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Since Aug. 1, 1885, the chain of perpetual adoration of the Holy Sacrament at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Montmartre in Paris has continued uninterrupted, including during the 1944 bombing and the coronavirus crisis. PARIS — As the health crisis caused by the coronavirus epidemic immersed the whole country into a long period of lockdown March 17, Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Paris, which had to close its doors for the first time in its history, nonetheless remained an unflappable beacon of prayer in France.

[Catholic Caucus] The Importance of Kneeling and Prostrations (Read Reverence for the Most Blessed Sacrament)There are four postures for prayers: prostration, kneeling, standing, and sitting. While God will of course hear our prayers no matter our posture, the Church rightfully prescribes in Her rubrics for the public liturgy the postures for Her sacred ministers. Therefore, the priest’s actions are regulated at Mass, and this is also why the rubrics during the Divine Office prescribe certain postures.  Prostrations Prostrations – the full placement of our entire body on the ground – is the most humbling of prayer positions. Prostrations, sometimes involving...

Staff photo by Wyatt Massey The Very Reverend J. David Carter, far right, of the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul holds a monstrance to bless a family on April 8 while Fr. Valentin Iurochkin shakes incense from a thurible. The priests made home visits the past week to bring encouragement to families who could not attend in-person worship services because of COVID-19 concerns. In an effort to encourage Chattanooga's faithful through the ongoing global pandemic and its economic fallout, the Very Rev. J. David Carter of the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul visited people at their homes...

Don Pietro Leone: The Coronavirus and Holy Communion in the Hand Translated from the Italian by Francesca Romana If honour is due to another according to his dignity, that is to say according to the excellence that he possesses, it is due to God absolutely in virtue of His infinite dignity and excellence. The name of this honour due to God is ‘Adoration’, which encompasses an attitude both of the mind and of the body. That of the mind is defined by Bossuet as: ‘The recognition of God’s Highest Sovereignty, and of our own most profound dependence’. The attitude to...

Francis Bows His Knees - Because Orthodox Patriarchs Were Present? During his July 7 visit to Bari, Italy, after meeting with heads of Christian Churches in the Middle East, Pope Francis surprised the public when he knelt down in order to venerate the relics of Saint Nicholas. Commentators believe that Francis did this because of the presence of orthodox and oriental patriarchs who would have been shocked if Francis had not shown any visible sign of veneration standing like a tourist in front of the relics of the saint who enjoys an enormous popularity in the East. Francis knelt down...

Vatican News (February 21) published pictures of an Eucharistic Adoration which took place during the ongoing retreat of the Roman Curia in Ariccia near Rome. The participants of the retreat all kneel in front of the monstrance except Francis who is standing. Rumours that Francis has knee-problems have proven to be false since he has knelt on several occasions in front of refugees on Holy Thursday or when visiting an Anglican shrine in Uganda in November 2015.

Adoration 2.0 – A Unique Insight Based on the Teaching of a Spiritual Master Msgr. Charles Pope • October 28, 2015 • When we think of the word “adoration,” we think of a high form of love, perhaps the highest. Theologically, we equate adoration with latria, the worship and love due to God alone. In the vernacular, to say “I adore you” is to indicate an intense and high form of love.Liturgically, adoration of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament indicates a period during which one enters into the experience of loving God and gazing upon Him in that love....

God and God Alone: A Homily for the 29th Sunday of the Year By: Msgr. Charles PopeThe Gospel today contains lots of interesting juxtapositions: hatred for Jesus but grudging respect for him,  real questions versus rhetorical ones, politics and faith, duties to Caesar and duties to God. The word  “juxtaposition” is from the Latin juxta (meaning “near”) and positio (meaning “place or position”). Hence juxtaposition is the placing of two things near to each other in order to see how they are similar and yet different.  In English, usually a juxtaposition emphasizes differences more than similarities.Let’s look at these one...

Introduction: On December 2, 1981 Saint Pope John Paul -2 began Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration with the Blessed Sacrament exposed in a Chapel at Saint Peter's in Rome and appealed to all Parishes to do the same. He exhorted us to fill our Churches outside the timetable of Masses with hours of adoration and prolonged periods of Exposition as an expression of our personal commitment to our Eucharistic Lord and Saviour. Jesus Christ himself points to the ways, the means, and the source of renewal when he says "Come to Me" for "I will refresh you" (Matthew 11:28). And again, "See...

