Adoration anchors one’s life in Jesus, pope says August 26, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Eucharist, News, Vatican, World News VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The best way to ensure evangelization is about Jesus and not about oneself is to spend time in prayer and especially in eucharistic adoration, Pope Francis told members of the Oblates of St. Joseph. “Young people do not need us; they need God,” the pope told members of the order’s general chapter during a meeting at the Vatican Aug. 26. “The more we live in his presence, the more we are able to help them encounter him without unnecessary protagonism and having only their salvation and full happiness at heart,” the pope said. People today, but especially young people, he said, live in a world where what seems to count most is what is on the outside: one’s appearance, achievements or adventures. “But a life lived all ‘outside’ leaves the inside empty like someone who spends all his time on the street and lets his home fall into disrepair for lack of care and love,” the pope said. Instead, “make your hearts, your communities (and) your religious houses places where the warmth of familiarity with God and among brothers and sisters can be felt and shared.” The life of every Christian, but especially of a member of a religious order, must be anchored in “a daily ‘being’ with Jesus,” he said. “Let’s not delude ourselves: without him we do not stand, none of us. We each have our own frailties, and without the Lord to sustain us, we would not stand.” Participating in the sacraments, listening to and meditating on Scripture and spending time before Jesus in the Eucharist are essential parts of religious life, he said. “I want to emphasize this: Sometimes we neglect adoration, the prayer of adoration, silence before the Lord,” Pope Francis said. The priests and brothers in the order should imitate St. Joseph, their patron, and the way he responded to “the immense gift of having the very Son of God made man in his home: by being with him, listening to him, talking to him and sharing with him the life of every day.” The pope also asked members of the general chapter to think about their sins and notice how “when you fell into sin it was because you were not close to the Lord. That is always the case. Those who are close to the Lord immediately cling to him and do not fall.” Read More Vatican News Lord of the Dance meets Shepherd of the Flock: Michael Flatley greets Pope Leo XIV at Vatican Pope Leo XIV meets with Catholic Charities USA leadership, urges mission of compassion Augustinian charisms of truth, unity, love revealed in Pope Leo’s pastoral style, say panelists Pope Leo condemns violence after bomb attack in Colombia Pope Leo on the dignity of work: 9 quotes for St. Joseph the Worker 2 Vatican dicasteries jointly release document on ‘integral ecology’ in family life Copyright © 2024 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Print
