I had never even heard of a Holy Hour or Eucharistic Adoration until I moved here. And it’s quite possible the whole idea would never have occurred to me if I hadn’t hooked up early on with a wonderful group of ladies who are actively pursuing increased knowledge of our faith. Still, our parish doesn’t – or didn’t – offer Adoration and, aside from occasional pilgrimages to other churches, I believe in sticking with the parish God has given me, so long as it’s failings aren’t leading the faithful down that wide, wide road to you-know-where. Our parish has many failings, but I don’t believe we’re heading that way, at least not yet. On the other hand, I’m not so sure we’re heading upwards, either.
Well, as God would have it, as we grew in faith, our longing for deeper communication with our Lord began to weigh heavy on our hearts, and we organized a potluck luncheon for our good Father C. with the intention of convincing him that our parish is positively hungry for Eucharistic Adoration. He disagreed, to our dismay, but in the next breath, he gave us permission to set up the monstrance ourselves, to remove our Lord and God from his usual place of repose in the tabernacle and to expose and adore Him in His golden throne upon the altar. “You can do that?” I exclaimed in genuine surprise. I had thought that something like this would fall firmly into the realm of priestly duties. “I can if I trust you,” he retorted. We have Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist in our midst and we all hold this responsibility and honor in the highest regard so, even though we were saddened by Father’s unwillingness to oversee, we ran with it.
We now have Adoration for two hours on Tuesday mornings. I went for the first few weeks, but I quickly found that it was interfering with my God-given responsibilities as wife and mother, especially with regard to homeschooling, and I prayerfully decided that this morning Adoration was not what He desired of me. We hope to add some evening hours in the future, but for now, I make a point to go when I feel disordered, or I just go at another time of day, even though He is not exposed. (Exposition is not necessary for Adoration.) We are fortunate in that our church is unlocked and available to parishioners most of the day. Many, fearing vandalism, aren’t.
As we blog readers have short attention spans, I’ll end here for today. Tomorrow, I will try to express to you how Adoration affects me and offer some resources that I have found profitable.
We have gotten out of the habit of daily Mass, thanks to me. I always think I am too busy, but as I was watering the garden this morning, I began to wonder. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t I schedule everything else around Mass? Hmm. Think I might just head over to the Church today!
Dear Jenny,
I just wanted to share the canon law in regards to this with you, since knowledge is power.
Can. 943 – The minister of exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament and of eucharistic benediction is a priest or deacon; in special circumstances, the minister of exposition and reposition alone without benediction is the acolyte, extraordinary minister of holy communion, or someone else designated by the local ordinary; the prescripts of the diocesan bishop are to be observed.
So, I guess I would make sure that this falls in line with your bishop’s prescripts. Either write to him or see him in person, whichever your situation allows. Be bold and ask/question. In these uncertain times in The Church, we, the laity, unfortunately have to “question” our priest’s and their actions, and not just the laity. We are called to do so.
If you would like a source to reference in regards to The Church and what is going on in it today, I highly recommend http://www.realcatholictv.com It is truth reporting and very informative. It is also free.
God bless you and your family.
Thank you! I did look up the Canon Law on this, because it really does matter, and I don’t believe we are out of line. Our priest is responsible for two parishes, with several nursing homes and a prison falling under his care, too. Our parish is pretty large and both are pretty active and I just don’t think he is able to offer what we want with regards to Adoration. He doesn’t want to prevent us, though, either, so I guess this is probably the best we can do at this time.
What we really need is a full time priest!
I believe in sticking with the parish God has given me, so long as it’s failings aren’t leading the faithful down that wide, wide road to you-know-where.
I feel this way, too!
I hadn’t realized when I Twittered you the other day, asking if you had been to Adoration, that you had indeed AND that you’d help start it up. Good for you!
I used to go in the evenings but my church was dark and empty and quiet and when one evening a man was waiting outside to ask about Adoration, I got creeped out, went home and returned my church key the very next week. I do love it, though, and shall have to figure out a way to go during the day somehow – I just don’t know how! I could probably take the kids with me. Hmmm… *mental wheels turning*
I like it dark and empty and quiet, though the parking lot outside is an entirely different matter.
The children really enjoy going to Adoration, too. Even the very young ones. They last anywhere from ten minutes to a half hour and I tell them beforehand that when they are done talking with Jesus, they may quietly go to the back of the church and play quietly in the cry room. (It helps a lot to bring quiet toys for them to play with, and I bet it would help even more if they were unique to that one hour per week. (I need to talk out loud most of the time in order to come up with these helpful ideas.
)) That gives the rest of us a bit more time. Nobody is required to make the whole hour, not even the big kids, so there is no pressure on anyone. Just productive prayer time all around.
Before I started writing this, I was planning on making a weekly holy hour by myself, but I can see now that is not the right thing to do. This is something we are meant to do together and I think we can very easily dedicate one afternoon each week to Jesus.
Thanks, Dawn!
Good for you for sticking with a less-than-perfect-parish (like you said, as long as it’s not, erm, out of hand). Parish shopping, while I can see where it might be necessary at times, worries me because it seems to encourage division in the church. We made the same decision with ours and it has made quite a turn around in the last couple of years and is a wonderful place.