Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration
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Our goal is to have "two adorers" for each hour.
We invite you to come and spend any hour with our Lord. If you would like to commit to a specific time/day, please contact the parish office for more information.
During a Holy Hour we grow more and more into His likeness
-Bishop Fulton Sheen
Catholics believe that during the Mass, the priest speaks these words as he holds the communion host, "...He took bread and gave you thanks. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: Take this all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you". When the priest says "this my body", it is at that instant when, through the miracle of transubstantiation, the bread and wine which we offer as the bloodless sacrifice to our Lord truly become the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. It is His true Presence in the form of bread and wine. It is Christ.
Perpetual Adoration is when the priest takes a consecrated host, such as the one described above, and places it in a monstrance. The monstrance is then placed in front of the tabernacle or on the altar of the church or chapel for adoration.
What do you actually do during adoration?
You may sign up to be an "adorer" which allows you to schedule yourself for one or more hours per week to pray before the very presence of Our Lord, exposed in the monstrance. It means that you can have some time alone with Jesus to recite your favorite prayers, read the bible, contemplate acts of faith, hope, charity, thanksgiving, reparation, pray a rosary or do whatever type of prayerful devotion that suits you before Our Lord. You can just sit and say nothing simply keeping Him company, just as you would with a dear friend.
The article, "Mexican City Sees Stunning Drop in Violence as Adoration Increases," by Patty Knap in the National Catholic Register reveals just one example of the power of perpetual adoration.
St. Joseph Catholic Church Adoration Chapel hours are from 6 am - 9 pm daily. We do not currently have perpetual adoration.
Pope Benedict XVI reiterated that in the Eucharist we experience the fundamental transformation of violence into love, of death into life; the Body and Blood of Christ are offered so that we ourselves may in turn be transformed. Pope Benedict XVI also requested that Eucharist adoration be intensified through a greater awareness of this mystery, in complete fidelity to Sacred Tradition, and through the enrichment of our community's liturgical life.
Eucharistic adoration is simply the natural consequence of the Eucharistic celebration, which is itself the Church's supreme act of adoration. Receiving the Eucharist means adoring him whom we receive. Only in this way do we become one with him, and are given, as it were, a foretaste of the beauty of the heavenly liturgy. The act of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place during the liturgical celebration itself. Indeed, "Only in adoration can a profound and genuine reception mature. And it is precisely this personal encounter with the Lord that then strengthens the social mission contained in the Eucharist, which seeks to break down not only the walls that separate the Lord and ourselves, but also and especially the walls that separate us from one another."
- Sacramentum Caritatis no. 66, Pope Benedict XVI
Why Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration?
- You are greatly needed!
"The Church and the world have a great need of Eucharistic Adoration." (Pope John Paul II, Dominicae Cenae) - The Eucharist is the center of life.
"Every member of the Church must be vigilant in seeing that the sacrament of Love shall be at the center of the life of the people of God so that through all the manifestations of worship due Him shall be given back "love for love" and truly become the life of our souls." (Pope John Paul II, Redeemer of Man) - Your hour with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament will repair for evils of the world and bring about peace on earth.
"Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Jesus and ready to make reparation for the great evils of the world. Let your adoration never cease." (Pope John Paul II, Dominicai Cenae) - Day and night Jesus dwells in the Blessed Sacrament.
"Christ is reserved in our churches as the spiritual center of the heart of the community, the universal Church and all humanity, since within the veil of the species, Christ is contained, the Invisible Heart of the Church, the Redeemer of the world, the center of all hearts, by Him all things are and of whom we exist." (Pope Paul IV, Mysterium Fidei) - You are called to do more than to go to Mass on Sunday.
"Our communal worship at Mass must go together with our personal worship of Jesus in Eucharistic adoration in order that our love may be complete." (Pope John Paul II, Redeemer of Man) - You grow spiritually with each moment you spend with Jesus!
"Our essential commitment in life is to preserve and advance constantly in Eucharistic life and Eucharistic piety and to grow spiritually in the climate of the Holy Eucharist." (Pope John Paul II, Redeemer of Man) - The best time you spend on earth is with Jesus, your Best Friend, in the Blessed Sacrament!
"How great is the value of conversation with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, for there is nothing more consoling on earth, nothing more efficacious for advancing along the road of holiness!" (Pope Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei) - If Jesus were actually visible in church, everyone would run to adore Him, but as He remains hidden in the Sacred Host we are called to come to Him in humility.
"The Blessed Sacrament is the "Living Heart" of each of our churches and it is our very sweet duty to honor and adore the Blessed Host, which our eyes see, the Incarnate Word, Whom they cannot see." (Pope Paul VI, Credo of the People of God)
What is Eucharistic Adoration?
Eucharistic Miracles