Buidling our Adoration Muscle

06-30-2024Weekly ReflectionFr. Robert Aliunzi

Dear Friends,

If you have seen that my smiles have broadened these days, you are correct. Why? Well, this is because the long-awaited Perpetual Adoration Chapel construction is now underway as you have probably seen. This project is dear to my heart as it is in many of yours, I am sure. Yes, for many months, we have longed for, prayed fervently and battled with mundane procedures to reach this moment.

Now that the construction is underway with its completion in sight, I would like to shift our attention to another very important aspect for which this Chapel is precisely being constructed, which is ADORATION. It is now time to begin building our “Adoration Muscle” as one of my staff members fondly refers to this spiritual exercise. But before beginning to build this muscle, allow me to briefly remind you of what Adoration is.

As I might have told you in other fora before, Adoration refers to spending a silent moment in prayer and reflection in the presence of Christ exposed in the form of a host in the monstrance or hidden in the tabernacle. Perpetual Adoration means that we have the opportunity to do this Adoration twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. In order to achieve this spiritual exercise in an uninterrupted manner, individuals (“adorers”) usually make a commitment to take turns being there around the clock. We are going to work out the modalities for signing up for this purpose as we get closer to the completion of our project.

I am pleased to note that here in our Parish, some steps have already been taken towards building this adoration muscle. For instance, every Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have one hour of Adoration also known as Holy Hour soon after the 6:30am Mass. On Wednesdays, we have a full day beginning with Exposition soon after the 8:30am Mass and concluding with Benediction at 6:00pm. In addition, every First Fridays, we have overnight Adoration beginning soon after the 7.00pm Mass concluding before the 8:00am Mass on Saturday morning. Plans are under way to extend more overnight opportunities in the coming months as we prepare for the completion of the construction in a couple of months’ time. We shall also be inviting some speakers well versed with Eucharistic Adoration to prepare us to embrace this awesome opportunity. It is my hope that all these efforts will contribute towards building and strengthening our adoration muscles so that when our chapel is finally completed, we will be better prepared to use it as it is intended.

In the meantime, due to the construction going on, we shall be temporarily relocating our Wednesday and overnight Adorations to the Holy Family Room which is located on the southern part of our parish office until further notice. For more information on this and on the progress with the construction, watch this space!

I love you!