to and regulated by an end that is intrinsic to the practice. I extend this concept analogically to a liturgical rite in order to capture its characteristics as distinct from poiesis (where the activity is a means to an end extrinsic to it) and from theoria or contemplation (where the activity is one essentially of the intellect alone).11 In his post-synodal apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis from February 22, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI explicitly states: "With the Synod Assembly . . . I heartily recommend to the Church's pastors and to the People of God the practice of eucharistic adoration, both individually and in community" (§67). More recently, on May 7, 2008, when at the end of the general audience Pope Benedict XVI greeted the sisters of the Order of Sisters of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, he renewed his call for Eucharistic adoration (www.zenit.org./article-22517?|=english).

Toggle SidebarMagisterium AIMagisterium AI

Magisterium AI

Login for more usage & features

Eucharistic Adoration in the Personal Presence of Christ: Making Explicit the Mystery of Faith by Way of Metaphysical Contemplation

Magisterium AI
Magisterium AI