I’m here today to share my thoughts and experiences with all of you on what has become the most important part of my faith life: "centering my life’s journey on the Eucharist"

First I’d like to tell you a bit about who I am. I’m the son of Thomas Archangelo Cirmo (how about that for a strong middle name?) a first generation from Italian immigrants. I’m a brother, a husband of 33 years, a father of two children, the last of which was married in June, an empty nester, a grandfather, a lifelong Catholic, a parishioner of St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in Naperville, a member of a small faith community, a friend, a volunteer, a cantor, a 4^th degree Knight of Columbus; a boss, and a businessman. And certainly not last, but first, and most importantly of all, I’m a Eucharistic Adorer.

I know. That’s too much information; but, as I was gathering my thoughts for today’s talk I couldn’t help but think about all the titles and roles we take on in our lives and how they represent relationships we have with each other. Relationships are ways by which we define our being, our make up, our unique identity. Relationships provide mirrors by which we see ourselves more clearly, and at the same time windows, through which we are seen and understood by others.

Yet our titles and roles both stay with us and change throughout our lives. We gain some, we lose some, some we leave behind and others never leave us. Roles and titles are sometimes seen differently and defined differently by ourselves, versus how others see us and as they get to know us along life’s journey.

Not too many years ago the primary titles and roles for me were husband, father, and executive. Beyond that from my perspective, that was about it. I really didn’t take time to consider the other roles and responsibilities I had beyond this narrow group. Others at that time, I think, saw me as hard working, good natured, high energy, with a good family life. But as I look back I realize that I was pretty one dimensional and unfocused. I had no center, no spiritual core to my life. I kept my relationships with family and others only at the surface at that time. Because of that shallowness of relationship there was no mirror for me to really see myself in, nor was there any window through which others could really see me for who I was. And although life went on for me with all its rewards and trials and relationships I really didn’t know my inmost self.

My relationships, titles and roles formed by necessity and I was blessed to have a wonderful wife and kids and good jobs. But as I look back from the clear rear view mirror of today with 20/20 hindsight I realize that there was so much more that I could have done and been for my family and for others with the gifts God had given me if I had been more Christ centered.

Looking back, I can see clearly now that for years I was trying to define my life all by myself, by taking on roles and titles I wanted and playing these roles, to the exclusion of the internal focus I needed and a spiritual dimension. And I was fulfilling what I thought were my responsibilities without myself being centered, grounded, firmly rooted in my faith...In a sense I was like a branch without a vine to nurture me.

As life brings titles and roles we sometimes find ourselves constantly trying our best to fulfill what we think they demand without really looking for a spiritual dimension. But by the grace of God, transition points occur in life, whether we’re aware of them or not, and because of a couple of those transition points where I learned more about myself and my relationships with God and my neighbor, I am here today to share with you. At these transition points we have the opportunity to move from one plane to another and from, one awareness of self to another.

It is at these transition points when special opportunities to change occur. There are many, many of these points in our lives. As I look back I now can see them clearly. Unfortunately we don’t sense these points clearly at the time and sometimes need a nudge from a friend, a spouse, or a life changing situation to realize that these times are the guiding hand of God in our lives.

There are a couple of transition points in my life which I will share with you today; and because of the changes which occurred I am here with you, giving witness to the power of the Eucharist and God’s incredible gift of mercy and nurturing strength.

To set the stage about the transition points in my adult life, I’d like to share with you my first experience with adoration as a small boy. I remember my Dad doing what he called "nocturnal adoration", which was likely a 40 hours devotion with Eucharist in exposition. Dad always liked go late at night for his "hour" and I remember him asking me more than once to come along with him. Well, sure I said yes and I wanted to go if meant staying up later...that was a big deal! I also remember back then how long an hour could be for a young boy; it seemed to last all night!

But I also remember clearly watching my Dad pray- as he said his rosary- he’d open his little snap top pouch and on those nights he packed an extra rosary and an extra "tic/tac" mint for me. As my mind wandered and I stared at the candles and the statues in the dimly lit church he’d look down & just hold up his rosary to prompt me to pray. I remember the look on his face as he prayed and I wondered how he could stay awake so long with his eyes closed like that! I really didn’t concentrate or appreciate the miracle before my eyes in Eucharist as I do now; but just the same I knew it was good to be there. I felt it. And always remembered it. On the way home remember I asked him what he was praying for and he said "for you" and your brothers and sister and for mom. "I hope you were praying for me too.

