"Lord, stay with us."
These words were spoken for the first time by the disciples of Emmaus. Subsequently in the course of the centuries they have been spoken, an infinite number of times, by the lips of so many of Your disciples and confessors, O Christ…
I speak the same words today. I speak them to invite You, Christ, in Your eucharistic presence, to accept the daily adoration continuing through the entire day, in this temple, in this basilica, in this chapel.
Stay with us and stay, from now on, every day, according to the desire of my heart…
Stay! That we may meet You in the prayer of adoration and thanksgiving, in the prayer of expiation and petition, to which all those who visit this basilica are invited.
Stay! You who are at one and the same time veiled in the eucharistic mystery of faith and are also revealed under the species of bread and wine, which You have assumed in this sacrament.
Stay! That Your presence in this temple may be incessantly reconfirmed, and that all those who enter her may become aware that it is Your house, "the dwelling of God…with men," and, visiting this basilica, may find in it the very source of life and holiness that gushes from Your eucharistic heart.
L’Osservatore Romano, 12-14-81, 10-11
