Seven Years of Meeting God at 5 AM

Image Credit: Ourladyofthelake.com

For seven years I was a nocturnal adorer at the Newman Center near the University of Pittsburgh. I covered the Friday morning slot from 5:00 to 6:00 AM. I originally signed up for the slot because I thought it would do me good to force myself to slow down, be still and be silent in the presence of the Eucharist for at least one hour a week.

It was easy enough to do this at first, when I was new to the practice and full of enthusiasm, but as one week followed another and the seasons changed from spring to summer, and from fall to winter I began to suspect that something greater was at work in what I was experiencing.

The practice of getting up at 3:30 every Friday morning was becoming a habit. My colleagues at work thought it was crazy to do this if one didn’t have to. There were plenty of times when I thought that it would be easier simply to sleep in and to let someone else cover my shift.

Sometimes I would come to adoration feeling on top of the world because everything seemed to be going fine; other times I would bring anxiety over unpaid bills or worries about what the diagnosis might be from the test results from a medical exam. Some nights were warm and bright in the full moonlight; I wanted to be outside. Others were dark, cold, rainy, or snowy and I had to force myself out of the house to make my Holy Hour for the week.

Gradually, I began to feel the presence of God through all the variations of emotional highs and emotional lows, through wet and dry weather, through the warmth and the cold. The “voice” of God was consistent, drawing me closer and drawing me deeper. I began to notice the presence of Christ outside of the adoration chapel, not just when I was inside of it.

The presence I felt was consistency within the variation, and a deeper fascination with the word of God. Above all, it became a desire and a willingness to open up to receive more.