It is beautiful and silent—so silent that you might not believe the feed is live if not for the occasional flicker of a flame caused by one Benedictine nun of Tyburn convent moving in and bowing as she takes her place before the Blessed Sacrament, while another bows and takes her leave.
And then, of course, there is the perpetual movement of light and shadow as the day progresses—another reminder that the image on your monitor is not a static photograph, but something alive, being transmitted via “live feed” directly to where you are. To where each of us are. Whatever is happening within the mysterious waves and crackles of electricity—a live energetic force that few of us really understand—what it is being delivered to us in real time is access to the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, adorned in a monstrance and situated in a monastic chapel in the busy (but not today) and noisy (but not this week) city of London, which is suddenly very near to New York.
With these words, Elizabeth Scalia begins this column on the value of watching Mass or viewing Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration online. As She said, the online experience is not the same as fully present participation, but it is not without value.
Here is the continuous livestream from the convent in Tyburn, England that she mentions… here, my brothers and sisters, is Jesus: