COMMENTARY

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

By Margaret Shaia
Special to The Catholic Virginian

When Bishop Walter F. Sullivan dedicated the Chapel for the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at Mary Mother of the Church Abbey in Richmond with a High Mass on Sept. 8, 1994, he initiated a multi-parish project which now involves more than 400 people.

Over the course of the past 13 years, more than 1,000 people have participated. At the present time, the adoration chapel is open seven days a week from 5 a.m. until midnight. The goal is to eventually have perpetual adoration — that is, adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

Many of the adorers have shared with us how much their time spent in adoration means to them. When they are not able to attend their hour, they say it leaves a void in their week.

Others say one hour a week is not enough. They come more often than their scheduled hour.

September 8 marked the 13th anniversary of the Adoration Chapel. My husband Harry and I feel blessed to have been part of this ministry. Now the time has come to pass the torch. Terry and Bryan Walsh will lead the captains who are in charge of each day.

We owe a great debt of gratitude to Abbot Benedict, all the monks at the Abbey who provide the chapel, Bishop Sullivan and everyone who has been, and is involved in adoration. Through the grace of God, these individuals have made adoration at the Abbey possible.

We would like to share with you some of our personal experiences.

A gentleman asked to be contacted about adoration. When I called him he said that he had visited the chapel and had never felt such peace in all his life.

There were two others there, but he had this overwhelming desire to be there alone. He then said, “I am not a Catholic. May I be a part of this?”

When asked how he knew about the chapel he said, “I came to visit the Shroud of Turin center at the Abbey and I just came upon the chapel.”

I thought to myself, “He came looking for Christ in the Shroud and the Lord made His presence known to him in the Eucharist.”

It turned out that when he was active in his law practice he had cases with Harry.

On another occasion, I approached a young man who was in the chapel to see if he would sign up for an hour. He happened to be a Protestant minister.

He gave me his card and said he came to the Abbey regularly for a day of prayer. Although he would not take a specific hour, he continued to come to the chapel to pray on the days he was at the Abbey.

Once, when we were at adoration on New Year’s Eve, we met a young man visiting in the area who had heard about the adoration chapel. He told us he wanted to welcome in the New Year in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.

There have been many other times when we have been at the adoration chapel and people who are not signed up for a particular time come in for prayer. Some are troubled and they come seeking that peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding.

There was a graduate student from the University of Richmond who came an hour every week. He would come to the chapel once a week in addition to his regular hour and bring the most beautiful roses and prostrate himself before the altar in adoration. His devotion brought tears to our eyes.

Harry’s mother spent the last four months of her life in our home. She was dying from lung cancer and emphysema. It was very difficult seeing her die.

I decided to go to adoration every day instead of once a week. After three days, Harry noticed a difference in me. It was not until then that I shared with him what I was doing. As in the poem, “The Footprints in the Sand,” the Lord was carrying me.

Each and every adorer has had a part in our spiritual growth. An invitation is extended to anyone who is not already involved in the adoration at the Abbey.

The day and hour are up to you, whatever fits your schedule most comfortably. With this invitation comes a guarantee — the Lord will never be outdone in generosity. We will always receive much more than we give to the Lord.

We accumulate wealth and material possessions, but when we move on to eternity they remain here. The hours we spend with Him in adoration will go into our heavenly bank account, which is good for eternity.

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