Prayer of St Peter Julian Eymard for Perpetual Adoration

St Peter Julian Eymard SS.S. (1811-1868), the «Apostle of the Eucharist», founded in 1856 the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament (Blessed Sacrament Fathers) and, in 1858, the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, with the sole end of perpetual Eucharistic Adoration and of the propagation of love for the Most Blessed Eucharist. His spiritual works — among which La Sainte Eucharistie in nine volumes — formed generations of adorers. He was canonised by St John XXIII on 9 December 1962, during the Second Vatican Council, and proclaimed by St John Paul II «outstanding Apostle of the Eucharist». The prayer that follows is composed from the keys of his spirituality.

Lord Jesus Christ, holy and unspotted Host exposed on the altars of the world, I adore you at this moment as already for centuries the faithful adore you, without ceasing, in the chapels of Perpetual Adoration scattered over the Earth.

Through the intercession of St Peter Julian Eymard, Apostle of your Eucharist, grant me three graces:

The first: the grace to make my whole life a continuous adoration — not only the hour I spend on my knees before the Tabernacle, but my work, my meal, my sickness, my sleep, offered as the prolongation of my Eucharistic Adoration.

The second: the grace of the longing for the tabernacle — that my soul may feel, throughout the day, the longing for the place where you are, and that my first stop in the city may always be a church, to visit you.

The third: the grace of reparatory adoration for those who leave you alone in the tabernacle. May my little vigil console you somewhat of the immense solitude in which the indifferent world leaves you.

St Peter Julian Eymard, Apostle of the Eucharist, pray for us, that we may be as you were: Eucharistic souls.

Amen.