Adoration of the Host: What Does It Mean? What Does It Matter?

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I understand that Roman Catholics can’t be expected to have a global familiarity with how Roman Catholicism is understood and practiced throughout the world, but I hope that some people in this forum might be able to help me understand what I’ve seen and what it means.

I remember clearly in the U.S. that traditional Roman Catholic friends expressed dismay about RC churches whose modernist design, or “refurbishment,” displaced the monstrance from the high altar to an enclosure or nook off to one side of the church, or to some room elsewhere in the structure.

In Latin America, however, especially in Mexico, many RC churches of modernist design don’t even have a high altar, and during the liturgy the celebrant will march the monstrance out of wherever it’s kept, usually a kind “chapel” for eucharistic adoration, and return it there at the end of the service.

What’s particularly odd is that in these modernist churches, I regularly see people genuflect toward the altar, even though there’s no monstrance there and the altar is completely bare. And when I’ve asked people who identify themselves as serious, traditional Catholics about this, they all seemed to think there was nothing at all unusual about it and always replied that, anyway, their church had a chapel open 24-hours a day for eucharistic adoration.

But is any of this really a serious matter in Roman Catholicism?

I’ve visited very small, ancient churches where there’s no monstrance and no chapel for eucharistic adoration, and yet the pews are frequently filled with people kneeling and praying or reciting the rosary.

Is a monstrance and eucharistic adoration indispensable to official Roman Catholic practice, or are they simply nice if you have them but not absolutely necessary for fulfilling one’s obligations to the faith?
 
Eucharistic Adoration isn’t something that’s required. The only required liturgical action that Catholics have to go to is Mass. Eucharistic Adoration is something that is popular in some places and not so much in others, but something that you can find in many places. I’ve never heard of Adoration without a monstrance. Perhaps it’s possible.
 
Montejo said:
I understand that Roman Catholics can’t be expected to have a global familiarity with how Roman Catholicism is understood and practiced throughout the world, but I hope that some people in this forum might be able to help me understand what I’ve seen and what it means.

I remember clearly in the U.S. that traditional Roman Catholic friends expressed dismay about RC churches whose modernist design, or “refurbishment,” displaced the monstrance from the high altar to an enclosure or nook off to one side of the church, or to some room elsewhere in the structure.

In Latin America, however, especially in Mexico, many RC churches of modernist design don’t even have a high altar, and during the liturgy the celebrant will march the monstrance out of wherever it’s kept, usually a kind “chapel” for eucharistic adoration, and return it there at the end of the service.

What’s particularly odd is that in these modernist churches, I regularly see people genuflect toward the altar, even though there’s no monstrance there and the altar is completely bare. And when I’ve asked people who identify themselves as serious, traditional Catholics about this, they all seemed to think there was nothing at all unusual about it and always replied that, anyway, their church had a chapel open 24-hours a day for eucharistic adoration.

But is any of this really a serious matter in Roman Catholicism?

**I’ve visited very small, ancient churches where there’s no monstrance and no chapel for eucharistic adoration, and yet the pews are frequently filled with people kneeling and praying or reciting the rosary.

Is a monstrance and eucharistic adoration indispensable to official Roman Catholic practice, or are they simply nice if you have them but not absolutely necessary for fulfilling one’s obligations to the faith**?
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Have you noticed a sanctuary lamp in the Churches you visited? It is a sign that the Blessed Sacrament is in the Church (in the Tabernacle or aumbry) and when one becomes conscious of it, the faithful can observe adoration even when the Blessed Sacrament is not exposed.
 
Eucharistic Adoration is beautiful, but we are not required to do it and it’s not even present in all parishes. Indeed, it didn’t occur at all, the way we mean it today with the monstrance and all, for the first millennium of Catholic history and then some.

On the matter of genuflecting, my understanding is we are to genuflect if the tabernacle is there (the gold box, I guess you’d call it, in which the Eucharist is reserved) in worship of Jesus but bow if it is not there, in veneration of the alter (it would be too awkward to bow then genuflect or genuflect then bow, so the less important gesture is simply replaced by the more important one when both the tabernacle with the Eucharist in it and the alter are there.) There was a time in which the tabernacle was virtually always either front and center on the high alter or at least nearby in the sanctuary (it’s a myth that it was always exactly front and center before Vatican II), and so people always genuflected. When the tabernacle was moved somewhere more obscure in some places, sometimes people didn’t get the memo and kept genuflecting like they always had done in church.
 
This past Thursday, we had Eucharistic Adoration after Mass. I stayed, read from the Missal, prayed, and overall tried to make the most of it. I went in before Mass weighted down, bummed, etc. Left feeling absolutely refreshed and ready to sharpen the old sword.

My question is based on not understanding the actions I saw. Instead of the typical down on the right knee, people would get on both knees. At that point I realized I was unsure on if that was particularly done for a reason, or expected in such a setting.

Had to pee, but didn’t want to offend my fellow parishioners with being ignorantly disrespectful in how I exited the sanctuary. Last Sunday, a fellow person seeking Confirmation came in and went on the left knee. I winced, though I know she did so out of ignorance. I just don’t want to be “that guy”, and I certainly don’t want to disrupt someone’s worship to ask an elementary question.

