Daily Adoration with SPIRITUS

Imagine waking up to a blaring alarm at 4:30am, hoping in the shower, brushing your teeth and doing everything else you need to do to be ready for another day.  After that you slowly walk outside to a cold car to head off to another day of work, but this day of work includes driving two hours to a Catholic parish to work with upwards of 60 high school students half of whom are full of energy and the other half looking like they just woke up and could use another shot of espresso from Starbucks.  

Your day includes giving talks, running small groups, prayer and all sorts of activities with these students really giving them all that you have to offer.  By the end of the day you are confusing mix of exhausted, joyful and frustrated.  Then you have to pack everything up head back into the cold car and drive two hours back home, thus completing a 16 hour day.  Now imagine doing that day after day for weeks all within nine months.  That is what a retreat day for the SPIRITUS team can look like and if not prepared correctly this type of lifestyle can easily lead to burnout physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  

The SPIRITUS team is extremely blessed to have a method that prevents this burnout from happening.  What am I talking about?  In one word but more specifically Eucharistic Adoration.  During the week when the team is not on retreat, we have an hour of Eucharistic Adoration and in that hour we have time to pray with each other and most importantly spend some time with our Lord and Savior present in the consecrated host.  

Jesus makes all things new (see Rev. 21:5) including our hearts and minds, He is the only one who can keep us fresh for our ministry to the students we encounter.  He is our hope when we are frustrated and doubting the fruit that will be born from our retreats.  He is our joy when we feel sad about an encounter with students.  He holds us close when we have no energy to speak to Him. He listens to us when we want to share our joy with our retreats and ministry.   The time we spend in adoration is invaluable and it helps the team keep in the center the person who needs to be at the core of it all and that is the Lord because without Jesus Christ we have no ministry.  Prayer is the most important aspect of a missionary life and SPIRITUS is very blessed to have this aspect of prayer.  Keep praying for our team and ministry and know that the team prays for all of you! 

GOD BLESS!!!

-Mike