In the wake of the Eucharistic Congress in Quebec in June, Father Ray felt it appropriate to focus on the Eucharist as a parish. Last fall we had already begun offering Perpetual Adoration on Mondays from 9:00AM-8:00PM. Through the summer we continue this devotion between the hours of 9:00AM-12:00PM. Many parishioners have committed to being responsible to pray during these specific hours, and others stop in as they have time. In addition to this time of Adoration, Father Ray helped facilitate the organization of a series of Eucharistic workshops.
Our second presenter, Kyle Stanton, is a Seminarian. He is studying at St. John’s Seminary, Brighton MA, entering Second Theology. Kyle and Father Ray are close friends, and thus Kyle has been helping out at our Parish with various events as well as at Mass as an MC of sorts with the Altar Servers. About 40 people gathered at St. Francis Parish on the evening of July 16, 2008 to hear him present a teaching on Adoration. Beginning with the history of the early church – and the first challenge of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, Kyle laid the groundwork for the reasons we spend time in Adoration. Kyle reminded us that Adoration begins with the Mass, that this is just a continuation of what happens there. He also stressed the importance of not just going to adoration, but in the after-glow of being with Christ we must go out and see the face of Christ in those around us, while shining His light on others.
Kyle recommended how to pray during adoration. To begin he said we should simply gaze at Christ. We should tell him how much we love him, and offer him praise. After a time of praise, tell Christ what is happening in your life. This allows you to put all the distractions on the table. Once we’ve done this we can ask for forgiveness and offer forgiveness to those who have hurt us. Kyle advised us to use adoration the way we would use time with a friend – to build our relationship with Christ.
At the end of Kyle’s teaching we also received an unexpected blessing in being able to hear some of Father Richard’s “Catholic Antique Roadshow Trivia.” Father Richard told us the story of the white baby blanket, the reason why there are four candles for Adoration (to represent the four Gospels), and even why we genuflect on both knees (because Christ is the most powerful king that even other kings and queens bow to him).
The final presentation in this series: The Mass, shared by Anna Willis. Anna used as her inspiration the testimony of Catalina Rivas of Cochabamba, Bolivia, who now dwells in Mérida, Yucatán, México. Catalina is said to receive Messages from Jesus, Mary, and the angels. She has the approval of her Bishop, René Fernández Apaza, who has given his imprimatur to her Messages. In this presentation Anna, through a booklet regarding Catalina’s testimony, showed us how to approach the Mass. A copy of this testimony can be found at this site http://www.michaeljournal.org/holymass.htm. Some of the things she taught us included special prayers to be said to help us have the right attitude during the Mass. During the offertory we can offer ourselves, during the petitions we should be bringing our petitions, during communion we should be praising God, hugging Jesus and letting him hold us.
Thank you goes out to all those who helped make these workshops a success, and may the participants and presenters receive many blessings for their desire to grow in relationship with Christ. We look forward to future workshops on Apologetics, The Liturgy of the Hours, Mary, and the Saints. Please let us know if there are topics you would like to see addressed. |
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About St. Francis of Assisi Parish
St. Francis of Assisi Parish, in Litchfield, NH is dedicated to instilling strong Catholic teachings, values and traditions for its parishioners. We provide a Christian community in which love of God, neighbor and self are foremost. The many ministries work to empower parishioners in the development of their individual gifts so that they may become "instruments of peace" in the world. Please browse the Ministries section to see what our community has to offer, or better yet, how you can join us by volunteering to share your gifts with the rest of the community.
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