Time with the Blessed Sacrament

I really was looking forward to Tuesday Mass at Holy Family of Nazareth this evening. I left work around 5:15p so I could make the 5:30p mass. However, when I got in the car, I realized that I had forgotten to pick up my dry cleaning, so after waiting a while to pick it up and make my way to Irving, I didn't make it to the chapel until 5:45p. By the time I got there, the mass was already over. Must have been a quick one today.

I really had a strong desire to spend time with the Eucharist, so I went and sat in the Blessed Sacrament chapel. Due to the events of the day, my mind was racing. I spent about 5-10 minutes simply sitting there, trying to get my mind to stop racing.

I tried to read a bit, but my brain was still all over the place. I then spent a while praying a Divine Mercy Chaplet and praying a Joyful Mysteries set of the Rosary. I went back to my Magnificat, and I read the scriptures from today. The scriptures were really confusing, so I tried doing the technique I learned in my RCIA retreat, to read it in the style of Lectio Divina. But I got nada. Here's the reading:

Gospel
Mark 8:14-21

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, 'Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod.'
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
'Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?'
They answered him, 'Twelve.'
'When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?'
They answered him, 'Seven.'
He said to them, 'Do you still not understand?'

I was feeling pretty bad. I still didn't understand the scripture. I was trying to get calm, but I still felt a little frazzled. I finally said a few small prayers and decided to leave.

I got up, and went into the foyer and read a bulletin for the church. I noticed that the two people who were in there before me had left. I quietly walked back into the Blessed Sacrament chapel. I was alone in there, just me and the quiet and the tabernacle. I sat in the front row of this small room, and I just started talking, really pouring out my struggles, and my gratitude, and my happiness. I was able to have a nice, long talk with God, right there in the Blessed Sacrament chapel. After I talked a while, I got up and checked out what was going on in the room. I saw that they have a sign-up sheet for 24-hours of perpetual adoration. So I guess it's a 24-hour adoration chapel.

When I left, I felt serene again. The burdens of the day were gone, and I felt "together" again. I'm sure it was a combination of the quiet and spending time with Christ in the tabernacle. It was very much worth my time. I think I'm going to start going on a regular basis to spend time in the chapel after work, and not just going to mass.