# Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament
*2015-03-13*

> Bill Young reflects on the nature of true happiness and leads a prayer of adoration written in 1692, intended for those before the Blessed Sacrament or praying from home.

## The Secret to Happiness

Before we move into today's prayer, I want to share a quick thought. A few podcasts ago, I recorded an episode titled 'Our Pursuit of Happiness,' but I noticed I had a typo and forgot the 'i' in happiness. I had recorded that one around 4 o'clock in the morning after work, so I apologize for the error. However, it got me thinking: maybe if we take the 'i' out of happiness, we might actually be happier. It is often when we think only of ourselves that we become unhappy. When we start thinking about others, that is when true happiness happens.

## Adoration in Spirit and Truth

Today's prayer is called 'Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament,' written in 1692. While I am not currently before the Blessed Sacrament, this prayer is still deeply meaningful for those who are homebound or unable to attend adoration. It is a prayer of recognition and love for our Creator.

## A Prayer of Adoration

I adore you, Lord, Creator, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament. I adore you for all the works of your hands that reveal to me so much wisdom, goodness, and mercy. Lord, you have spread so much beauty over the earth, and even your most beautiful things are but a faint reflection of your incomprehensible beauty. Although you have concealed yourself, my soul, enlightened by faith, reaches you. My soul recognizes its Creator, its highest good, and my heart is completely immersed in prayer of adoration.

My Lord, Creator, your goodness encourages me to converse with you. Your mercy abolishes the chasm which separates the Creator from the creatures. To converse with you, O Lord, is the light of my heart. In you, I find everything that my heart could desire. Here your light illuminates my mind, enabling it to know you more and more deeply. Here, streams of graces flow upon my heart, and my soul draws eternal life.

## The Intimacy of Mercy

O my Lord and Creator, beyond all these gifts, give your own self to me and unite yourself immediately with your miserable creature. Here, without searching for words, our hearts understand each other. Here no one is able to interrupt our conversations. What I talk to you about, Jesus, is our secret, which creatures shall not know and angels do not ask about. These are secrets, acts of forgiveness, known only to Jesus and me. This is the mystery of His mercy, which embraces each soul separately.

For this incomprehensible goodness of yours, I adore you, O Lord and Creator, with all my heart and all my soul. And although my worship is little and poor, I am at peace because I know that you know it is sincere, however inadequate. Amen.

*True happiness is found when we remove the 'i' from our focus and turn our hearts toward others and the Lord.*