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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As we head into our second full week of Lent, it’s time for
all of us to re-commit ourselves to everything that we said that we
would do for Lent. Yeah, this is the week when maybe we start to
get a little lazy, and we listen to the temptations a little more,
and pretty soon, we’re thinking about not giving up what we said
that we would, or not praying those extra prayers, or not giving
that extra donation to the HELP Committee or Shepherd’s Gate Food
Pantry. It’s that time where it is just a little too easy to back
away from our commitments for Lent. DON’T DO IT! If you’re being
tempted, it must mean that your efforts are working and that the
devil is not pleased with your results. Now is not the time to
quit. Now is the time to try even harder to show your love for the
Lord.
Another area of our communal Parish life that I’d like to
talk about today, is our community’s commitment to Eucharistic
Adoration. Several years ago now, even before we moved into our new
church building, our Parish made a commitment to Eucharistic
Adoration. We currently have Eucharistic Adoration from 6:00 AM
until Midnight, Monday through Friday, every week. And we have it
on every Saturday from 6:00 AM until 9:00 PM. We took on this
commitment, this responsibility, wanting to eventually expand to
Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, seven days a week, twenty-four
hours a day. We have a ways to go before we get to that point. And
we will need the Perpetual Adoration Chapel that has been designed
and planned to accommodate that kind of non-stop usage. We’ll get
there soon enough. And yet before we get there, I think that it is
time for all of us to re-commit ourselves to the great value of
praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament. We know that in the late
20th
Century, everyone from Pope John Paul II to St. Padre Pio of
Pietrelcina, from Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to our current Pope,
Benedict XVI, and so many other great Faith leaders have called all
of us to Eucharistic Adoration and to making Holy Hours in the front
of the Blessed Sacrament. The day is not coming, the day is here
when ALL CATHOLICS should be making a Holy Hour and doing
Eucharistic Adoration. How about you? When are you making YOUR
Holy Hour?
If you currently have a scheduled hour on our weekly
Adoration schedule, thank you! You already know what an
extraordinary blessing it is to spend an hour with Jesus in the
Blessed Sacrament each week. Please keep up the good work. Be
faithful to your hour. If you can’t be there, get a replacement.
Make sure each week that during your hour, our prayer continues, so
that the Eucharist is never alone. Before or after your Holy Hour,
please make sure that you sign-in in our logbook, so that we know
you were there. The logbook is located on the table in the north
side entryway. If you do NOT currently have an assigned hour,
please consider taking one immediately. Lent is the perfect time to
begin regular Eucharistic Adoration. We need everybody to take an
hour. Right now, there should be several people assigned to each
hour. And there isn’t. In fact, right now there are four critical
hours where we have NO ONE to pray and to keep the prayer going in
front of the Blessed Sacrament. Those critical hours are Thursdays
at 5:00 PM and Fridays at 2:00 PM. Now, I know that there is
somebody out there reading this right now that not only can take
each one of those four hours, but even more, I know that God is
calling you to take one of those hours. These hours have been
listed in the bulletin for a couple of weeks. If you don’t
currently have an hour, how about signing up for one of these four?
Can’t do it every week? Then how about sharing an hour with a
friend? Working together, I know we can do this. Spending an hour
each week with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is a privilege. It
can change your whole perspective. There’s a reason why so many in
the Church are calling all of us to Eucharistic Adoration. It is
because it works and it helps to keep us connected to Jesus! Find
you hour soon. Maybe you can’t do one of four critical hours. But
all of us can find some time to get in there and pray.
We pray this weekend for our young people attending
Destination Jesus. This year, St. Maria Goretti sent its largest
delegation yet, with nearly one hundred high school students going
from our Parish! May each one of them grow in their Faith as they
join with hundreds of other Catholic youth at this retreat.
Have a great week! Fr. Stan Fortuna joins us next weekend
as we kick-off our Parish Lenten Mission. It is going to be GREAT
!!!
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.
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