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Fr Joe Owusu-Ansah shares his experience of Eucharistic adoration

Holy Family parish priest Fr Joe Owusu-Ansah has shared his experience of Eucharistic adoration and the profound impact it has had on his life and ministry.

The Eucharist, Fr Joe Owusu-Ansah said, is the “most tangible encounter we can have with Jesus here on earth”. This is because Jesus has “given himself to us in the Eucharist” so we can “be with him, spend time with him, and also to receive him into our bodies, into our souls” Fr Joe said.

In an interview with the Archdiocese of Southwark for the Hope in Adoration campaign, Fr Joe said that it is by praying before the Lord Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist that we can extend the “amazing encounter” we experience after receiving Holy Communion.

By “sitting with Jesus, gazing at him, allowing him to gaze upon you” and by spending time with him, Fr Joe explains, you “will be transformed”. To help emphasis this point, Fr Joe draws on the Woman at the Well (John 4:1-42). “I love that Scripture” Fr Joe said, which is good for adoration:

“because the woman was in the presence of Jesus and transformation happened”. In adoration, we too are offered the opportunity to “sit still in the presence of our Lord”, to “hear him and allow him” to love us, Fr Joe said.

The impact of Eucharistic adoration has been profound for Fr Joe, both in terms of his spiritual life but also in his ministry. Fr Joe shared an experience of adoration before applying for Holy Orders while he was in seminary. While on retreat, he was having doubts about whether he was ready to commit fully to being a priest. As a teenager, Fr Joe said, “I used to daydream about falling in love and getting married and things like that”. Then, during the retreat, in a “moment of profound silence”, Fr Joe went into the Church and knelt before the tabernacle. In that moment, a verse from Scripture came to mind that a friend had sent came to his mind: “he who has called you is faithful and he will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24). Fr Joe said:

“and in the presence of the Lord in the Eucharist, with these words of Scripture coming to me, I experienced profound peace and trust. That he who has called me is faithful. He will do it.”

This profound moment led to Fr Joe going forward in the seminary and applying for Holy Orders.

In a call for others to seek the Lord Jesus in Eucharistic adoration, Fr Joe said:

“Come and you will be nourished. Come and your heart will be filled… he will fill your hearts, his gaze is refreshing, his gaze is healing, his gaze is comfort, his gaze offers hope. So come and you will be refreshed”.

You can watch the full interview with Fr Joe on our YouTube channel: youtube.co.uk/rcsouthwark1.