So, is the both knees thing the correct thing during Adoration, or is it indicative of something else? I noticed people would get up and move around the pews, to the back of the sanctuary, etc., but I was concentrating on worship and trying to block out what others were doing. Who knows, maybe they were needing to pee as well. 😛

I’ll still ask the Priest this coming Saturday during class, but, definitely interested on anything someone can provide. I prefer to ask the priest questions which I cannot find an understandable answer to on my own, or with the help of others.
 
I once heard that in earlier times people had an increasing desire to worship the visible post; so started paying the priest to hold it up for long periods at the elevation in the mass. This was determined to be an abuse of the liturgy and forbidden. The rite of Benediction was introduced to satisfy the desire for time to adore the host.

Not sure of this, but it sounds reasonable.
 
Eucharistic adoration is a continuation of the adoration that we offer to our Lord in the mass. It is defined as the worship of Christ outside of the mass, in the form of the consecrated Host (or Blessed Sacrament). It can be done either with the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the monstrance, or reposed in the tabernacle. No spiritual difference.

The bowing to the altar is simply out of reverence for the place where Jesus Christ is made present at the consecration. It is, essentially, holy ground. However, the Lord Who makes the altar holy is much greater than the altar, and is to be worshipped.

Do you have a copy of Catholicism for Dummies? It is an easily read resource that will answer most, if not all of your questions. $10-$15 in various formats on Amazon.
 
Aelred_Minor said:
Eucharistic Adoration is beautiful, but we are not required to do it and it’s not even present in all parishes. Indeed, it didn’t occur at all, the way we mean it today with the monstrance and all, for the first millennium of Catholic history and then some.

On the matter of genuflecting, my understanding is we are to genuflect if the tabernacle is there (the gold box, I guess you’d call it, in which the Eucharist is reserved) in worship of Jesus but bow if it is not there, in veneration of the alter (it would be too awkward to bow then genuflect or genuflect then bow, so the less important gesture is simply replaced by the more important one when both the tabernacle with the Eucharist in it and the alter are there.) There was a time in which the tabernacle was virtually always either front and center on the high alter or at least nearby in the sanctuary (it’s a myth that it was always exactly front and center before Vatican II), and so people always genuflected. When the tabernacle was moved somewhere more obscure in some places, sometimes people didn’t get the memo and kept genuflecting like they always had done in church.
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The first known Eucharistic Adoration has been credited with St. Basil in the fourth century
there is no reason to think the practise was ever stopped.
Benediction , on the other hand is a product of the second millennum.
Mother Theresa remarked that the way to eliminate abortion was to have Adoration in every church!
 
thomas_jd said:
The first known Eucharistic Adoration has been credited with St. Basil in the fourth century
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Definitely not in its present form. St. Basil is a precursor of the Eastern Rites (he wrote the Divine Liturgy which St. John Chrysostom revised) and Eucharistic Adoration in what is done in the West has never been part of the traditions of the East. But a good example is in the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts where during the Great Entrance (similar to the Offertory procession in the Mass) the clergy holds a procession of the Body of Christ (in the usual Great Entrance, its bread and wine prior to consecration) and everyone makes a full prostration rather than sing the Cherubic Hymn.
 
ConstantineTG said:
Definitely not in its present form. St. Basil is a precursor of the Eastern Rites (he wrote the Divine Liturgy which St. John Chrysostom revised) and Eucharistic Adoration in what is done in the West has never been part of the traditions of the East. But a good example is in the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts where during the Great Entrance (similar to the Offertory procession in the Mass) the clergy holds a procession of the Body of Christ (in the usual Great Entrance, its bread and wine prior to consecration) and everyone makes a full prostration rather than sing the Cherubic Hymn.
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Forms change, the Lord stays the same!
St.Basil suspended a piece of Consecrated bread above the altar, thus the first recorded Eucharistic Adoration! Your constant reference to the “Eastern Rites” is a distraction to this issue and many other issues. We are united in faith,“One Holy Catholic Church”.
This is the church of St.Basil, your remarks seem to seperate the two into opposing camps. I say this with Charity in my heart.
 
Montejo said:
I Is a monstrance and eucharistic adoration indispensable to official Roman Catholic practice, or are they simply nice if you have them but not absolutely necessary for fulfilling one’s obligations to the faith?
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yes they matter, but that is not the question you are asking.

What you describe is location of the tabernacle, where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved, a topic discussed innumerable times here and on the liturgy and sacrament forum. And it is not reserved in a monstrance, which is used only to hold the small glass case which houses the reserved Host so Christ can be seen and adored by worshippers. The sacrament reserved for the sick, or for distritubution to the faithful at a later time, is kept in a ciborium, the gold vessel with a lid.

Yes it is essential that the faithful have the opportunity to spend time with the Blessed Sacrament outside Mass, either in a formal exposition, holy hour, benediction, or in a chapel or the main church where the blessed Sacrament is reserved.

