It is common for us as humans to search for happiness. I have come to understand that the root of happiness comes from my spirit being at peace with its circumstances. To that end, gaining happiness comes from a search for peace. Over time, I have developed the opinion that peace begins to come to fruition when my thoughts and actions reflect what my spirit knows is “right” and “good”. Peace culminates when I actively seek out and pursue what I understand as God’s plan for me. So how do I know that I am on the right path for any peace at all. Aside from the general feeling of “happy” or “sad” on any given day I personally have needed to spend time with myself, within God. I am naturally an introspective person, and I quite often find myself just thinking about how my life is going. I find my self asking “am I living right?”, “how am I affecting other people?”, “am I helping my family and friends move closer to God, or am I blocking them?”, “do I honestly think what I feel is right today matches up with what God says is right?”. Like most of you, it is not easy to find the time and energy to sit and think about such things. We are blessed at St. Michael’s to have just the ticket for such introspective endeavors, our Divine Mercy Adoration chapel. Since perpetual adoration started at our church, our family has covered an hour each week. We chose a late night (or early morning depending on one’s perspective) hour when we knew we would most likely have nothing going on. Being late night it is not often that any one else is there. Generally speaking, the solitude suits me well. It is time I use to pray, to think, and just as importantly listen. I admit, more often than not, I start the holy hour asking God for favors, for this, that or the other thing. I know though, it is often more important to listen. God reaches us through the spirit within us, and when we let ourselves contemplate how our actions match our sense of spirit we open ourselves to God’s communication. I admit, being alone with myself is not always an easy or comfortable experience. Happiness and peace come and go as my actions and thoughts warrant. I will freely admit I have thought “ I wish I didn’t have to go to adoration tonight”, or have been in the adoration chapel and allowed myself to be distracted by events at work, or home. Since going to adoration I also have occasionally had past sins come to mind, and I am enlightened as to how big the ripple of that sin is to people I never considered affected. It is then that I leave adoration remorseful. I have left feeling tired. I have also left energized, at peace, with direction, or knowing the next step I needed to take to find resolution to a problem. Even during the times when I really didn’t feel like going, I have never left adoration saying “ I wish I didn’t go tonight”. As mentioned earlier, I often find myself asking for things from God. Sometimes I find myself believing that what I ask for is what I need to be at peace, or happy. However, over time I have come to realize that what I deserve to have, or what I need to have, to be truly happy has already been given to me in this life. It is not “more” that I need, it is reconnecting with my spirit that makes the difference.
I highly recommend signing up for an adoration hour. If an hour a week is not possible there are plenty of opportunities to maybe be part of a team and cover perhaps one hour a month or so depending on how many form a team. Contact a team leader or contact the Parish office, they can direct you accordingly. Being a Knight encourages us to be an example in worship of our Lord. In front of our Savior, through the Eucharist; what better place to spend time, to search for answers, to find resolve, to worship God.