Show of hands: how many participate in Eucharistic Adoration? Second show of hands: how many would like to have a book as a guide through your Adoration times? Luckily there’s a book for that: St. Faustina Prayer Book for Adoration by Susan Tassone. This one is a keeper.
Tassone provides a handy little book that gives the reader St. Faustina as a companion for Adoration. She provides some background material as to who St. Faustina was, some of her experiences, and her advice and example of holiness. As you dive deeper into this book, you will see St. Faustina in a new light, brought to life for us today.
“When St. Faustina knelt in front of the tabernacle, she prayed fervently, gazing radiantly at the altar. Jesus in the Eucharist was to her a living person with whom she wanted to talk at every moment.”
And so it should be with us as well. Sometimes we may find ourselves drawn to Adoration but at a loss as to what to do. St. Faustina Prayer Book for Adoration solves this. The book contains 15 chapters, and in those chapters you will find what I would label as different Adoration themes. There’s Adoration with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Trinity, Adoration with Mary, Adoration of the Crucified Jesus, Adoration in Times of Suffering, Adoration with the Saints, Adoration for the Dying and the Holy Souls in Purgatory, and more.
Sprinkled throughout the book are numerous prayers, devotionals, novenas, and rosary meditations. The words of St. Faustina herself pop up on nearly every page, making her truly your companion for your time of Adoration. In fact, there is an entire chapter filled with St. Faustina’s prayers of Adoration.
Of particular interest to me was a chapter on Spiritual Adoration in the Home. Yes, we can enter into Spiritual Communion even when the sacrament is not present to us within the four walls of our homes. This opens us up to a whole new world of possibilities and does not limit us to Adoration only when we are mobile. The sick can participate in Adoration too. As with St. Faustina, “There were times when her fragile health, and later her terminal condition, made it impossible for her to leave her room or even her bed.” We too can make Spiritual Adoration anywhere, anytime.
God is calling you. He is inviting you into a personal one-on-one relationship with Him, your Creator and the creator of all living things. We are called to be active participants in this Adoration as well. Susan Tassone has provided a tool that will be a wonderful aid in bringing this call to fruition in a most profitable way. Take up this book and allow it to make a profound difference in your spiritual life and the world.
Interview Highlight:
Pete Socks: It needs to be asked, why is Adoration important today?
Susan Tassone: Because look at the world. Look at what’s happening in the world. We need, as the pope said, we need to pray, we need Adoration. All the evil in the world. It’s through Adoration that’s going to transform the world. It’s through Adoration that’s going to help you become the one you befriend, to become that mercy, to become that compassion that Jesus has called you to be. We all have a mission. We are not here by chance, we are here by God’s choosing. He formed you, and He made you the person you are. He doesn’t compare you to anyone else, you are one of a kind, you’re irreplaceable and you don’t have anything lacking. He allowed you to be here at this time in history to fulfill His special purpose for this generation.
We need Adoration today to fulfill our mission. Prayer is very critical, and Adoration is a very unique form that centuries of saints have attested to, not just them individually, but those around them. It’s an important part of our spiritual life. We were created by God for Adoration in our heart, in our mind, and in our soul. He’s calling you. He’s inviting you to spend time with him.
Faustina said that every Holy Hour or moment or minute pleases the heart of Jesus and that every man, woman and child living on earth receives a new effect of God’s grace. You alone affect the lives of every person on earth, and THIS is power of Adoration.
(Complete interview available at https://catholicstand.com/adoration-off-the-shelf-137-with-susan-tassone/)
By Pete Socks, Special to The Witness
