Dear Friends:

The idea of a perpetual adoration chapel is to always have someone in our Church communities worshiping the Lord. This references the book of Revelation in which we find “The four living creatures, each of them with six wings, were covered with eyes inside and out. Day and night they do not stop exclaiming: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.” (Revelation 4:8). Notice the emphasis on the fact that this always occurs, both night and day, without ever stopping. There is the emphasis that this worship is continual. Our goal then, as a group of parishes, is to imitate this angelic and heavenly worship here on earth by worshiping the Lord in the Eucharist day and night. The same Lord, who dwells in heaven, dwells among us on earth under the appearance of Bread and Wine. Thus, we desire to offer him the same worship as the saints and angels in heaven. A worship which is continuous. Notice, also, that this worship transcends the waxing and waning of earthly fads. It proclaims God who was, who is, and who is to come. Jesus Christ is the same “yesterday, today and always” (Hebrews 13:8) and so, we aim to have someone with the Lord at all times, even in the face of adversity, even in the face of chaos. As John of the Cross said, the Cross stands still while the world turns. No matter what happens in our world, we remain faithful. We become like those wise virgins who kept watch throughout the night awaiting their Lord (Matthew 25). Thus, when our Lord comes, he will find us awake and watching for him and bestow upon us the crown of eternal life.

The idea of a Holy Hour is similar. It hearkens back to the disciples in Gethsemane when our Lord asked them, “So you could not keep watch with me for one hour?” (Matthew 26:40). Furthermore, we see that the answer for the disciples at that time was a firm ‘no’ for their spirit was willing, but their flesh was weak (Matthew 26:41). Of course, the inability to watch with the Lord for an hour was a foreshadow of the disciples fleeing when the crowd came to arrest Jesus (cf. Matthew 26:56). Ultimately, the disciples were able to redeem themselves later in life when they were led off to their own martyrdom or tortures. Our aim, then, is to draw upon the later strength of the disciples and keep watch with our Lord. We understand that we should not be like the disciples on good Friday and flee in the face of adversity, but persevere, as they did later in life. 

It is a sacred undertaking that we are blessed with a perpetual adoration chapel and regular holy hours.  We may need to make sacrifices and face adversity to keep it all up and running correctly.  I would invite you to seriously pray about this undertaking. I do understand that in the past, the chapel would close for things like funerals, weather issues, etc.  One of the blessings of our new dedicated space for the chapel is that we have the ability to remain open and adoration not be interrupted. Moving forward, we will not be closing the chapel for things such as weather and events.

If you are uncomfortable with traveling to your commitment, or you feel that you cannot  travel there safely, I would encourage you to request a substitute adorer.  We have a large pool of generous adorers who are willing to adore in your place, if needed.  One thing to note is that you will need to request a sub at least 6 hours prior to your commitment hour.  Thank you for being aware of pending weather systems and praying about your level of comfort in traveling to your holy hour.  
Please visit https://wbadoration.org/adorer-guidelines
(also accesed under Home-Adoration Chapel Guidelines) for our updated guidlines about chapel closures and instructions on how to request a sub, if needed. 

Thank you all for your commitment to adoring our Lord!

In Christ, 
Father Kevin Harmon