Perpetual Adoration

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting (Psalm 118:1).

Just a week into Easter, and the very first Sunday following our joyful celebration of Jesus’s resurrection, we mark God’s great goodness with Divine Mercy Sunday, for He IS good, and his love IS everlasting. His mercy endures forever (Psalm 118:2b).

In recent weeks, as preparations and plans for our Perpetual Adoration Chapel have begun and progressed, many of you have expressed your excitement. Many have reached out to learn how you might be involved or help. Some of you share a cautious interest, but wonder if it’s for you, and whether you’d know how to “do” it.

The weekend on which we commemorate God’s mercy and love seems to me an extraordinarily appropriate time to offer some thoughts and personal understanding. Before I get into some more practical advice, I’d like to share just one of my experiences with you.

First, you will need to know that I’m a knitter from a family of knitters. My grandmother and mother were knitters. We shared a love for knitting socks and, admittedly, a bit of snobbery concerning yarn quality. Unfortunately, we also shared a habit of starting projects with great gusto, only to stop halfway through to begin another, resulting in an embarrassing number of unfinished socks, hats, sweaters and afghans between us. There was little that gave me more pleasure than sitting with these women, Mom especially often, with a good cup of coffee, lively conversation and busy hands.

When Mom went on to Eternal Life almost three years ago, I discovered that a symptom of my own grieving was an inability to knit. I would pick up my needles, knit a stitch or two, and the despair of her absence was too much to allow me to continue. For almost two years, I would try every so often to knit, even attempting to take up one of her many unfinished projects and finish it for her, to no avail.

On one of my annual retreats, Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament was available overnight. I took up my prayer bag and went to the chapel for my assigned two hours. As I sat alone in the chapel with Jesus, I was a little restless. Knitting had always helped calm my mind and be still in my heart, because my hands were moving. I realized I still had yarn in my prayer bag from the last retreat, although it had gone unused then. I pulled it out and began to knit. The memories of Mom flowed through me. I shed lots of cleansing tears that night. I laughed out loud – gut busting, stomach tightening belly laughs. When the next retreatant arrived, I was amazed that two hours had passed already.

You see, we are beloved. God longs for us and our mere presence gives Him pleasure. When we make a Holy Hour, it’s as if we have stepped into the open, expectant, hopeful embrace of our Savior, Jesus Christ. There is no right or wrong way to “do” Adoration. We don’t have to be “holy enough” to approach Jesus, especially in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. We are already beloved; not because we have earned his love or because we deserve it somehow, but because God IS love, and it is His infinite goodness that makes this true.

Adoration is the ultimate come-as-you-are invitation. He desires each one of us in our brokenness as well as our triumphs, in our suffering as well as our joys, in our inadequacy and our success.

I know some of you are still wondering, “but, Lisa, WHAT will I do for an hour?” That’s a good question. Because I never know what God will have in mind for me, I make my hour prepared for anything. I bring my daily prayer book, such as a Magnificat or Give Us This Day, a book of spiritual readings like those in our Resource Center, my rosary and Chaplet of St. Michael the Archangel, a journal for noting thoughts I may have as I listen to God in the stillness, and simple knitting for which I don’t need a pattern so that it doesn’t become a distraction. Despite this, I am careful to allow myself to set all that aside, if I feel that God is asking me to simply sit in silence with Him.

This Perpetual Adoration Chapel is truly one of God’s greatest gifts to the people of St. Peter’s. He wants you to be part of this. He desires nothing more than the joy of having us draw closer to Him. For one hour a week, we have an opportunity to accept God’s love in a very tangible way. There is something very special happening here, and I hope that you will be part of it. You will never regret the choice to open your heart wider to accept His Divine Mercy, love, and the truth that you ARE beloved.

On another, more personal note: So many of you have reached out to me with concern and prayers for my grandmother, Gloria. She went home to God on Sunday, in her sleep. We are grateful to God for choosing to bring her to Him on the day of Our Lord’s Resurrection. Praise the Lord. I will not be with you for the Appreciation Dinner, as her funeral is that same day in Vermont. Know that I am very grateful for all that you do and are, and that I praise God for you and your good works. I will miss being with you. God bless you. 

Lisa Amos

Pastoral Associate