AND AMAZING GRACE: Have you ever heard of the “butterfly effect” of Eucharistic adoration?

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Have you ever heard of the “butterfly effect” of Eucharistic adoration?

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It can be seen in homes, in families, in marriages, and in neighborhoods ...

When a person adores Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, that person and his surroundings change. When a perpetual adoration chapel opens, it slowly transforms the neighborhood. This is what Isabel Puig calls the “butterfly effect” (from the theory that the smallest movement of a butterfly’s wings in one part of the world can have a powerful effect on wind and weather patterns thousands of miles away).

Isabel Puig is a mother of a large family and helps to coordinate hourly turns at a Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration chapel in Badalona (near Barcelona, Spain). She is also currently working with others to open another perpetual adoration chapel in Barcelona, at the Royal Monastery of Santa Isabel, where the Regnum Christi movement houses a scholastic center.

“The Lord acts in the neighborhood, in souls, in the whole environment,” Isabel told the Spanish online publication, Religión en Libertad, as she recalled how, at the chapel in Badalona, “people find peace.”

“Adorers find greater peace and serenity to face life, and the wounds of their hearts find healing by going to see Jesus.”

“If the adorers are doing better, all of their surroundings are affected,” she noted. “You notice it at home, in families. When people have their priorities straight, this has an immediate effect on their friends, and we are better able to help those around us.”

The change happens slowly but surely, for the presence of the Lord works marvels. “We have seen people change their lives radically based on that hour of adoration,” Isabel confessed.

“People with addictions, with serious family problems who find support by leaning on the Lord for that hour. Also couples in difficulty — one spouse comes or both come together. People find healing especially for ailments of the soul. You can see how they develop and evolve as they learn acceptance. There is a lot of joy among the adorers, a deep and profound joy.”

Isabel says that many people who aren’t practicing also come to the Eucharistic Adoration chapel in Badalona, because there they find peace, silence and a welcoming space, and they end up developing a regular and assiduous prayer life.

Some adorers confess that, although they don’t go regularly to Mass, they do come regularly to be in the Lord’s presence. “Something tells them to return each week. It’s a space of total freedom.”

One example of this “butterfly effect” can be seen in Ciudad Juárez, where Eucharistic Adoration has contributed to a decrease in the number of homicides from 3,766 in 2010, to 265 in 2015, says Fr. Patricio Hileman, a priest who is dedicated to establishing adoration chapels throughout Latin America. Experience has shown Fr. Hileman that “when a parish adores God day and night the city is transformed.”