This Eucharistic Meditation is designed to help you spend thirty minutes to an hour in meditation and silent prayer with Jesus during Eucharistic adoration. Even if you cannot be physically present in a church or adoration chapel with the Blessed Sacrament, you can unite yourself spiritually to the Eucharist as you spend this time in prayer.
THE GRACE I SEEK: to believe that Jesus will draw me ever deeper into that intimate union with him through my reception of the Eucharist in Holy Communion
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN.
Pause for a few moments, and allow yourself to become aware of Jesus’ gift of himself in the Eucharist. Realize that at this very moment, the Lord of Life is gazing upon you with great love. Allow yourself to receive his loving gaze. You are his beloved child . . . rest in his loving gaze.
Thank Jesus for the gift of himself in the Eucharist.
ASK FOR THE GRACE: Jesus, help me believe that you will draw me ever closer to you, who have loved me from all eternity, through my reception of the Eucharist in Holy Communion.
Read slowly, 3–4 times. Allow the words of Scripture to wash over your mind and heart. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you through this passage.
“This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the LORD . . . This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the Lord, as a perpetual institution.” (Exodus 12:11, 14)
Allow yourself to sit with these questions for a while, being attentive to how the Lord is speaking in your heart.
The Passover was a profound moment in salvation history: God set his people free from the bonds of slavery to Egypt, and the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper was foreshadowed. Ask Jesus to help you recall the celebration of your First Holy Communion. Try to remember how it felt and what that day was like. Whether your memories are beautiful or painful, vivid or distant, ask Jesus to show you how he saw you on that day. Let him reveal to you how he has been accompanying you all the days and years since then on your pilgrimage to heaven—especially in the Eucharist.
Read slowly, 3–4 times. Again, allow the words of Scripture to wash over your mind and heart. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you through this passage.
“Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” (John 13:12–15)
Allow yourself to sit with these questions for a while, being attentive to how the Lord is speaking in your heart.
Jesus makes a great demand of us this night: we are to be at the profound service of one another. Just as he has loved us, so we are to love one another—even unto death! Gazing upon Jesus in the Eucharist, ask him to give you the courage to participate deeply in his self-sacrificial love.
Remain in silence with the Lord. Allow him to speak in the silence, in your heart. Receive his presence. If it helps, write down what you sense the Lord communicating to you during this time of prayer.
O God, who have called us to participate in this most sacred Supper, in which your Only Begotten Son, when about to hand himself over to death, entrusted to the Church a sacrifice new for all eternity, the banquet of his love, grant, we pray, that we may draw from so great a mystery, the fullness of charity and of life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. (Collect, Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper)
At every Mass, Jesus offers himself to the Father for us. We can always join our own offerings with Jesus at Mass. This Holy Thursday, offer your desire to share in the sacrificial love of Jesus.
Would you like to print a copy of this resource to bring with you to the chapel for prayer? Click here to download these Eucharistic Meditations in English or Spanish.
