Daily Reflection

This is the worship in private devotion or public cult of Christ present in the Eucharistic elements of the Mass and in the reserved sacrament. Eucharistic adoration is intimately connected with Eucharistic reservation and the evolution of the Eucharistic liturgy itself. It is clear from very early on and perhaps even from the time the gospels were written that the bread and wine of Christian community meals were held in special regard and handled with care and reverence. Such regard would only increase as the Eucharistic ritual with bread and wine was distinguished more and more from the meal of the community and finally separated from it.
During the first millennium, the permanent reservation of the sacrament for the communion of the sick and dying became established in the western church. Though signs of respect might attend the sacrament especially in its use for the sick and dying, there are no indications of external worship, private or public, given to the sacrament as such. In the thousand years, theliturgy of the Mass evolved, becoming a largely clerical ritual observed by the people who could not understand its language and who rarely received communion. Their attention and devotion were focused more and more on viewing the bread and wine, but most especially the host, not as food to be eaten but as object to be adored. Centuries-old attitudes and gestures of reverence for the sacrament within the liturgy were enhanced, emphasized and supplemented. It is largely out of reverence and adoration paid the sacrament within the liturgy that private and public cult of the reserved sacrament began, grew, and flourished after the year 1000.  
Visits to the Blessed Sacrament were recommended for personal devotion. This practice probably stemmed from the general desire to see or at least be in the presence of the sacred host and from priestly and popular salutations of the sacrament which entered the Mass liturgy (eleventh through thirteen centuries). A procession, often with the sacrament exposed in a monstrance for public view, became a key element in the Corpus Christi liturgy (approved in 1264 by Pope Urban IV) and then a recurring devotion on other solemn occasions, churchly or civil.
As an aspect of liturgical and spiritual renewal following Vatican II, Eucharistic reservation and adoration were frequently treated in Roman documents, culminating in Holy Communion and Eucharistic devotion outside Mass (1973). The documents enunciate general principles and norms for Eucharistic adoration. Finally, Eucharistic adoration as a sign of Catholic faith is entirely dependent on the Eucharistic liturgy and communion with the Lord in the church. Adoration must foster a hunger for Eucharistic worship and communion, for conversion in faith, and for ministry to the world.