Adoration is silent prayer before the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
Adoration is held on the first Friday of the month for 24 hours in the chapel.
It begins after the 9:00 a.m. Mass on Friday and ending with Benediction at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Volunteers are needed to ensure that someone is always present in the Chapel during Adoration.
You only need to sign up for one hour!
Next Adoration – November 1 & 2, 2024
Sign-up for Daytime Adoration here.
Daytime Adoration times are Friday 10:00 a.m.- 10:00 p.m. and Saturday 7:00 – 9:00 a.m.
Questions? Contact Stephen.
If you are interested in Overnight Adoration, please contact Greg who compiles the schedule.
- Daytime Adoration: Stephen,
- Overnight Adoration: Greg,
Adoration – Why do Catholics Do That?
Parishioner Mark Nalevanko wrote this in July 2024.
See more of his “Why Do Catholics Do That?” Series here.
With the recent three year National Eucharistic Revival period led by the US Bishops focused on reviving the Catholic understanding of and devotion to the Most Holy Eucharist, it is worth taking a look at how the practice of Adoration developed through the Church’s history. It is not simply a form of pious eccentricity, but based on revelation and Catholic doctrine. Even though the recent Eucharistic Revival period officially came to a conclusion with the Eucharistic Congress over July 17-21, 2024 in Indianapolis, IN, we are called to continue this most important and ancient practice within the Church. Read on to learn more.
The custom of preserving the Eucharist is documented going back to around AD 120 through the practice of fermentum, or “leaven of unity”, whereby some of the Eucharistic bread was carried on behalf of the bishop from one diocese to the bishop of another diocese. The receiving bishop would then consume the species at Mass as a sign of unity amongst the churches. This practice of fermentum combined with reserving the Eucharistic for the sick and the dying led to the custom of the Blessed Sacrament’s presence as part of the the structure of a church, especially within monastic communities, where monks would carry the Eucharist with themselves as a means to provide Communion to others and as protection during travels. In the 4th century, documentation exists of St. Basil the Great dividing the Eucharistic into three parts when celebrating Mass at a monastery. One part was consumed, another given to the monks, and the third part in a golden dove, a precursor to modern day tabernacles, suspended over the altar. It was within these early monastic communities that an early form of Perpetual Adoration began with some communities such as the Acoemaeta, or “sleepless monks”, of the Eastern Church holding an endless divine liturgy day and night starting in the 5th century whereby groups of monks would rotate their attendance for liturgy around the clock. It is also believed that in the late 6th century a perpetual adoration of the Eucharist began in Lugo, located in NW Spain, which continues to this very day!
For the first approximately 1000 years, the belief of the Real Presence was a given within the Church. However, a French deacon named Berengar of Tours (999-1088) began promoting the denial of transubstantiation, which states that Christ’s real presence exists under the species of bread and wine after consecration in the Eucharist. His actions prompted Pope Gregory VII to issue the Church’s first definitive statement on the Real Presence in the Eucharist, essentially a clarification on the doctrine of transubstantiation. Additionally, these events sparked the period’s own Eucharistic Revival with formalized processions and acts of adoration legislated and Adoration within monastic communities especially emphasized. After victory over the Albigenses, King Louis VII of France asked that the Blessed Sacrament be exposed in the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Avignon starting on September 14, 1226. The adoration ultimately continued uninterrupted day and night until the French Revolution in 1792 before resuming again in 1829! (Note: As an interesting side story, this chapel was also the scene of a miraculous event whereby the Eucharist was protected from a flood event on Nov 30, 1433, the Feast Day of St. Andrew, where it was reported that the central aisle and altar were protected by a parting of the Red Sea type event despite the flood waters being halfway up the front doors of the Church!) The movement also led to Pope Urban IV’s instituting of the Feast of Corpus Christi in the 13th century, the first papally imposed universal feast of the Latin Church. The feast’s focus is on celebrating the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
For the second millennium of the Church, recurring heretical beliefs would occur, highlighted in particular by the Protestant Revolution of the 16th century with various Protestant denominations eventually offering different takes on whether or not or how the Real Presence existed in the Eucharist. It was in 1592 that Pope Clement VIII issued a document called Forty Hours, which formally established across the Universal Church a devotion that was initially local to the area of Milan involving forty hours of prayer before the exposed Blessed Sacrament. Some religious institutes, beginning with the Benedictines of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (1653) and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady (1659), along with Eucharistic associations also formed dedicated to Perpetual Adoration. The groups have grown in the centuries since. And it was in the 20th century that the practice of perpetual adoration spread into Catholic parishes at large. St Pope John Paul II inaugurated a perpetual adoration chapel in St. Peter’s Basilica in 1981. Today, a perpetual adoration chapel at a parish must be approved by the local bishop. There are currently around 1,100 perpetual adoration chapels at parishes across the US. In the diocese of Raleigh, the closest one to St. Andrew’s is at Our Lady of Lourdes in Raleigh. While typically people will sign up for an hour at a time for Adoration, there are no set rules on how long or what exactly should be prayed while attending. Some will say specific prayers like the Rosary and/or read Scripture, while others will simply sit in silence with the Lord. St. Pope John Paul II was known for spending a couple hours daily in an Adoration Chapel using the time to write.
