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Thank you for your interest in helping to organize Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in your parish. The backbone of perpetual adoration is those who are willing to organize it. Just as one cannot walk without a backbone, neither can a parish have perpetual adoration without those who are willing to organize it and keep it going.
To express our great appreciation for you who are willing to help organize and maintain perpetual adoration in your parish, an apostolic letter by Pope John Paul II is presented since the letter gives us a better understanding of the meaning of perpetual adoration and the importance of the Pope's urgent call to establish it in every parish.
The original one hundred and eighty pages of the letter, published on the 30th of December, 1988, is paraphrased for the sake of highlighting the main points as they apply to perpetual adoration. What has been added and integrated into the presentation is the Pope's clarion call during the International Eucharistic Congress of Seville, Spain, in 1993, when he said that his greatest desire for the Church is that perpetual adoration be established in every parish throughout the world.
This letter to Christ's Lay Faithful, or Christifideles Laici, contains an urgency that may be likened to the Pope putting his arm around you and saying: "I need your help". With a strong and personal appeal this letter is like the Pope taking you by the hand and saying: "Please, come help me to bring about the Eucharistic Reign of Christ."
The theme of the letter, "You, too, go into the Vineyard", is the mandate for Eucharistic Evangelization. As Jesus uses the image of the Vine, as a sign for the Eucharist, working in the vineyard is, consequently, working to bring people to the Eucharist.
Since the purpose of evangelization is to help people come to Jesus in the Eucharist, each aspect of organizing perpetual adoration, from helping to make out the schedule to each leader's role of being accountable that his or her hours of responsibility are always covered, is a form of Eucharistic Evangelization.
The Pope states that: "Each is called by name to make a special contribution to the coming of the Kingdom of God. No talent, no matter how small, is to be hidden or left unused." (cf. Mt 25:14-30)
With every word you speak, whether on the telephone or during individual or group discussions, God uses your voice as a form of evangelization. Every word you speak is accompanied by His grace and will encourage each person to come to the Eucharist.
In the words of the song, it is like Jesus saying: "I just called to say I love you." Without specifically saying it, each conversation you have represents the meaning of the Blessed Sacrament and what a chapel of perpetual adoration is all about; God loves you, Christ came for you, Christ is for you. "This makes us ambassadors for Christ; God, as it were, appealing through us." (2 Cor 5:20)
With permission from the parish priest, there should also be an effort to reach out to those who do not go to Church. Fishers of Men can visit every house in the parish to let the people know that perpetual adoration is being organized and that they are invited as well as needed to commit themselves to an hour.
When visited in the home, it is surprising how many people who do not go to Church are, nevertheless, attracted to the idea of a chapel always open. The appeal speaks to the personal need deep inside of each individual. It is easier for a person to spend a quiet hour with Jesus in prayer than it is for the same person to come back to Church on Sunday. Our role is to help them come to Jesus Who will give each one the grace of returning to the sacramental life of the Church.
An open chapel makes Jesus approachable. Here He perpetuates His own Gospel mission of animating all who come to Him, infusing each one with His Spirit as He pours out His love and mercy upon everyone who comes into His Presence.
We must remember that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Pope John Paul II says that all humanity may be likened to the prodigal child on a journey back to the Father's house. This is why the chapel should be accessible to all people since a chapel of perpetual adoration is for all people.
Like the Father waiting for the return of His child, in the chapel of perpetual adoration Jesus waits with open arms to lavish the Father's love and grace upon all who come to Him.
Protestant Christians can also be invited to spend an hour with Jesus as authentic ecumenism is sharing the riches of our faith with others. The same Jesus of the Gospel is personally present in every chapel. The Jesus Whom they love is right there waiting for them.
Furthermore, the Pope states that those who are prevented from receiving Holy Communion, for any reason, receive the same graces in a holy hour of prayer as a holy hour is, also, a communion of desire. Even though only Catholics may receive Holy Communion, all humanity is called to adore the Lamb of God.
"Happy are those invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb." (Rev 19:9). The effort of telling everyone about the chapel may be likened to the parable of the wedding feast, where the servants are instructed to go out into the highways and byways "to invite everyone you can find to the wedding" (Mt 22:8) "to make sure My house is full" (Lk 14:23). A chapel of perpetual adoration is a foretaste of that wedding feast without end as Jesus pours out the infinite treasures of His grace and love upon all who enter.
Happy are those who help organize a chapel of perpetual adoration and invite everyone to come. In appreciation, Jesus will write your name on His Heart never to be erased. He promises to take care of you and all of your concerns for taking care of Him and all of His concerns.
