Developing Our Spiritual Senses

Another reason for praying the holy hour is that we need power.  Power is born of silence and presence.  As the Psalmist put it: 'Be still and know that I am God.' In Prayer we shrug off the burdens of the world.  We come in and spend an hour with the Lord and talk to him and listen and develop our senses of hearing and seeing and touching. Hearing: not doing all the talking, 'Speak, Lord thy servant heareth.' Not listen, Lord, thy servant speaketh.  And the Lord does talk to us. Seeing: 'The things that are temporal are seen,' says Paul.  We have a different vision before the blessed sacrament. Remember the priest and the Levite that passed by the wounded man on the road to Jerusalem. They did not want to see him because seeing created responsibility.  There will be a shrinking from the blessed sacrament whenever there is not a good spiritual attitude in the soul.  But when we heighten our spiritual vision, then we're doing something that the apostles had to do.  They had to see beyond the veil of the flesh of our Lord in order to comprehend his divinity.  And we have to see behind the veil of the species of bread to see his divinity as well. When we are used to seeing his divinity through the species of bread, then we will be better at seeing the image of God in people. And finally, touch: touch is the mark of intimacy.  Touch is communion.  After many hours there begins to be a presence before the Eucharistic Lord, a deep sense of oneness with Christ. We are even reluctant at the end of many an hour to leave the Lord.  Like the disciples of Emmaus we say, 'Stay with us Lord, the day is far spent.