Brother Knights,
Be warned: what I’m about to do is called preaching to the choir.
During the next year I am embarking on a very naive task: I’m going to try to increase the breadth of participation from our council. I want to get more guys involved in more activities. Right now we have a few guys doing… well… everything. And most of those guys are in this room right now.
Has this been tried before? Yes.
Do I think I have some sort of special sauce to get more involvement, something that nobody who has tried this in the past possessed? Nope.
But the alternative is the status quo. And I’m tired of the status quo. I’m not satisfied with ordinary.
Let’s get back to our roots. Let’s ponder the reason this organization exists. Let’s focus on fulfilling the mission that Blessed Michael McGivney started in 1882.
But not tonight. Tonight I’m not trying to boil the ocean. I’m starting off with one small topic, a topic that is not even specific to the Knights: Adoration.
I’m starting with this because Father is about to kick off a campaign to get perpetual adoration going at our parish. More on that in a moment.
By show of hands, how many of you have been to our adoration chapel?
How many have signed up for and completed at least one hour of adoration?
Within the past year, keep your hands up. The past six months? The past month? The past 7 days?
This is not meant to shame anybody. I never set foot in that chapel until just a couple years ago. My goal is simply to bring awareness.
OK, bear with me for a slight diversion. One thing I have noticed since I was a new Knight is that we’re not very good at explaining things that happen in meetings, especially the new guys. I’d like to change that. For instance, the partial cross used when addressing the GK. Or mentioning programs like Measure Up or raffles the District Deputy gives updates on. Or those stupid forms that the council has to fill out. How in the world would a new guy have any chance of knowing what we’re talking about? A simple one-sentence explain-to-me-like-I’m-5 would suffice.
Now back to adoration… For those who may not have been there, the chapel is just across from the parish office window on the high street side of this building. If my sense of direction serves me, it’s right above our heads. It’s a chapel with a few pews with kneelers, an altar, and a tabernacle. People can go there and pray. At certain times, when we have people signed up to stand watch, the Blessed Sacrament is exposed in a monstrance. And that is how we adore our
Lord. What do people do when they’re there?
- Pray, for one.
- Read. There is an entire bookshelf full of great reading material to deepen your faith. From Scripture to the Catechism to books by famous Catholic authors.
- Just sit. Be there. Bask in the presence of Jesus. Stare at him in wonder.
- You can pray the Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet. If you don’t know how to do that, there are laminated cards in every pew to show you how.
Now, back to perpetual adoration. Right now the Eucharist is exposed for the following days/hours:
- Sunday: 5am to 2pm
- Monday: 9am to 11pm
- Tuesday 5am until Friday 9pm
Notice that the Tue – Fri window includes overnight. Yes, there is at least one person there each hour, including 2am, 3am, 4am… All night. Perpetual adoration would mean expanding the hours to be 24×7, all day, every day, all week, every week. That is the target. And how is that done? One hour at a time. Can you take an hour? Father has been asking that since he became our pastor. Can you take an hour?
So how do I get involved? There is information in the bulletin for getting signed up. (It has been in EVERY bulletin for as long as I can remember.) You’ll get a login to the St. Michael adoration website (WeAdoreHim.com) where you can see the schedule and which slots have a need for adorers.
What if I’m not ready to commit to a timeslot EVERY WEEK? That’s OK. Just sign up so you’re on the email list and have a login to the website. You can start out by taking a one-time slot when someone needs a sub. No long term commitment.
Start now. Sign up. Try it one time. Adore our Lord for an hour. Trust me – it will be the best hour of your week.
I have one request. If you do decide to sign up and try it out, let me know. I’d love to hear about your experience.
Back to my naive task. We have a good council. Let’s make it great. Let’s get more people involved. Mention it to someone. Invite a friend to a meeting or a social event. This naive task won’t be successful because of me, or John, or any one person. It’s up to us as a council. What kind of council do we want to be? Average?
It takes every voice to make a choir great. Consider using yours to get others singing.
