A Retired Rector's Reflections

When I served as a Parish Priest at St Chrysostom’s, Manchester each year during Corpus Christitide we had a special time of silent prayer and worship. The celebration of Mass united a very diverse group of people and so we felt it was good that we have a special time to pause and reflect on the wonder of the Sacrament of the Mass and say Thank You to God. Naturally the Feast of Corpus Christi was a time to do this.

Our Corpus Christi procession, as often as possible taking place outside, emphasised to us that we were a pilgrim people and Christ travelled with us. We also held a time of silent prayer, often 24 hours continuous prayer, in Church, before the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the monstrance. It was so encouraging that church members were willing to join the rota and pray at set times even in the middle of the night. Fitting in with our inclusive nature at St C’s we invited anyone who wished to come and pray. We collected prayer requests from people around the parish to pray at the Vigil.

I had always hoped we could extend our day of prayer one year to the traditional Quarante Ore (40 hours) devotion. This is forty hours of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and has been a tradition in some churches for centuries. Forty hours are chosen as being the length of time in which it was traditionally believed Jesus lay in the tomb before the Resurrection.

While people at St C’s said they were willing to cover the 40 hours, in 2019 I thought it would be good to share out the forty hours among others too. This way of doing it is not unusual and breaks are allowed. As European Provincial Rector of the Society of Catholic Priests (SCP) I thought I’d see if any other SCP priests would be interested in joining in. The response was wonderful and a schedule of prayer was drawn up – actually covering many more hours than forty.

From Manchester to Vancouver, Canada, from Sunderland to Honolulu churches and individuals joined in, some participated by holding a Mass, or with Benediction, or simply with silence before the Sacrament, or, indeed combinations of worship like this, or by a personal hour of reflection. We were able be able to follow progress and join in through social media. We called the initiative #Adorate! as it’s simply an instruction, in Latin to ‘adore’ Christ, in the Blessed Sacrament.

I am delighted to say that Adorate has grown, we have introduced online lectures, and found other ways to be involved, in addition to the rota of prayer. We invite anyone who wishes to participate by setting aside an hour in the week of Adorate to pray in stillness, before the Blessed Sacrament, alone, with others, in church or even virtually through participating with an online continuous exposition, for example with the nuns at Tyburn Convent in London: here https://adoration.tyburnconvent.org.uk/

YOU are invited to join Adorate 2026 during the Octave of Corpus Christi (3rd – 11th June) Go to: https://www.societyofcatholicpriests.com/adorate