{SQT} Adoration

Adoration. It's just an hour out of your life each week; an hour to really unwind and just be.

My old parish in SC started Perpetual Adoration just after we moved there. The idea is that you sign up for 1 hour/week, and (hopefully) there will be someone spending an hour with Jesus 24/7 until the 2nd coming. There were times when there would be 5 or more people in the chapel with me, and other times when I would be completely alone. If someone can't make it for their hour, there was an extensive sub list. Adoration was taken very seriously...they were all in. Jesus couldn't be left alone, so you stayed until the next person showed up. Before we moved away from SC, they made the concession to drape a cloth (I have no idea what it's called) over the tabernacle if you had to leave and the next person didn't show up. 

My current parish has Perpetual Adoration, but they don't seem to be "all in", which is really very sad. As disappointing as it is to walk into the chapel and see the doors of the tabernacle closed, it's very disheartening to have to close the doors because the person behind you doesn't show up and didn't get a sub. 

In SC, my Adoration time was right after work. There was one cold, damp day I went in, knelt down, and immediately could feel a sensation like a warm blanket being put over my shoulders. It was incredible.

Then there was the time when I went in and fell asleep. Okay, that happened more than once! The first time it happened I felt soooo bad. I mentioned it to my mom and told her I just kept thinking "Can you not even watch 1 hour with me", and she said that God knew I needed that time to rest, so not to feel bad. (My 3 boys were very young at that point and I worked full time, which means that, yes, I was very tired!) Another time when I feel asleep, I had my head on the back of my hand and ended up with a big red spot on my forehead. I can't imagine what the man who came in after me thought when he saw it!

There have been times when I could feel angels kneeling with me in prayer. Seriously. If you've ever had that feeling, you know what I'm talking about. What a comfort!

There's a book on Adoration (I wish I could remember the name of it because it is an amazing book!); it mentions that there have been no recorded instances of anything bad happening to anyone on the way to or from Adoration. That, to me, is just incredible. Out of all the people who take part in Adoration, there hasn't been 1 wreck, 1 mugging, NOTHING BAD has happened.

I was in Adoration last night, and, big surprise, I started to nod off. I swear someone nudged me to keep me awake. It felt like someone nudged my elbow and moved my hand so I wouldn't fall asleep. I have no doubt it was my Guardian Angel. 

Does your Parish have Adoration? If so, do you participate? If not, what's keeping you from committing?