Besides my first communion, that was my first experience with Eucharistic Adoration, yet shortly after that as an altar boy I remember being as close as I ever have been to the sacred elements and feeling that awe and wonder of what / of who was really there for me just as He was at my first communion. I had a Catholic grade school and high school education, and from time to time I remember considering a number of things like a religious life, and tried a few weekends at a couple seminaries and juniorates, but never pursued it. My vocation it appears, was to marry and raise a family.

As the years progressed however, and the roles and titles and responsibilities of life overcame me I unfortunately drifted away from the Church and the Eucharist. And the awe and wonder of this incredible gift which I had in my heart when I was young was a distant memory. I began to move away from the Church of Christ and became submerged into the pool of worldly pursuit, of more titles, more roles, more responsibilities, just MORE... which consumed me for years. Yes, occasionally I went to weekly Mass and communion, but as things were changing in the Church I just went through the motions and watched from the distance. Eucharist, for me had lost its awe and wonder and faded to the sidelines of my life.

Now for transition point one: A number of years had passed and we had relocated from Chicago to a city in the south where Catholics were a very small minority of slightly over 7%. My wife-who never had wavered in her faith or involvement in the Church had gotten involved in RCIA and was a Eucharistic minister. And one day she asked me if I’d be interested in sponsoring an RCIA candidate. I remember my reluctance to add this time commitment to take on such a responsibility because I was a Vice President (another title and role); but she reminded me of how deep my faith roots were, how important my faith filled upbringing was; and how much I could share with someone who just wanted to learn; to help them discover the wonders of being a Catholic Christian.

Well I said ok I’ll try it; and as it happened, it seems that I began to get back on track again. Yes, a transition point had happened. As soon as I started, and began to have long talks with my candidate partner, a fire began to burn; that great feeling that I was in the right place doing the right thing. Shortly I began to grow again in my faith and even teach a class on the creed. Funny how my concern for time had dissipated. God made time available for me somehow. And very soon I was an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist and slowly I moved as close to the Eucharist as I’ve ever been before, even as an altar server. I was again filled with awe and wonder at this incredible gift in a new and exciting way — in awe that God even allowed me to touch and bring Him to others after being so far away from Him as my center for so long!

I guess my wife saw all this and kept it in her heart, because she just supported me as I began to pick up speed We marveled at how our conversations had moved to now focus so often on Church and our ministries. She mentioned a couple programs available at the diocese and began to gently remind me of an earlier calling to religious vocation which I had explored a bit in High School but never pursued. But no - I was too busy, maybe someday.

Well a short time passed and we relocated again, this time back to Chicago where we found lots of Catholics and lots of Churches. Our best friends out East had been those we developed from our relationships at church and we wanted to connect in our new community right away, so we dove in to our new parish, with RCIA, to commissions, to parish council to K of C to marriage prep, to annulment field advocate to choir to cantor and we’ve made great friends and new family here.

Transition number two: A couple years later, starting as a lenten promise when my father was ill, I began to attend daily 6AM Mass, and because of this the Eucharist continued to move to the very center of my life each day. When lent ended a number of us asked our pastor if he would continue to say this early Mass because it allowed many the time to commute to the city. He agreed to try it and for 5 years now it has been growing in attendance… and the bonds we 6AM-ers have all formed are truly wonderful. From this group of people, all of us in love with the Eucharist, I met a group of very prayerful, faith filled people who were also on fire with devotion to the Holy Eucharist.

They were pushing for extended hours of Exposition during Fridays in Lent, then on first Fridays. They asked me to communicate this mission and the need for adorers to our K of C council to be sure all hours were covered. Our pastor agreed first for a few hours if there were enough sign ups, then till midnight if there were enough sign ups, then for all night if there were enough sign ups–the Holy Spirit was at work!! The sign up sheets filled quickly and there were plenty of adorers–how could this be, we are a young parish with children and activities and both parents working, etc. But it did!!!