The video below is, well, a very poor example of Eucharistic Adoration. I suppose the most charitable thing that we can say is that it’s good to see Catholics rejoicing and happy. However, as with most things, there is a proper time and place for the particular sort of rejoicing seen here, but this is not one of those times.In Eucharistic Adoration, the fundamental focus is Jesus himself. The norms generally indicate Exposition of the holy eucharist, either in a ciborium or in a monstrance, leads us to acknowledge Christ’s marvelous presence in the sacrament and invites us to the...

Boston, Mass., May 8, 2014 / 05:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Harvard chaplain says a student group's plans to re-enact a satanic black mass on campus has elicited a strong response, and he is encouraging the Catholic community to engage in prayer and witness. Fr. Michael Drea, senior chaplain at the Harvard Catholic Student Association, told CNA on May 8 that he has seen “a huge groundswell from Catholics on campus, as well as alumni” protesting the black mass re-enactment, which the priest characterized as “absolutely ludicrous” and extremely offensive. ~ snip ~ With this aim in mind, the Catholic...

Featured Term (selected at random:OSTENSORIUM A monstrance, a metal vessel usually gold- or silver-plated with a transparent section in which the Sacred Host is placed in its lunette when exposed for adoration or carried in procession. It varies in shape and ornamentation, popular models being tower-shaped or round; a metal circlet surrounded with rays or bars resting on a stem rising from a heavy base, many ornamented with jewels. The ostensorium in the Cathedral of Toledo took more than a hundred years to make and is reputed to be of gold brought by Columbus from America. All items in this...

The Real Presence and Perpetual AdorationFr. John A. Hardon, S.J.Errors regarding the Real Presence crept into the Church starting in Europe about 30 years ago. By now it has had a devastating effect all over the world. The work of the Evil Spirit has been phenomenally successful during this period. Re-conversion by natural means is not just inadequate, but absolutely impossible. The more convinced we are that human beings cannot solve the problem, the more we will wake up to the truth that God became man to help us cope with, and like St. Michael the Archangel, conquer this...

While praying before the Most Holy Sacrament at night:A great work of love is being done here, one that proceeds directly from My Eucharistic Heart to glorify My Father and to redeem the world, for the work of redemption is continued in the Sacrament of My Body and Blood until the end of time. . . .I am here [in the Most Blessed Sacrament] for you and for the whole world. Take your place here before Me, and abide before My Face, close to My Heart that is all love.It is no little thing for a poor human creature of...

You could have come sooner. I was waiting for you. I am always waiting for you: I wait for all My priests in the Sacrament of My Love, but they make little of Me, and of the fact that I wait for them day and night.If only they knew what awaits them in My presence : the plenitude of mercy, and rivers of living water to cleanse them, to reinvigorate their priesthood, and to sanctify them.This was the secret of my saints, of the holy friends whom I have made known to you :Dom Marmion, the Curé of Ars,Saint Peter...

One of the more frequent concerns expressed by many Catholics is level of talking and other noise in churches in recent decades. Many of us who are a bit older remember a time when to walk even into a rather full Church was to walk into a realm of great silence. People just didn’t talk in church. One would enter, find their pew, genuflect, and then kneel for private prayer before Mass began. When Mass concluded, one might kneel for a brief while for prayer, but then leave quietly, not talking until in the vestibule or outside the church. Even...

To emphasise the centrality of the Eucharist during this Year of Faith, an hour of Eucharistic Adoration will take place worldwide on Sunday June 2nd – the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi).  According to the Annus Fidei website, “the Holy Father will preside over a special Eucharistic adoration that will extend at the same time all over the world involving the cathedrals and parishes in each diocese.” “For an hour, at 5pm (Rome time), the whole world will be united in prayer and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament,” the website says. The USCCB...

I took piano lessons for 6 years in elementary school and junior high. It never came easy for me and I always had to practice to master even simple pieces. Every spring we had the dreaded recital where about 30 of us would perform from memory for our families. It was hard to know who was more uncomfortable on these evenings–those of us on the stage or our parents who had to endure our missed notes and shaky re-starts. I only had one rule about the music I played at recital: it had to be written in the key of...

Two young men participate in the Olympic Mass on July 28, 2012. Credit: Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk. London, England, Jul 30, 2012 / 11:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Today marked the launch of a major Olympic event that you won’t find in the official Games brochure, 24-hour Eucharistic adoration. “We’re flying the flag for Christ if you like,” said Franciscan Father Francis Conway of St. Francis of Assisi Friary in Stratford, the Catholic Church closest to the Olympic village in London’s East End. “We will have Eucharistic adoration from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., when another East End parish will take over from...