The Pope ends his letter with a prayer for all who answer his call for help:
O Virgin of the Magnificat fill their hearts with gratitude and enthusiasm for this vocation and mission, and joyful hope for the coming of God's Kingdom of a "new heaven and a new earth."
What could be more exciting? In working to organize perpetual adoration we are working for the coming of God's Kingdom of a "new heaven and a new earth", where you will be able to say to Jesus: "Because I believed I spoke out" (2 Cor 4:13).
Then Jesus will spend all eternity thanking you, applying to you in eternal gratitude these words of Scripture: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of one who brings good news, who heralds peace, brings happiness, and proclaims... 'Your God is King'" (Is 52:7).
To all people today
I once again repeat the impassioned cry
with which I began my pastoral ministry:
Do not be afraid. Open, indeed,
open wide the doors to Christ!
Open to His saving power.
The voice of Christ is giving each of us
an especially urgent invitation today,
at this moment,
to come closer to Him everyday.
Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration is
opening wide the doors to Christ,
and to His saving power,
so that we may come closer to Him everyday.
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
actually brings about the intimate bonds
of union among all the faithful in Christ.
Again we turn to the words of Jesus:
"I am the Vine, you are the branches...
Abide in Me."
Through perpetual adoration,
the parish is engrafted to the Vine and, thus,
becomes a sign and instrument of intimate union
with God and unity of all the human race.
The unifying bond between the Lord and His people
through perpetual adoration
is a participation in, and wonderful reflection of,
the mystery of the Holy Trinity.
As such, it manifests to the world
the mystery of God that shines forth in Jesus Christ;
that is, the intimate life of love
between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In the divine plan
for the salvation of humanity,
the reality of the Church as Communion
is indeed the central content of this "mystery".
Since the entire mission of the Church is directed to
fellowship with the Father
and with His Son Jesus Christ,
the Synod Fathers have given much attention
to the present state of many parishes
and have called for a greater effort in their renewal.
What is needed is to first remake
the Christian fabric of the ecclesial community.
The parish is not principally a structure,
a territory, or a building, but rather,
a parish is a Eucharistic community.
It is necessary that, in the light of faith,
all rediscover the true meaning of the parish.
Plainly and simply,
through perpetual adoration
the parish becomes a Eucharistic community
AFIRE with a unifying spirit,
where the Church shines forth as a people
made one with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
To all people,
perpetual adoration is
a most shining and convincing testimony
where not fear but the loving pursuit of Christ
and adherence to Him
will be factors determining how a person
is to live and grow with human dignity.
On her part,
the Church knows that the Eucharist,
received by her as a gift,
is destined for all people.
Thus, perpetual adoration is
a shining example of the infinite love of the Father,
because through it the parish becomes
a house of welcome to all.
A chapel always open invites all people
to come to the Eucharist,
where the very mystery of the Church,
the intervention of Jesus Christ in the world
is present and at work.
Perpetual adoration is for all people,
as it is the mission of helping everyone
to know the love of Jesus Christ
that pours into the hearts
of all those who come to Him.
The Church feels she owes
to each individual, and to humanity as a whole,
the gift received by the Holy Spirit
that pours the love of Jesus Christ
into the hearts of believers
as a mystical force for unity and growth,
because everyone is called to grow continually
in intimate union with God.
As 'Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord,
and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee',
Christ alone is the answer
to the longing of every human heart.
Thus, perpetual adoration realizes the goal of a parish
to be the village fountain
to which all might have recourse in their thirst.
Through perpetual adoration, the parish becomes
a familial and welcoming home
in which the faith might radiate,
and fulfills the basic meaning of adherence
to the Person of Christ and His Gospel.
In fact, the Gospel, the Good News,
is directed towards clinging to Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior.
Perpetual adoration is
the community of the faithful
clinging to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,
Who, Himself, is the Good News.
The Eucharist is the Living and Personal Gospel,
and the bearer of joy,
that humanity is loved by God.
This very simple yet profound proclamation
is owed to humanity by the Church.
As a response to this need of the Church
at this time in history,
perpetual adoration is an openness
to a spiritual and transcendent outlook on life,
a return to a sense of the sacred.
In every chapel of perpetual adoration,
by affirming the words of the Lord,
"Lo, I am with you always",
the Church announces, each day,
that Jesus Christ Himself is the Good News,
to Whom the Church bears testimony
before all people that:
God loves you,
Christ came for you,
Christ is, for you,
the Way, the Truth and the Life;
Who poses absolutely no threat to persons.
Indeed, He is the only road to take
to arrive at the total truth
of the value of the human individual.
