Lying Prostrate Before the Blessed Sacrament

In listening to Vinny Flynn's CD, Seven Secrets of the Eucharist (have you gotten this yet? perhaps I've been too subtle--order it now; I'll wait), he talks how the Angel of Peace at Fatima in 1916 appeared to the children, suspending the Host and chalice in the air and then throwing himself prostrate on the ground. Flynn contrasts this with how we usually receive Jesus in Holy Communion, full of distractions. In the comparison, Flynn says: "But an angel, a pure spirit, who lives constantly in the intimate presence of God, prostrates himself before the Eucharist in adoration!" (pp. 9-10 in Flynn's book). Flynn then goes on to say: "I'm not suggesting that we all run up and throw ourselves on our faces in front of the Eucharist the next time we go to receive. But interiorly we can. Whether we stand or kneel to receive, we can always, in our hearts, minds, and souls, be prostrate in adoration of the living God in the Eucharist" (p. 11).

In thinking about Flynn's comment, I went to the tabernacle at our parish for a brief period of adoration today. I thought, too, about the time last October when I went on retreat at a local Jesuit retreat house in Milford, Ohio, and spontaneously prostrated myself before the tabernacle in their chapel during adoration. It was an amazing feeling. So today, I again prostrated myself before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. I was with my son, who is five years old, and he was puzzled and thought what I was doing was funny. I tried to explain my actions. Again, I had a wonderful feeling--of peace, of the rightness of it. And then, my son made a moving, loving gesture. He laid himself across my back. We were both prostrate before the Lord.

It was a good day.