The Four Ends of Eucharistic Adoration

The Four Causes of Aristotle

In studying the history of philosophy, one inevitably comes across the classic theory of the four "causes" of Aristotle. The ancient Greek philosopher from the 4ᵗʰ century BC posits the existence of four causes to explain why things exist or change. These causes answer the most fundamental and ultimate questions in regard to (1) what something is made of (the material cause); (2) what makes it be what it is and not something else (the formal cause); (3) what brings about its existence or change (the efficient cause); and (4) what is its purpose, goal, or end (the final cause). Of these four causes, the last one is, in a certain sense, the most important because it helps us understand the ultimate reason for which something exists. For example, in regard to man, these four causes would answer the questions: (1) What is man made of materially? (2) What makes him a human being and not something else? (3) How did he come to exist? And (4) Why does he exist (to what purpose or end)? The answers to the above questions are provided by philosophy (the pursuit of wisdom) but also more profoundly by the Catholic Faith, which is based on Divine Revelation. They can be summarized as the following:

1. The material cause of man is his body;

2. The formal cause of man is his soul;

3. The efficient cause of man is the act of procreation by his parents — and ultimately the creation of His soul by God Himself, who animates the body and makes it fully alive;

4. The final cause of man is to glorify God (this is ultimate reason for which all creatures exist).

Now these four causes can be applied to any reality that exists, either material or spiritual. And it is a well-known fact that St. Thomas Aquinas "baptized" the four-cause theory of Aristotle by applying it to Catholic truths. In this blog post, I would like to use this theory of the four causes to examine the Catholic practice of Eucharistic Adoration in some depth. Specifically, I would like to examine the fourth and ultimate cause of Adoration, its final cause: Why do we adore Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament? What is the goal or purpose of such an action?

If someone who is not familiar with Eucharistic Adoration were to ask you, "Why do you go to Adoration," what would you reply? What reason would you give for "wasting time" before the Blessed Sacrament "doing nothing” — time which allegedly you could make better use of doing something more productive? In order to answer this question well, it is important to know the final cause of Eucharistic Adoration. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is a practice that was willed by God Himself and transmitted to the followers of Christ by Holy Mother Church for His glory. So what does the Church teach us in terms of the reason why we should adore the Blessed Sacrament, i.e. What is the final cause or proper end, the ultimate purpose of such a pious practice?

The Four Ends of the Mass

The reason for which we adore the Blessed Sacrament is the same as the reason for which we attend Holy Mass. This reason is given to us by the Church in her Eucharistic theology, and it is actually four-fold. In theology, it is called "The Four Ends of the Mass."

These four ends of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist can only be understood if we understand correctly what the Mass is. The Catholic Mass is not primarily a fraternal meal: the Mass is first and foremost a sacrifice.

Until the advent of modern Catholicism with the new liturgy of the Mass in 1969, it was not rare to hear of the Catholic Mass being referred to as The Holy Sacrifice. The Mass is the Sacrifice of the Cross made present upon our Catholic Altars. The Altar in a Catholic Church is the place where the Holy Sacrifice of Christ's death on the Cross is made sacramentally present each and every time a Priest offers the Mass. And the four ends of the Mass (that is, the four purposes for which the Mass exists) are all related to the Sacrifice of Calvary.

ADORATION: The first end of the Mass is Adoration. Jesus instituted the Catholic Mass first of all so that God might be adored (worshipped) in the most fitting way possible. The worship of God is, in fact, the primary reason for which God created man. "The glory of God is man fully alive," St. Irenaeus of Lyons famous said, and man is fully alive when he fulfils the purpose for which he was created, which is primarily to glorify God by worshipping Him.

To worship or adore God means to acknowledge that He is the Author and Source of all that exists, and that our very being itself (that is, our act of existence) comes directly from Him. Adoration is the acknowledgement that without God, we are nothing and would not even exist. To worship God in the Mass, and to adore Him in the Blessed Sacrament even outside of Mass, is the primary way in which we fulfil our obligation to God as His beloved creatures. And in Catholic worship, we always worship God as a Trinity. In Eucharistic Adoration, we place ourselves before the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity and worship all three Divine Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) through the Incarnate Word, whose Flesh is truly present upon the Altar and in the Tabernacle.

THANKSGIVING: The second goal or end of the Mass (and of Eucharistic Adoration) is thanksgiving. In fact, the word "Eucharist" (which is often used as a substitute for "Mass" in modern times) comes from the Greek verb Ευχαριστω (Eucharisto) meaning "I give thanks." Thanksgiving is the attitude of someone who is grateful for the blessings or gifts received from another. And this response of gratitude, when it comes to being thankful for the blessings we have received from God, is very pleasing to Our Lord. When Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in Paray-le-Monial, France from 1673-1675, He showed her His Heart and said to her:

Behold the Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify to its love; and yet, in return, I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this great Sacrament of Love.

