Adoro Te Devote Series, Vol. 1
“O Godhead hid, devoutly I adore Thee, Who truly art within the forms before me; To Thee my heart I bow with bended knee, As failing quite in contemplating Thee.”
-Saint Thomas Aquinas, Adoro Te Devote Prayer
A little over a year ago, I first heard about Our Church’s call for a National Eucharistic Revival, and I knew I wanted to do my part with the help of my trusty paintbrushes, but had no idea what to paint…
There were plenty of Catholic artists creating beautiful pictures of Monstrances, the Blessed Sacrament, etc. And here I was suffering from extreme postpartum brain fog after the birth of our third baby. I have never experienced brain fog so bad in my life…I seriously felt like I had lost half of my mind.
I struggled to think of the most basic words in conversations. I was constantly putting pantry staples in the freezer and perishables in the cabinets by accident…
Furthermore, all of this seemed to coincide with a deep desire to go to regular Eucharistic Adoration, something that is not offered in our area at the time (the nearest parish that offers Eucharistic Adoration regularly is around an hour away…)
This absence only strengthened my desire to create art specifically to spread awareness and devotion to Christ’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament.
But, again… For lack of better words, I felt flat-out dumb from all the brain fog. Ideas just weren’t flowing. And I felt completely incapable of answering this call.
Nope. I truly believed Jesus couldn’t use me to share about the Eucharist with my paintbrushes.
Except…
It turns out He could.
And he didn’t even need my foggy brain to know what He was about. He just needed my desire to adore Him… I need not try to figure out what to paint…but simply stand back and trust that He would move whenever and however He saw best.
It’s time for another little “Fiat”
As I reflect on the paintings I have completed in the past 15 months, I am in awe at how Jesus heard my prayer and silently worked in the background.
The majority of these paintings (including gifts and commissions) have ended up Eucharistic in theme…and most definitely not through my own intent.
They weren’t the most obvious at first. Sometimes I didn’t realize the Eucharistic themes until mid-painting. On one occasion in particular, it took a random stranger telling me how a painting I did pointed to Christ’s presences in the Eucharist…
The brain fog naturally created a fear of writing as well…so I’ve mostly kept all of this to myself, silently praising Jesus…
But the whole name behind my ministry, “This Little Fiat”, is about saying “yes” in the small things. And since the brain fog is (mostly) gone now, it’s finally time to say “Yes” to Jesus again.
To share a little more about how Jesus has been working in these paintings and A LOT more about the Eucharist…the Source and Summit of our faith.
I’ve decided to create a series of emails spanning now throughout Lent all about the Eucharist, and inspired by Saint Thomas Aquinas’ prayer, “Adoro Te Devote.”
“Adoro te devote”
Translation…
“To Thee we adore, O hidden Savior.”
After some encouragement from others….I’ve decided to send one email every Wednesday from now through the end of Lent. I will regroup afterwards to see if this once-a-week email is feasible for a busy mom/artist like myself.
My hope is that these emails remain faith-based over sales-based, and intend for them to include the following themes:
In-depth reflections on Eucharistic elements in recent (and upcoming!) paintings of mine
Invitations to Adore
Eucharist in Scripture/Catechism
Eucharistic Miracles
And, of course, fun sacred art updates along the way.
One more thing…
If you know me, you know that I will be siting pretty much EVERYTHING. Because, I am deeply convicted that we shouldn’t believe any random stranger on the internet, especiallly with the rise of AI, which has been known to incorrectly “write”/twist Church teachings.
I can relay to you all that I have learned from books, scripture, the Catechism, you-name-it… but I am NO theologian, which means YOU have a duty to look into these things yourself and talk about them with Jesus in prayer.
Bonus points if you talk it over with Him at Eucharistic Adoration ;)
Peace to you and yours,
Haley Dessauer