No it is not essential that the tabernacle be behind the main altar, in fact it may be much more suitable and reverent and condusive to access by the faithful on a side altar or separate chapel. No it is not required that each individual Catholic adore the Blessed Sacrament outside Mass but they are missing out on great spiritual benefits if they don’t.
 
Montejo said:
What’s particularly odd is that in these modernist churches, I regularly see people genuflect toward the altar, even though there’s no monstrance there and the altar is completely bare.
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I believe puzzleannie explained your confusion about what a Monstrance is as opposed to the Tabernacle and someone else made reference to the light that tells us that the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ is present in the Church. You might try going to Google images and looking at pictures of each to clarify this further. And BTW, most things in the Catholic Faith are fairly consistent worldwide, the Mass is the Mass in any language or culture. The differences are minor, the readings the same. It’s a Universal Church, not a bunch of loosely affiliated independent congregations.

So, genuflecting to Our Lord as we enter a church is not “Eucharistic Adoration” as it is commonly used. When the Body of the Lord is reserved in a special container in a Monstrance and placed in view of the faithful for them to venerate in prayer, sometimes in a church or sometimes in a special chapel, that is what is usually meant by Adoration.

When a Catholic person genuflects in church in response to the Presence in that place, the prayer most often said is the simple acknowledgment: My Lord and my God.
 
thomas_jd said:
Forms change, the Lord stays the same!
St.Basil suspended a piece of Consecrated bread above the altar, thus the first recorded Eucharistic Adoration! Your constant reference to the “Eastern Rites” is a distraction to this issue and many other issues. We are united in faith,“One Holy Catholic Church”.
This is the church of St.Basil, your remarks seem to seperate the two into opposing camps. I say this with Charity in my heart.
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Let me put it this way, we reverence the Precious Body and Blood of our Lord whenever possible but we never put it up displayed for adoration like it is done in the West.

I don’t know why it should be a distraction, we have different Liturgical traditions. Blessed Pope John Paul II said that Catholics of the Latin Rite should familiarize themselves with the traditions of the East. Lets start by not mistaking that Eastern Rites do everything the same as the Western Rite. Being united in faith doesn’t mean we have one expression of the faith. As pointed out in Orientale Lumen, it is a sign of the true catholicity of the Church, that the faith is expressed in many different ways.
 
Eucharistic Adoration is practiced by the Maronites, and by Ukrainian Catholics in Ukraine and in Brazil.
 
Seamus_L said:
Eucharistic Adoration is practiced by the Maronites, and by Ukrainian Catholics in Ukraine and in Brazil.
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Yes, two of the most Latinized Eastern Churches. But rest assured, the Ukrainian Church is returning to her true roots. Don’t know about the Maronites, I don’t go to their Church. I mean, they even say their Liturgy Versus Populum. That says it all.

Anyway, this is not the issue here. I’m just pointing out that in the East, there has never been adoration in the same sense it has in the West.
 
It may be that Eucharistic Adoration was fostered in the West in reaction to the Protestant rejection of the the Eucharist. This would explain its greater popularity here.
 
Unless I missed it, I don’t think anyone has answered the specific genuflection question yet. If Jesus is not exposed, we genuflect right knee down, toward Him in the tabernacle. If He is exposed in a monstrance on the altar, then we get down on both knees. If a person is working in the sanctuary/sacristy and going in and out, I’ve seen even the most devout switch to a simple bow after the initial genuflection.
 
I live in a city in which parishes practice adoration. Since I’ve participated in adoration I am more aware of own sinfulness. I have learned about Christ’s Divine Mercy. Adoration is a humbling experience. I recommend it to everyone who has the opportunity to do it.
 
EvelynEVF said:
Unless I missed it, I don’t think anyone has answered the specific genuflection question yet. If Jesus is not exposed, we genuflect right knee down, toward Him in the tabernacle. If He is exposed in a monstrance on the altar, then we get down on both knees. If a person is working in the sanctuary/sacristy and going in and out, I’ve seen even the most devout switch to a simple bow after the initial genuflection.
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Genuflection on both knees before the exposed Host was the old rule, but is no longer required, though many of us still do it.

When working around the altar an bows after an initial genuflection was the rule, and still is to the best of my knowledge.

Also, in procession the crucifer, and others similarly encumbered, bow rather than genuflect.
 
Thanks to all of you for your interesting and informative replies.

Even in a country as pervasively Roman Catholic as Mexico, I’ve noticed a considerable range in Roman Catholic practice and custom. (In the very far south, for example, devotion of the Virgin of Guadalupe is less common than in central and northern Mexico.)

Another thing that’s struck me down here is that it’s not uncommon to see less than half of people attending Mass go forward to receive Communion.

Also, parish youth groups seem to be far more popular and successful in Mexico than in the United States. (Which probably isn’t a surprise, since 90+ percent of the population is Roman Catholic.) Two or three nights a week, local churches are thronged with teenagers attending classes and meetings, with crowds of them spilling out into nearby parks to play guitars and sing devotional songs.
 
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