worship at the cathedral 11: sign-up for the Lord

We have opened our newly renovated adoration chapel.  We are passing around a paper asking for commitments from individuals or groups to take turns in adoring our Lord in the adoration chapel for an hour – just one hour once a week.  You can come individually or as a group – a group among the many religious organizations or ministries; you can come as barkadas, or as families, or a couples, etc., etc.  You can choose a one hour slot from 5:00 in the morning till 11:00 in the evening. We're leaving the sign-up sheet with the guard. 

I believe this is a cause worth our time and effort.  It is said that so many things happen in the parish because at every waking hour someone is standing guard and praying for us before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Prayer can do a lot of things, not just to us personally but to everyone, especially to the people we pray for.  Parishes whose parishioners frequent their adoration chapels are blessed with religious vocations, their pastoral programs become successful, people in the parish become generous with their time and effort in building the community.  Many of our Candlelight people during my time as editor came from people who were constant visitors of our Lord in the Adoration Chapel.  Many came from Pavia, Alta Tierra, Gran Plains and even San Jose Placer.  So, what was their connection to the parish, why were they eager to help the parish, sacrificing their time, generously sharing their talent?  The answer is, the Adoration Chapel – they were frequent, consistent visitors of the Lord in the Adoration Chapel.  Didn't Jesus say, "Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing." (Jn.15: 5) Only by remaining with Jesus, only by attaching ourselves to the vine can we become fruitful.  Let us rediscover our Adoration Chapel.  We may have a lot of talents, we may have a lot of resources, we may be secure with the thought that we have tremendous human capacity in us, but... (and it's a big but) "unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build." (Ps. 127: 1)

So please, come and sign-up, make a commitment to the Lord.  Let this be our parish commitment to be presented to the Lord in the Solemnity of the Corpus Christi on June 18.

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Last Wednesday I came around to see if people are following our rules that only specified candles can be lighted inside the Chapel of Lights.  Well I was very happy that all are cooperating, especially our cathedral vendors.  In fact, they are helping us implement the rules, first by giving up those colored candles (ending the practice of color coded prayers) and second selling only the specified candles.  Added to that they are also policing the chapel taking out candles which are not allowed (they showed me a bagful which they took away when the persons were no longer in the chapel so as not to offend them).  I think we should buy more and more candles from our cathedral vendors.  Whatever income they earn, they say, goes for the education of their children, and some are already in college.  Remember, when your prayer is accompanied by a loving deed, that prayer becomes powerful, your candle becomes a little bit brighter.