And there I was, doing and hour of adoration again - and it felt great! Outside of the Mass it had been years since I had focused on Eucharistic presence so intimately, so closely, so personally.

The next step was clear. We were going to ask our pastor if we could explore perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. That’s when things really got exciting...as a representative of the K of C (the men’s organization of our parish) I was asked to join this group of faith filled prayerful people in the exploration and development of a plan for a perpetual adoration chapel. Our pastor again showed his support- but reminded us that this was to be a lay movement and we’d have to pull together a plan and sign up enough parishioners before he’d approach the bishop for permission for perpetual exposition.

That’s where Mike Mortimer and the Real Presence Association came in. His help was indispensable. He walked us through the process of adoration chapel development step by step with guidance, materials and support. Our basic challenge was at this point to develop enough interest (sign ups for 300 to 350 are needed to cover all hours and have alternates available).

Our parish sign up Sunday was a roaring success with over 300 parishioners signing up in less than two weeks. All their names on a larger than life poster with all hours of the week filled in were very impressive indeed. Virtually every slot was filled!!!

The story of how we met and prayed and planned to make Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration possible in our parish is one that someday I’d love to share with you in terms of how; every step of the way when we were faced with what we thought were insurmountable challenges for space, expertise, money, support… the Holy Spirit guided us through in the most amazing ways.

The Holy Spirit continued to be with us as we built and dedicated our Pope John Paul II Eucharistic Adoration Chapel which has now been in continuous operation 24 hours a day for over three years. The blessings showered upon our adorers and our parish, have been inestimable. We have filled 5 large oversized 3 ring binders with thousands of pages of petitions and favors granted since its operation began and here I am, serving as an adorer and a sub, always for some reason late at night - I seem to like that, just like my father had done so many years ago.

Built entirely by our parishioners, our chapel is everything we dreamed it would be and more. I’ll never forget the smiles, camaraderie and sense of holy mission all those men shared as day after day they showed up with their tools; when wives and friends showed up with lunch and drinks and when parishioners with gifts in decorating stepped up to finish, decorate and furnish our chapel.

From the point of our chapel opening, for over 300 adorers and for the team, the effects of bringing the Eucharist on a daily basis to the center of our faith lives has been amazing. Our Eucharistic Adoration chapel has helped to bring the Eucharist in yet another way, closer to the center of our daily parish faith life. Not only now do we have the Eucharist to receive every day at Mass, but we also have a place away, a place to go and be in His physical presence day and night, to thank Him, to praise Him, and to ask Him for help in our daily lives. It’s a place away from the distractions and complications and business of our daily lives. It’s a place away from the daily pulls of life where we can re-center ourselves- a wonderful grace filled extension of the Eucharistic experience and communion we receive at Mass.

In my life, re-centering on Eucharist through daily Mass and Eucharistic Adoration has helped me rebalance and refocus when I needed it most. Even when I was "downsized" from my job a few years ago, the fact that I attended our daily Eucharistic celebration, the prayerful support of my morning Mass group, and our Eucharistic Adoration chapel truly helped me through it. For the first time in my life I knew that everything was going to be all right. That God had something planned for me and I needed to trust in His will.

With the help of God’s grace, in the toughest of times for unemployed former executives, I found work in the most unlikely of ways, with a company I had turned down in a business deal not too many months before…in a small company based right in my home town. It was for half the salary that I used to make, but somehow we’re doing all right. This proximity and easy commute has allowed me to focus on ministries in our parish, devote more time to reading and study; and to pursue my dream of writing again after many years. How does it go, when a door is closed God opens a window...So with the grace of God, I’ve been given some time and a slower work day. In gratitude for this gift I have started a transition support ministry for unemployed and underemployed in our parish and a weekly prayer poem email network for the seriously ill and shut-ins; and will be launching sessions of "Catholics Returning Home" a ministry of welcoming and reconciliation for inactive Catholics starting next month. My faith and my desire to spread the good Word has been energized.

Our Eucharistic Adoration Chapel has become an important place for me. It is truly a place away where even separate from my committed hour I find myself stopping in for 10 minutes to say Hello Jesus, thanks for today; or Jesus please help me with this or that, or calm me and bring me peace; and to pray for people in their time of trouble. The centering of my life on the Eucharist through daily Mass and adoration has restored that awe and wonder I once had as a young boy. It has helped me find wholeness, and with God’s grace will continue to strengthen me be Eucharist to others on my faith life journey.

