The Holy Hour of Adoration
"COULD YOU NOT WATCH ONE HOUR WITH ME?"
“The time you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the best time that you will spend on earth. Each moment that you spend with Jesus will deepen your union with Him and make your soul everlastingly more glorious and beautiful in Heaven…”
– Mother Teresa
It was a Sunday like any other nearly ten years ago when I answered a call that changed my life. Amid the announcements that typically follow our Sunday Mass was a plea for adorers, a call for us in the pew to consider signing up for one hour a week to help fill the hours needed for a perpetual adoration chapel that had been opened in our area. Because every hour of every day must have an adorer, all such eucharistic chapels need at least 168 participants every week, not including scores of substitutes.
At the time I was expecting twins, (our fourth and fifth children) and directing the Religious Education Program at our parish. I felt a great satisfaction in doing work for the Church. I was sad knowing that soon with the arrival of the twins, I would have to give up that work. Sitting there that Sunday morning, I thought that volunteering for one hour a week was at least something I could still do for Jesus, so I phoned the coordinator and asked what hours still needed filling. I was given the 10 p.m. hour on Friday night.
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you.”
— John 15:16
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One country has kept Catholicism in the attic for centuries. The other has kept Catholicism alive, even on uninhabited islands.
How can we convert this culture of death? Through education, public action, pastoral leadership — and faith.