Dear Parishioners,

With the bishop’s approval and in the spirit of the national “Eucharist Revival” we are excited to have a Eucharistic Adoration Chapel at St. Mary of the Rosary. It is in the place of what was the chapel dedicated to Divine Mercy. The image of the Divine Mercy will still be in the Adoration chapel. Now this chapel will house our Lord in the Real Presence of the Eucharist in a special altar.

This Adration Altar has been installed in the new Adoration Chapel. It is a work of art and craftmanship and it is very beautiful. It has been designed and built to hold securely a monstrance and it is constructed with doors to close when there is not an adorer present. This is why it is rather large, but necessary to secure the monstrance.

With our new keyless access system that was installed this past week, soon we plan to begin our Adoration Program. The idea will be to get as many parishioners to commit to an hour a week before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. The Eucharistic Adoration program is doing our part with the National and local “Eucharist Revival” and has the potential to renew our parishes and help us all grow in our relationship with the Lord. More information will come in the next few weeks about this new Adoration Program.

As the Second Vatican II states: “The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Catholic faith.” Jesus has left us his very self in the Eucharist when he said at the Last Supper, “Do this in memory of me.” The Eucharist contains grace (food) for the soul in two moments: during the celebration of Mass and his remaining and abiding Real Presence in the tabernacle.

It has been a long practice in religious communities, monasteries and many parishes throughout the world to have Eucharistic Adoration. This is where Our Lord in Eucharist is Exposed in a monstrance for the Adoration, that is we can see the host, which is the Real Presence of Jesus. It is a way to come close to him and renew our love and faith in Jesus. But mostly to receive the love Jesus has for us who is the Bridegroom of our souls. We have been doing Eucharistic Adoration on Fridays at St. Mary’s for some time.

It has become very common that parishes will establish a chapel for the purpose of Eucharistic Adoration - where the faithful can go to privately adore our Lord. The fruits of such a program is an enhanced prayer life.

I would like to thank Tom Cools for his beautiful craftmanship in constructing the Adoration Altar. It is truly befitting Our Lord. There was a concern about the cost of this altar. Tom constructed this Altar at cost and some generous benefactors have covered the cost so there was no expense to the parish for the altar. Thank you to Tom and the generous benefactors.