We come to a full sense of the dignity of the lay faithful
if we consider the prime and fundamental vocation
that the Father assigns to each of them in Christ Jesus;
the vocation to holiness, that is,
the perfection of love.
This universal call to holiness is rooted in the Eucharist
since the Eucharist is the source and summit
of the whole Christian life.
God calls the individual,
each one personally by name,
to Christ Jesus our Eucharistic Lord.
Upon each individual,
perpetual adoration confers incomparable dignity,
as each who comes into His Presence
is reclothed in Christ Jesus,
refreshed by His Spirit and made holy,
as the Vine makes fruitful each branch
that responds to the call...
"Abide in My Love."
Only in the measure that the Church, Christ's Spouse,
is loved by Him, and she in turn loves Him,
does she become a Mother,
fruitful in the Spirit.
Perpetual adoration is a full and loving response to Christ,
which leads the Church into perfect union with her Spouse,
where both the Spirit and the Bride
say to the Lord Jesus, "Come."
Perpetual adoration answers the appeal for prayer
and the demand for freedom
to call upon the name of the Lord,
Jesus Christ, the hope of humanity.
Through perpetual adoration
humanity is able to hope,
as the Eucharist is the source of hope
for humanity and the renewal of society,
because the Eucharist is Jesus, the humble servant
Who gives Himself without reserve
for the salvation of the world.
At this moment in history,
the lay faithful,
by virtue of their participation in
the prophetic mission of Christ,
are to testify how the Christian faith in the Eucharist
constitutes the only fully valid response
to the problems and hopes that life poses
to every person and society.
Perpetual adoration is
hope in the Eucharist;
Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of man
and of the world.
Humanity must hope, for,
in view of the final coming
of the kingdom of God,
the whole world is to be transformed,
in fulfillment of the earnest prayer
of the Lord at the Last Supper
THAT ALL MAY BE ONE.
Such a mission of unity
has a purpose of making everyone
know and live the "new" communion
that the Son of God made man
introduced into the history of the world.
The vocation to holiness
is intimately connected to mission
because communion gives rise to mission
and mission is accomplished in communion.
In the mission of organizing
perpetual adoration in the parish,
the family of God,
the lay faithful have the ability to do very much
and, therefore, ought to do very much
in order to reawaken zeal.
A new state of affairs today
calls with a particular urgency
for action in the mission of the Church.
With ever greater urgency,
Jesus repeats the invitation:
"You too go into My vineyard."
If lack of commitment is always unacceptable,
the present time renders it even more so.
"Why do you stand here idle all day?" He said.
It is not permissible
for anyone to remain idle.
"You too go into My vineyard"
is addressed to every person.
Every one of us God calls by name.
In fact, from eternity God thought of us
and has loved us as unique individuals.
Each Christian, as an individual,
is unique and irrepeatable,
with special gifts received from God
to be exercised for the growth of the whole Church.
Once again He sends them
into every town and place
where He Himself is to come,
as through perpetual adoration
He comes to the parish as
King of love and mercy.
Upon all the lay faithful, then,
rests the exalted duty of working
to assure that each day
the divine plan of salvation
is further extended to every person
in every part of the world.
Evangelization for the Eucharist,
in the Eucharist,
and from the Eucharist,
is how the Church
lives the mystery of Christ
and fulfills its mission
to all men.
The mission of the Church, therefore,
is to bring all men to the Eucharist.
Thus in organizing perpetual adoration,
every conversation,
every knock on a door,
and every telephone call
is the work of evangelization,
fulfilling the mission of the Church
to bring all men to the Eucharist.
Therefore, with humility and trust
I beg and implore you,
allow Christ to speak to you.
"You did not choose Me,
but I chose you
and appointed you
that you should go and bear fruit."
In this great moment in history, therefore,
God calls me
and sends me forth
as a laborer in His vineyard,
to work for perpetual adoration in the parish.
In doing so, He calls me and sends me forth...
to work for the coming of HIS KINGDOM in history.
| Click here for DONATION FAQ |
Please help us by making a donation now (as low as $1.00) using your Credit Card or Checking Account and Paypal's free online service. You may also help us by ordering our products. Your generosity is much needed and greatly appreciated! |
|
LEAGUE OF EUCHARISTIC GUARDIANSINTRODUCTORY MESSAGE | |||||||||
Order the LEG MANUAL |
Tell a Friend about this page! |
Printer-Friendly PDF Version | ||||||||
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HOME |
Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration |
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| NEW EVANGELIZATION | MISSIONARIES | PRODUCTS | CHAPELS | LIBRARY | LINKS | FAQ | ||