“Remain here and keep watch with me.”
-Matthew 26:30
Three years ago, I wrote to Bishop Dewane, asking permission to start our Reason for Hope campaign here at San Pedro. He was pleased to grant his approval, especially with the prospect of opening an Adoration Chapel.
In God’s Providence, the day we dedicated the Adoration Chapel, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, was also the day the good Lord called Bishop Dewane to his eternal reward. How fitting that prayer for his eternal repose can be offered now in this Chapel, as throughout the Diocese, in the days and weeks ahead.
When Bishop Emilio first visited San Pedro on August 12, he saw the Adoration Chapel under construction. And he saw the angels which flank the tabernacle. “There was a set of angels like this back in New Guinea. They were broken in pieces, but I had them packaged and sent to the mission where I was serving, and had them repaired.”
While an Adoration Chapel is set aside for personal, silent prayer, each of these details highlights the fact that all Christian prayer is a truly communal and ecclesial reality. Our personal prayer as well as our public worship is a participation in the prayer of Jesus.
Throughout his life and ministry, Jesus prayed. He was dedicated to his Father eight days after his birth. He worshipped in the temple with Mary and Joseph, and stayed behind in his Father’s house. The disciples saw Jesus in prayer and asked him to teach them how to pray. And he gave us the Our Father, through which he unites our hearts, minds and voices to his in praise, petition and adoration.
Jesus called Peter, James and John to pray with him at key moments in his ministry – on the Mount of the Transfiguration and on the Mount of Olives. Jesus’ life and ministry was rooted in and expressed his life of prayer, his intimate communion with the Father. Our Christian life is also the unfolding of our communion in Christ with the Father.
Thank you to all who have contributed to the construction of this Adoration Chapel, the Adoration Team and our scheduled Adorers. May the hearts of all who come to pray here be touched by the Presence of our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. May families and marriages be strengthened, vocations nurtured, hearts heals, consoled and set on fire with love for God and neighbor, until the Lord calls us to our place at the heavenly banquet, the wedding feast of the Lamb.
-Fr. Tom
