How to make the most of your time with Jesus in Adoration

Tips for making Adoration meaningful

How to make the most of your time with Jesus in Adoration

Tips for spending quality time with Jesus adoration.

I’ve go to tell you, I look forward to going to Adoration. Being able to spend time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is such a gift to us from God.

But…

I often feel unworthy. Small. Unimportant. Unsure of what to say. Sometimes my mind wanders all over while I am in the presence of Jesus. I think of my to-do list for the day, of the phone call I forgot to make, or even wonder why that one statue is in the back corner of the Adoration chapel instead of in the front.

And I wonder, should I even be here if I can’t even focus on God?

Then I remember: God loves me. He created me because He wants me to exist and carry out plans He has only for me. He knows me. He knows that my mind wanders when I come to visit Him in the Blessed Sacrament. He knows that I sometimes forget which Hail Mary (or even which decade I am on) when I pray the Rosary. He knows me because He created me.

God KNOWS me. He knows ME. This reassures me and helps me to see past what I see as my shortcomings in prayer and try again (just like getting back on the bicycle I fell off of) to turn my mind and heart to Him.

So, I go to Adoration, knowing all these things because I want to spend time with God and I know He is happy when His children visit Him. I have come to realize that spending time with Him in Adoration is a great gift-to both myself and Jesus.

After going to Adoration over the years, I have figured out 7 tips to help me experience my time in Adoration to the fullest. I hope they are helpful to you, too. Be sure to leave a comment below with your favorite tips for going to Adoration.

Tips for Adoration

Here is the list of things I like to do, followed by more details about each one.

• Plan when to go to Adoration.
• Decide to have a specific focus (or not) for this Adoration time.
• Decide what prayers to pray.
• Plan what to will bring to Adoration.
• Plan how long to stay.
• Be flexible.
• Go with love.

Plan when to go to Adoration.

Have a plan. This is so simple, but it can be significant. Plan ahead and decide what day of the week and what time of the day you will go to Adoration.

When I make a plan, I will stick to it. If I plan to go “sometime during the week,” I may get to the end of the week and realize I might not be able to go to Adoration because of a busy day.

When I plan a specific time on a specific day to go to Adoration, I am making an appointment to spend time with Jesus. I make it a priority in my week and it is something I can look forward to. ?

Making an appointment to see Jesus (just like we do for Mass each weekend) is very helpful.

If you have time one day to just stop in for a visit to see Jesus and adore Him, that is great, too. Having a plan to see Him does not stop you from also spontaneously dropping by to see Him when that is possible.

Decide to have a specific focus (or not) for your Adoration time.

Sometimes there is a concern, a situation, or a question you want to bring to God and ask for His help with. You want to pray about it in front of the Blessed Sacrament and listen for His response.

When I go to Adoration with a specific concern or intention, I find it helpful to write down what I want to pray about so I do not become distracted by His presence (or by anything else!) when I am at Adoration and forget to talk to Him about it.

You do not need to have a particular topic you want to talk to Jesus about in Adoration.

Sometimes I go to Adoration just to be with Jesus and I do not have anything specific I want to talk with Him about. I may go to say hello, thank you, to praise Him, or just to spend time with Him. When I go to just be with Him, I often think of His agony in the garden when He asked His apostles to pray with Him.

Before you go to Adoration, decide if there is anything in particular you want to bring to Jesus or if you will go to simply to be with Him, praise Him, or thank Him.

Decide what prayers to pray.

What prayers do you want to pray during your Adoration time?

Will you speak to Jesus as if you were sitting side by side with Him? Will you pray a Rosary, a Divine Mercy Chaplet, or another prayer? LINK TO PRAYERS

Or, you may choose not to plan any specific prayers to pray but plan to pray from your heart while you are in His presence.

Decide what prayers (if any) you want to pray so you can be ready for the next tip:

Plan what you will bring to Adoration.

Will you take your Bible? A prayer book? A spiritual reading book? Your Rosary? LINK BIBLE

I like to plan ahead so I have what I want to use during my Adoration time. Sometimes I end up bringing one of everything and not using them all, but I want to be prepared. ?

Even if you end up not reading your Bible or praying the Rosary during Adoration, having them with you and not using them is better than wishing you had brought them and not having them.

Plan how long to stay.

Will you stay for thirty minutes? An hour? Two hours?

Knowing how your church organizes time in Adoration is helpful. Some churches have sign-ups for Adoration where you commit to a block of time. Other churches have an adoration chapel that is open during certain hours.

You just might plan to stop by between other activities during a day out when you have a bit of time to spend with Our Lord.

Planning how long you will stay (or at least planning the minimum amount of time you will stay) helps you to plan your time well and decide what you want to bring with you.

The longer you plan to stay, the more you may want to bring! For example, if you plan to stay about half an hour, you may plan to only bring your Rosary and a notebook (if you like to write like I do!). If you plan to stay an hour or more, you may plan to bring your Rosary, and your Bible or a prayer book, and a notebook.

Have an open heart. Be flexible.

Even when you make a plan, know that God sometimes has a different plan in mind! That is okay. It is important for us to open our hearts to God and what He has to tell us instead of rigidly sticking with our original plans.

Sometimes I do follow my plan regarding what I want to talk to Jesus about or what prayers I want to pray.

Other times I walk into Adoration with a plan and Jesus has another plan for me. This is just like visiting with a friend we know. Sometimes our conversations go in one predictable direction and other times they take an unexpected turn.

Going to Adoration is about opening up a conversation with Jesus. You may have something on your mind to talk or pray about and He has something to say to you as well.

While it is helpful to have a plan before going to Adoration, it is good to be flexible and know that God may have a different plan for your time together. And we know His plans are always the best ones. ?

Go with love.

Go to Adoration with love for God in your heart. Try not to go feeling like you H-A-V-E to go, like a three-year-old whining about taking a nap when she wants to eat ice cream instead.

Sometimes we may not feel 100% like going to Adoration, but we know it will be good to go and we want to make time in our lives to be with Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration. If we find ourselves grumbling a bit about going, we can ask God to help us to have a better attitude and look forward to going to visit Him.

We can also pray for those who do not have the opportunity to go to Adoration because of work schedules, an illness, or oppression of religious freedom where they live. We can go and offer our time for them and their intentions as well.

Have a blessed time in Adoration.

To help you make the most of your time visiting Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in Adoration, remember these tips. Remember, too, that God loves you so much that He created YOU and died for YOU. Spending time with Him in Adoration is a great gift-to both you and Jesus.

• Plan when to go to Adoration.
• Decide to have a specific focus (or not) for this Adoration time.
• Decide what prayers to pray.
• Plan what to will bring to Adoration.
• Plan how long to stay.
• Have an open heart. Be flexible.
• Go with love.

Be sure to leave a comment below with your favorite tips for going to Adoration.