I have only read the excerpts from the Catholic New Service summarizing the exhortation, but it looks awesome!
My highlights from the adoration section of the exhortation:
- One of the most moving moments of the Synod came when we gathered…for eucharistic adoration. In this act of prayer, and not just in words, the assembly of Bishops wanted to point out the intrinsic relationship between eucharistic celebration and eucharistic adoration.
- In the Eucharist, the Son of God comes to meet us and desires to become one with us; eucharistic adoration is simply the natural consequence of the eucharistic celebration, which is itself the Church’s supreme act of adoration.
- Receiving the Eucharist means adoring him whom we receive. Only in this way do we become one with him, and are given, as it were, a foretaste of the beauty of the heavenly liturgy.
- Wherever possible, it would be appropriate, especially in densely populated areas, to set aside specific churches or oratories for perpetual adoration
I really like Pope Benedict’s straightforward and clear communication style. His statements are brief and yet illumine beautifully the reason for Eucharistic Adoration and its connection to the Mass.
Here is an extended excerpt:
The act of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place during the liturgical celebration itself. Indeed, “only in adoration can a profound and genuine reception mature. And it is precisely this personal encounter with the Lord that then strengthens the social mission contained in the Eucharist, which seeks to break down not only the walls that separate the Lord and ourselves, but also and especially the walls that separate us from one another.”
I plan to read as much of the exhortation as I can this week! You can find the full text of Sacramentum Caritatis on the Vatican’s site.


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