You know, I have to say it loud. It’s great to be a Catholic! To have Christ Himself continuously present, in the Word, in The Eucharistic Celebration, and in us and in our relationship with Him in the body of Christ as we all are part, and in a special way in physical presence for us in the Holy Eucharist. I am so humbled; and we are so blessed to be able to receive His Body and Blood, and to have the very special opportunity and gift of being alone with Him in a very personal way in His physical presence.

The blessings which can happen when so many are praying in the presence of God in the Eucharist are amazing. I can’t tell you how many small and large miracles have happened in our adorers’ lives and the wonderful things that have happened in our parish ministries since our perpetual adoration began. And as I talk with many adorers about their lives since starting adoration, there is a common thread… their lives are blessed with a comfort beyond what they have ever known - a comfort that God is with us and remains with us in good times and bad to offer His boundless love and mercy.

That comfort that our chapel brings to our parishioners, and to parishioners from other parishes who visit is very tangible. Any hour of the day or night that I drive by, there are cars parked outside; before work and after work a number of people are now dropping by to say a quick prayer to get centered before before their day or at the end of their work day to unload the stress. There are parents with children, teens (alone or with others), people with pain and sorrow, people with thanks and praise, all visiting this Place Away — a place to be quiet and "know that He is God and that we are held in the palm of His hand".

I look back on my younger years and how my father brought Eucharist to me and into my life. And then later I can see how the Holy Spirit worked through my wife to lead me back. During my years away from that relationship with the Eucharist I now look back and see that His incredible gift was and is always there, and how my wife was Eucharist to me as she ever so gently led me back to the center through her example, her steadfastness, and commitment and reaching out. Now, over these last few years re-centering my life on the Eucharist through daily Mass and adoration there’s an energized and refreshed mission alive in me to spread the good news of salvation- to urge everyone to re-center their lives on Eucharist.

During the planning process for our chapel and during the construction I became very aware of a voice again that I had heard in soft echoes a couple times before in my life; and this time the Holy Spirit has guided me to answer the call in a very specific way in His service. So now as I look forward to my ordination as a deacon in September ’07 for the diocese of Joliet (yes I’m proud to say that I was one of Bishop Kaffer’s theology students in formation class) God willing… Soon I’ll be fulfilling a lifelong dream to serve my brothers and sisters in a special way and in a special closeness with the Eucharist.

To the lay people here today, I urge you to go back to your parishes and look at ways to reinvigorate daily Mass attendance and Eucharistic adoration. Form a prayer group and spread the word; invite the Holy Spirit to carry you on this mission. The year of the Eucharist was just the beginning. Make this last year the beginning of your faith life commitment to be always centered on the Eucharist. Find others with the same passion, meet and pray.

Christ, since the beginning, has created us to be with Him. Invite Him in — and find a special place - A Place Away to be with Him as he did often as He Himself went away into the desert to pray. This "Place Away" for quiet worship will be a special place where you have pitched your tent for Him and will say "it is good to be here".

To the clergy and religious of our Church I say thank you, for helping us this year rediscover the awe and wonder of God’s real presence in Eucharist and helping us return to the true center (the source and summit) of our faith lives through the Eucharistic celebration, Eucharistic adoration, and the sacraments. Help us stay committed to this centering influence in our lives through continuing to bring Eucharist, and to be Eucharist to us through your ministry.

I’ve found that the closer I get to Christ in the Eucharist, the more I want Him in me...and to be with Him. When I adore each week and pray in the presence of the Eucharist I can’t wait until the next opportunity to receive Holy Communion. Going forward I pray that the roles and titles I bear and am known for in my life, and the relationships I build may always be centered on and be a reflection of my commitment to the Eucharist.

In closing I’d like to read a poem I wrote which reflects my experience and which I hope can inspire you to keep centering your life on the Eucharist:

"A Place Away" is read here....

Thank you all and God Bless

"The Eucharist in My Life" and "A Place Away"

Copyright © 2005 by Andrew M. Cirmo