Brother Knights of the Eucharist. We are created to know, love and serve God in this life and to be happy with him in the next. Another way of putting it is, we have been created by love, for love. As Knights of Columbus, we do a wonderful work serving the needs of our parish and community, some of us truly living a life of service. I have to continually remind myself that the service I do isn’t simply to do good works, to make our Council look good, to feel good about myself or even to earn God’s love.
It must flow from my love of God. Loving God means loving his creation, his creatures, even the unlovable ones. So, do I love God? I’ve had friends who say, “I love Jesus. Do you love Jesus?” “Of course I do” is the answer I want to give, but do I? Does my life give evidence of it?
I think to love someone, we must get to know that person. From knowing God, who IS love, is then to grow in love for him. To love him leads to serving him by loving his creatures.
I’m discovering that one of the best ways to get to know him is in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.
Let me quote Bishop Barron, a quote I have found profound when reflected on before the Blessed Sacrament . “ We hear in Genesis hat Adam walked in easy fellowship with God in the cool of the evening and spoke to him as a friend. This ordering of Adam to God meant that our first parent was effortlessly caught up in adoration. The term adoration comes from the latin ad oratio, which in turn is derived from ad ora which means ‘to the mouth’. To adore therefore, is to be mouth to mouth with God, properly aligned to the divine source, breathing in god’s life. When one is in the stance of adoration, the whole of one’s life – mind, will, motions, imagination, sexuality becomes ordered and harmonized.”
Reflecting on this, breathing in his life any time of any day is, I guess I could say, refreshing. Before the Blessed Sacrament it has been exhilarating.
I urge you brothers to spend some time getting to know our God. As we do this, our prayer life will become more fruitful and I think our service as Knights will also be more fruitful. I even predict that more young men will be asking how to join the Knights.