There is a story from the life of Mother Teresa that frequently comes to mind any time I think about going to adoration. A sister from her order had been complaining that an hour of adoration each day was too much—that it was competing with all her other duties and taking away from the service she could give to the poor. This little sister felt overwhelmed and too busy, and her first thought was to decrease the amount of time she spent before the Blessed Sacrament. But Mother Teresa proposed a different solution: she proposed that instead of spending one hour of adoration, the sister would now spend two before the Blessed Sacrament. The fruit of spending more time in prayer, rather than less, was that the hours seemed to multiply before her eyes—for the Lord is not to be outdone in generosity, and when we are generous with Him, He pours out His graces upon us.

It can be very easy for us to center ourselves in everything. It is a part of human nature or, perhaps, a consequence of original sin, that we struggle to focus our gaze towards the Other. There is no greater remedy to this than to go to adoration, for it is at the feet of Our Lord that we learn Who and what Love is, and how to imitate Him. But it can be difficult to attain this disposition, especially if our first concern is about what we will receive, rather than on what we can give. Here are a couple of suggestions for how to give more through your holy hour. 

Because our needs are so great, we can focus so much on what is troubling us that our prayers become litanies of complaints, and we forget that we are speaking to a Person, not a wall. We remain focused on ourselves. Try to remember that Our Lord knows our needs before we speak of them (Matthew 6:8). What He desires is for us to lay down our worries at His feet and to forget them as we gaze upon Him. We come to Christ like St. Martha, “troubled about many things,” (Luke 10:41) but He desires that we, like her sister Mary, sit at His feet and “[choose] the better part” (Luke 10:42). As you gaze up at the monstrance bearing the Blessed Sacrament, try to picture yourself laying your burdens at His feet. Picture yourself laying down your cross for just a little while, “you who are burdened,” and believe that He “will refresh you” (Matthew 11:28). Learn from Him, who is “meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest to your [soul]” (Matthew 11:29). 

Our Lord told us that if we ask, “it shall be given” to us; “seek, and you shall find” (Matthew 7:7). He certainly wants us to ask for what we need, but He also wants to be loved, and to be loved tenderly. In an apparition to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Our Lord said these words: 

“Behold this Heart which has so loved men that it spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return, I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love.” 

We must try, though our needs seem so great, to approach the Blessed Sacrament to console, not to be consoled. We are His creatures, and He has no need of us—but He created us out of love and He desires that we love Him with our whole hearts, and above all things (Matthew 22:37). Or, to put it another way: consider a friend that you see rarely, but when you do see her, you only speak about yourself and your own problems—while you forget to speak to her about her needs and interests and problems. You would not be a very good friend to her! Likewise, consider how Our Lord is offended by the sins of mankind every day, and when you are before Him in Adoration, offer up your time to Him as a consolation, and resolve to think of and love His Sacred Heart wherever you go. 

Remember that if you go to Adoration, it is because He called you to Him first. Thank Him for drawing you closer to Him, and when you find yourself before Him in the monstrance, try to think less of what you might receive, but of what you can give.