By these words, Jesus reveals that what hurts Him the most is irreverence, sacrilege, hardness of heart (i.e. indifference), and especially ungratefulness — particularly ungratefulness in regard to the Most Blessed Sacrament, the Sacrament of His love par excellence. This sentiment is echoed in the Apocalypse of St. John (Book of Revelation) in which Jesus reproaches the members of the Church in Laodicea for one primary reason: because they are lukewarm:

And to the angel of the Church of Laodicea write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the beginning of the creation of God: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou wert cold or hot. But because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit thee out of my mouth. -Apoc. 3:14-16

Lukewarmness is a spiritual disease. It is a lack of zeal or fervour. But it also manifests itself as a spirit of ingratitude for God's abundant blessings. One of the ends or goals of Eucharistic Adoration (as of the Mass itself) is thanksgiving. The Mass is the Church's greatest act of thanksgiving to God, and this act of Thanksgiving is prolonged in Eucharistic Adoration. By giving thanks to God through Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, we overcome the sin of lukewarmness. When we are in the Real Presence of Our Lord, it is good to acknowledge before Him that without Him, we are nothing. Every grace, every blessing, everything that is good and holy and true has its origin in God. Jesus Christ's eternal, once-and-for-all Sacrifice on the Cross is the Source of all goodness, and thanksgiving is the acknowledgement of this fundamental truth.

ATONEMENT: The third purpose or end of the Mass (after adoration and thanksgiving) is atonement. Atonement, or reparation, is making amends for sin. Our Lord is the only one who can atone for sin in the proper sense, since He alone is the spotless, immaculate Lamb of God. Only a perfect sacrifice can make atonement for sin because sin offends God who is infinitely holy.

But the Church calls us to add our own acts of reparation to the atoning Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, and thus become co- redeemers with the one true Redeemer. And there is no better place to make amends for sin and to offer our own reparation to God for the sins of the world than before the Eucharistic Presence of Our Lord. In the Blessed Sacrament, we encounter the One who offered up His entire life as one great act of atoning love to God the Father for the forgiveness of sins, and there, as we bask in the glow of the Eternal Priest and Victim, present in that tiny Host, we unite our acts of personal reparation to His atoning Sacrifice: our love offered to Him in exchange for all those who do not love Him; our faith for those who refuse to believe in Him; our hope in Him for those who place their hope in the passing things of this world; and our adoration for those who choose to worship or adore anything other than God, the Most Holy Trinity.

This act of reparation is best summarized in the beautiful prayer taught by the angel to the three young visionaries of Fatima in 1916, the year before the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

O my God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love Thee! I beg Thee forgiveness for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love Thee.

What better place to offer this prayer of reparation to Almighty God than before the Blessed Sacrament? The Blessed Sacrament is the supreme Sacrament of Love, and reparation flows from a heart that is in love with God. This is why the same angel taught the three children of Fatima another prayer in which he made explicit the link between reparation and the Holy Eucharist. This prayer was given to the three young visionaries as he showed them a Host and Chalice suspended in mid air. The angel invited the three children to kneel before the Chalice and Host and taught them the following prayer:

Most Holy Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifferences whereby He is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.

Thus reparation and the Eucharistic Mystery always go hand in hand.

PETITION: And finally, the fourth purpose or end of the Mass and of Eucharistic Adoration is petition. When you are asking a particular favour of an important person such as a king, you can send a delegation to him via a third party to make known your request to the king. But you are much more likely to be granted your desire if you make the effort to present your request to the king in person, in His very presence. And this is why there is no better place to request a particular grace than in the very Presence of Christ the King Himself, who is the Source and Origin of every grace. Thus the fourth end of the Mass and of Eucharistic Adoration is petition: prayers of intercession for the needs of others and of oneself. And the Church, along with many of her saints, acknowledges that the Mass is the best place to bring one's petitions to Almighty God, for there is no better place to pray to Our Lord than from Calvary.

Every Mass places us at the foot of Calvary. And every time we are before the Blessed Sacrament in Eucharistic Adoration, we are in the presence of the Lamb that was sacrificed on Mt. Calvary, the true Lamb of God. Thus, the most fruitful place in which to offer prayers of petition for the salvation of souls is before the Real Presence of the Lamb of Sacrifice in the Holy Eucharist. Petitions that are presented to Our Lord in Eucharistic Adoration have a particularly strong power, because we are in the Presence of the very One to whom our petitions are addressed and Who alone can grant our requests.

CONCLUSION: The purpose of this blog post was to show that the four ends of the Mass (Adoration, Thanksgiving, Atonement/Reparation, and Petition) are perfectly realized in the Holy Sacrifice and prolonged in Eucharistic Adoration. The Most Blessed Sacrament, whether on the Altar or in the Tabernacle, is the fulfilment of all that we are called to be. As Catholics and disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to be members of His Mystical Body the Church, who adore Him, give Him thanks for every blessing, offer Him in reparation to God the Father to atone for our sins (all the while uniting our acts of reparation to His), and make petitions to Him for our salvation and the salvation of all. The Holy Eucharist gives us the opportunity to do all these things, and thus to truly fulfil our mission in this life. We are most perfectly Christian and most perfectly Catholic when we in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament!