24-Hour Adoration for our spiritual renewal

In the majority of the churches there is no possibility to pray before the Eucharist at any given hour during the day. But these days more and more parishes and chapels of Hungary organise a perpetual adoration as a preparation for next year’s International Eucharistic Congress.

In Budapest, the Assumption of Mary Parish downtown and the St. Angels’ Parish in Gazdagrét in District 11 keep their doors open day and night for believers who wish to find some silence. Beside these, the St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel in Sopron, the St. Anna Piarist Church in Vác, and the Perpetual Adoration Chapel in the Our Lady of Hungary Parish in Veszprém, hold a perpetual adoration.

Constant or perpetual adoration means that during the whole year, between 1 January and 31 December, the adoration of Eucharist continues 24 hours a day. This kind of silent engrossment gives us an opportunity to be united with Jesus, to accept Him into our hearts and learn how to be in His presence.

Zoltán Osztie, parish priest of the Assumption of Mary Parish downtown has said in an interview given to the newspaper Új Ember (a Hungarian Catholic weekly) that there are a great number of grave problems and crises, where the human strength is not enough, and we need Christ. He has the power to change the hopeless situations. The good news is that He is always present in the Eucharist, we simply have to go to him. Perpetual adoriation allows us the opportunity to join Him anytime.

According to the parish priest, this particular form of prayer is essential, because during perpetual adoration we can experience the existence, the penetrating presence and the immense power of Jesus. “It is not only about calming down, regenerating, and smoothing out wrinkles of one’s soul but also about gaining a personal, concrete experience about the presence of Jesus. He is here, He is reality, not only a legend or the founder of a religion, but he is the Son of the Living God.” – stressed Zoltán Osztie.

Beyond the holy mass, adoration is the central essence of the International Eucharistic Congress of 2020. That is why the Secretary of the IEC organizes a worldwide adoration on Saturday night before Corpus Christi Day and the Feast of Christ the King. And this is also the reason why the Secretary also established the school of adoration, through which we can learn step-by-step how to grow silent in front of the Eucharist.

Photo: Flickr