The process of beginning or concluding Adoration is usually performed by a priest or deacon but it is permitted in their absence for a designated member of the laity to perform these duties including the opening of the tabernacle, placing the ciborium on the altar and putting the host in the monstrance for display (see picture) but without giving the blessing or using incense. The lay minister typically wears something fitting of altar service work, such as an alb, but does not use the cope or humeral veil (see picture) that is worn by clergy as part of the exposition and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
With that all said, it is worth noting that Adoration is not a substitute to the Mass, which is our obligatory communal celebration of the liturgy. However, Adoration serves as an important means to extend our union with Christ. If you are not familiar with attending Adoration, consider giving it a try! It’s a great way to take some time away from the business of daily life and spend it with Jesus. At St. Andrew’s Adoration is offered on the first Friday of each month (excluding July typically) from 10AM to 9AM the following Saturday.
1 – Order for the Solemn Exposition of the Holy Eucharist, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minn, © 1992. no. 26
2- Ibid., no. 6
What is it about Adoration?
A Reflection from a St. Andrew Parishioner
In times of need, have you ever gone to the church or chapel to pray? Why? Why didn’t you go to the fellowship hall or the library? You could have stayed at home to pray or prayed in your car on the way to work. God is everywhere, right?
Well, yes, He is everywhere and we can pray anywhere, anytime. But there is something that draws us to the church or the chapel. It’s His presence. We think, maybe we can get closer to God in the church itself? We may have a feeling of holiness when there. If you’ve ever noticed that lighted red candle in the church, that means that the body of Christ is present in the tabernacle.
Jesus gave the apostles the authority to transubstantiate bread into His body through the Holy Spirit. The apostles transferred that authority to others. Only those priests who have had the authority passed directly to them from the line of the apostles have this gift. You and I can’t do it. Surveys have told us that many Catholics believe that the Eucharist is just a symbol rather than the real presence.
But when we are in deep need of prayer, we don’t go to the grocery store and pray in the aisle with the Wonder Bread. We go to church. There is something special about being in the church. It is His presence. If you feel that presence, it is coming from the body of Christ residing in the church. This should remove your doubt that the host is not the true body.
Jason Evert recounts this story about Pope John Paul II…In 1995, Father Michael White was invited to organize the Pope’s visit to Baltimore on behalf of the archdiocese. Prior to the Holy Father’s arrival, the chief organizer for papal pilgrimages, Father Roberto Tucci, SJ, came to Maryland to scout out the venues and make the necessary arrangements for John Paul’s trip. When he arrived at the archbishop’s residence, he noticed that one of the doors in the hallway the Pope would pass through, opened into a chapel with the Blessed Sacrament.
He instructed Father White, “Keep that door closed so he doesn’t know there’s a chapel in there.” [The Pope was notorious for upending any schedule with his praying.] Upon the Pope’s arrival, the door was closed, and John Paul took some time to eat and rest at the residence. When it was time to leave, John Paul walked down the hall, which was lined with doors leading into various rooms, passed by the door of the chapel, then suddenly stopped. He looked back at the door, then looked over at Father Tucci, and without saying a word, wagged his finger at him and shook his head. Father White recalled:
“He’s never been in this place before, never set eyes on the place, and there was nothing about the door that distinguished it in any way as a chapel. It was just one more door in a corridor of doors. But he turned right back around, he opened that door up, and he went into the chapel and he prayed.”
What does all this have to do with Adoration?
When we attend Adoration, the Eucharist is on display in a monstrance. The body of Jesus is fully exposed in front of us. It is not hidden behind a curtain, but rather in full view. Like thousands of years ago, that little red candle mimics the lamp stand near the Ark in the holy temple. It is a sign that God is fully present. But, unlike in the old temple, everyone is welcome to come in.
In his letter, “Dominican Cenae”, detailing the mystery and worship of the Eucharist, Pope John Paul II wrote, “The Church and the world have a great need of eucharistic worship. Jesus waits for us in this sacrament of love. … Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him in adoration and in contemplation that is full of faith and ready to make reparation for the great faults and crimes of the world by our adoration never cease.”
What does one do at Adoration? A priest was once asked this question, and replied this way. He said, “The most important thing is just being there.” One can read scripture or other such material, or pray, or just gaze. Jesus is present. He is listening to whatever you say or think. It is also a good opportunity to be quiet and listen in case He has something to tell YOU.
The words from Matthew 26, come to mind. “When he returned to his disciples he found them asleep. He said to Peter, “So you could not keep watch with me for one hour?”
St. Andrew holds Adoration in the chapel on the first Friday of every month. It begins following 9am daily Mass and concludes 24 hours later with Benediction Saturday morning, 9am.
Adoration Resources and Information
- Click here to view many prayer resources you may wish to use for adoration.
- Watch Fr. James Martin explain the history and theology of Eucharistic Adoration.
- Watch Bishop Robert Barron’s discussion of Eucharistic Adoration.
Adoration in the Diocese of Raleigh
For a list of Adoration times at other churches in the diocese, click here.
Interested in Adoration?
All are welcome.
Contact
- Daytime Adoration: Stephen,
- Nighttime Adoration: Greg,