People Change People

Ministry Tip of the Week

by Seth Evangelho

Recall the expression, "One bad apple spoils the whole bunch." It's a warning against hanging around the wrong people, and it gets to the heart of a spiritual principle: because we're spiritual beings, we affect one another by our very presence. 

Have you ever noticed that older couples often begin to resemble one another? This isn't always the case but, when it does happen, it's not because they're somehow blending their DNA and taking on one another's features. It's because their spirits have been so affected by each other that their emotional and psychological reactions and gestures have become strangely similar. As this happens, their face muscles create near-identical facial expressions (making them look like each other). Fascinating! 

It's arguably more noticeable with friends. I do it all the time. A new friend comes into my life and, eventually (if I'm around him long enough), I find myself using his expressions and reacting with his emotional cues. I may be too impressionable, it's true, but I see this happen all the time in people. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. 

What's my point? Get people to adoration. 

Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist, affects us by his very presence. The spiritual truth is no different, only the power of his presence is more effective. People change people. Adoration is the most powerful way I know to become like Jesus. The more we are with him, the more we're bound to become like him. Even if we don't realize it's happening, even if we're closed to faith, it's happening. There's a spiritual truth at work... because he's really present. 

So go to adoration as often as you can. If there's no adoration, just sit in front of the tabernacle. That works, too. And get the kids there, as often as you can. Keep them reverent, but who cares if they really "get it." Jesus is there and he will do his thing. It's not a waste of time. It's arguably even a more effective way to use our time for catechesis. Jesus' presence changes us in ways mere knowledge of the faith never could, and those changes open us to understanding the faith with a depth we would never have otherwise had. His presence changes us in ways we don't even recognize, at first... but in the long run it makes a world of difference and, eventually, it becomes impossible not to notice.