‘Adore Him’ Hit Theaters October 4

Bld Fulton Sheen spent an hour every day in Eucharistic Adoration and credited with his success on his TV show "Life Is Worth Living".

From Aleteia

By David Ives

Is participating in Eucharistic Adoration really that transformative? Watch the film and see for yourself.

"What does God need with a starship?" That’s the question a skeptical Captain Kirk poses in the movie Star Trek V: The Final Frontier when a disembodied voice claiming to be the Almighty demands passage on the USS Enterprise. Kirk’s query is a simple and honest one; why would an omnipresent being have any need for a physical vessel to travel through space? Well, there are no starships in the new docudrama Adore Him, but the film does posit somewhat similar musings.

Adore Him is the latest feature from the producers of Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist. While that movie explored the biblical origins of the Eucharist and its importance to Christians, Adore Him narrows its focus to Eucharistic Adoration, the practice of spending time in prayer or contemplation before a consecrated host as it sits within a monstrance. Now, to someone not familiar with the custom, the very description of Adoration likely raises some questions, including one that may sound a bit familiar to fans of Captain Kirk: What does a God whom you can pray to anywhere or anytime need with a physical vessel like a monstrance?

The short answer is that God doesn’t need such a thing because God lacks nothing, but He does sometimes make use of things anyway. (Things like a monstrance, that is, not a spaceship. Not yet, anyway.) To illustrate why this is, the movie features numerous vignettes based on incidents in Scripture in which people encounter God in tangible ways, most notably through the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy of Holies. What makes the Ark and the Holy of Holies of particular interest, the film points out, is that God specifically commanded they be constructed so His presence could reside within them. He didn’t need them, but He insisted on them. Why?

Well, for our benefit, of course. As the film explains, God, who is not material, chooses to deal with us material creatures through signs we can see and approach. In part, it’s a way to show us that He is not some distant deity, but one who is right here with us. And if that was true for the Ark and the Holy of Holies, how much more true is it with a consecrated host, the Sacramental body of Christ itself, within a monstrance?

Adore Him film

Once it gets that initial question out of the way, Adore Him is then free to explore the primary reason the film was made, that is the supposition that time spent before the Blessed Sacrament changes everything, from our personal lives to the life of a parish. Through testimonials and interviews with clergy and laymen from around the world, the filmmakers do their best to illustrate that even a few moments each week spent in Adoration can have positive life-altering results. That should come as no surprise, though, as one would expect sitting in the presence of God to do that very thing.

Of special interest given Blessed Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s recent beatification is the interview with his cousin, Rosemarie Holliger Costello, in which she discusses Sheen’s intense belief in the power of keeping a Holy Hour with the Eucharist. As Deacon Steve Greco, one of the film’s producers, notes, "Many have said that Sheen will be the ‘patron saint’ of the Holy Hour, and we believe that our movie underscores his personal devotion and what the Church has always invited us to partake in as a way to grow closer to Jesus truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. Like Sheen, we pray many will take up this devotion and see their lives transform!"

Is participating in Eucharistic Adoration really that transformative? You can let all those who participated in Adore Him make their case when Fathom Events presents the film in theaters between October 4 and October 8. Get tickets here.