By shear luck and God’s grace, when I first became a Catholic, I was given the opportunity to attend Adoration every week. Because of my current situation, this isn’t possible. Now when I want to visit Jesus, I have to pray before the tabernacle in my parish.

There was a time when I thought of this as a trial or a difficulty.

It isn’t. Jesus is still there, really present. The mystery is still alive. What has happened is that the veil between us is now different.

At the consecration in the Mass and during Holy Communion, the only veil is the veil of faith. It really is the Body and Blood of Jesus that we see, now united to God in heaven after the Ascension, but also present here.

At Adoration, in the monstrance, there is an extra veil. Sometimes the glass is not perfect, or the light reflects. And we make do. This is never a problem for the eyes of the faith of a child. Before the tabernacle, with the human art that honours a place where God dwells especially, the veil has changed; but Jesus is still there. There is no distance, only a veil. What a wonder this all is.