NEW
FROM APEA: THE ADORER’S COMPANION
Adorers sometimes find it difficult to make their Holy
Hour because they go to the chapel unprepared. They go expecting to be inspired.
And when they aren’t, the hour seems to drag on. This sometimes leads to
discouragement and to adorers dropping their Holy Hour. It is important,
therefore, for adorers to go to the chapel with a prayer plan so that the Holy
Hour may be spiritually refreshing, as indeed it should be.
To help adorers plan their Holy Hours, APEA is now offering a new
pocketsize booklet entitled The Adorer’s Companion. The Companion
is chock-full of ideas to help an adorer compose a prayer plan. It shows the
adorer how to spend his or her Eucharistic Holy Hour. The booklet describes
various expressions and kinds of prayer and tells how to handle distractions. An
abundance of Scriptural references for reading and reflection are supplied, and
some special prayers are included. There are sections discussing interior
silence, the virtue of commitment, and the practice of the presence of God. The
last section answers frequently asked questions about chapel décor, liturgical
regulations and chapel etiquette.
The Companion can help adorers to make more fruitful and
blessed Holy Hours.
SOUTH AFRICA MISSION BEARS FRUIT
Fr. Victor Warkulwiz, M.S.S. of APEA spent the month of
November 2001 in the Diocese of Johannesburg, South Africa, promoting perpetual
adoration. He made appeals to start PEA at St. Peter Claver, Good Shepherd / Bl.
Isidore Bakanja and Our Lady of Fatima parishes in Soweto and at Christ the King
Cathedral in Johannesburg. The responses were overwhelming. But the nighttime
responses weren’t as strong as the daytime responses because the people aren’t
used to going out at night. Good Shepherd started perpetual adoration on January
2. The others are expected to start sometime later.
Father Victor also gave a number of talks and homilies on
Eucharistic adoration and the importance of perpetual adoration, including talks
at four regional priests’ meetings.s.
Soweto is located southwest of Johannesburg. The name e e Soweto
is an acronym for South-Western Townships. It is a conglomeration of townships
developed in the 1940s to house black workers for the region’s gold mines. Most
of the black population of the Johannesburg metropolitan area live in Soweto.
The devotion of the black Catholics of South Africa is impressive.
Sunday Masses last from two to three hours. English and the native languages
Zulu and Sothu are used in the liturgies. There is much singing and swaying. The
priest even sings the opening Sign of the Cross! The choir sings a cappella,
but drums or other percussion instruments sometimes accompany the singers. Often
the parts of the Mass are sung in Latin with an African rhythm. The overall
effect of the singing is very uplifting and conducive to worship.
THE COMPLEAT EUCHARIST
A review of The Basic Book of the Eucharist
by Lawrence G. Lovasik (Sophia Institute Press, Manchester, NH, 1-800-888-9344),
211pp. PB $15.95.
The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love. It is Jesus’ greatest expression of His
love for us. Jesus expresses His love for us in the Eucharist in three ways.
First, by sacrificing Himself for us: Jesus re-presents His Sacrifice of the
Cross every time the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered. Second, by uniting
His life with ours: Every time we worthily receive Holy Communion, Jesus unites
us with Himself in a very intimate way. The union is so intimate that we “come
to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled Himself to share in our
humanity.” And in Him we are united with each other. Third, by giving us the
gift of His continual presence: Jesus stays with us in the Blessed Sacrament day
and night literally fulfilling His promise: “Behold, I am with you all days,
even unto the consummation of the world” (Mt 28:20).
This threefold expression of Christ’s love for us in the Eucharist
means that the Eucharist is a threefold sacrament. In the encyclical letter
Redemptor Hominis Pope John Paul II says of the Eucharist: “It is at one and
the same time a Sacrifice-Sacrament, a Communion-Sacrament, and a
Presence-Sacrament.” Thus the Eucharist conveys Jesus’ grace to us in three
ways.
Jesus wishes a threefold response to His threefold expression of
love. He wants us first, to offer our prayers and sacrifices along with His as
we reverently and attentively participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Second, He wants us to unite our lives with His in frequent and worthy reception
of Holy Communion. And third, He wants each of us to give Him the gift of our
presence by going to Him in the tabernacle or monstrance to spend time with Him
in prayer. None of these opportunities to receive His grace should be downplayed
or neglected. Our communal response at Mass must go together with our personal
response in Eucharistic adoration in order that our response to His love for us
in the Eucharist may be complete.
Fr. Lovasik divides his book into three parts according to the above
three ways. The first part is entitled “Christ’s Real Presence in the
Eucharist.” Although Presence-Sacrament is the third sacramental aspect
mentioned by Pope John Paul, it is the first in logical order, because the
sacrifice and communion aspects follow from the Real Presence. In this part Fr.
Lovasik teaches us to recognize Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, to adore Him
in the Eucharist, to visit Him in the Eucharist, and to allow the Eucharist to
lead us to devotion to His Sacred Heart.
In the second part, Fr. Lovasik discusses the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass. He explains why the Mass is a sacrifice and how to participate in and
receive the benefits of the Mass.
In the third part Fr. Lovasik discusses Holy Communion. He explains
that the Eucharist nourishes one’s supernatural life, that it unites us with
God, and that it transforms us into Jesus. He goes on to tell how the Eucharist
increases our love for others, how it protects us from sin, and how it increases
the power of our prayers. He tells of the joy and consolation that Holy
Communion brings and of how it prepares us for heaven. He urges us to receive
Communion worthily and frequently, and he shows us how to increase the benefits
of our Communions. Mary is presented as a model of Eucharistic devotion. Fr.
Lovasik closes his delightful book encouraging us to offer praise and
thanksgiving for God’s great gift of the Eucharist.
The Basic Book of the Eucharist is a veritable handbook of the compleat Eucharist.
APPEAL FOR FINANCIAL SUPPORT
APEA runs a frugal operation. The lay workers receive no
monetary compensation and compensation for the priests is less than that, for
example, of religious serving full-time in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Most
of the priests’ compensation comes directly from stipends freely offered by the
pastors of the parishes they serve. Only the remainder comes from APEA funds.
During 2001 APEA incurred unusually large
printing and mailing expenses, And because of special projects we are working
on, we expect our printing and mailing expenses to be extraordinarily large
again in 2002. Therefore, we are asking you to help us maintain a positive cash
flow by either making a one-time donation or a pledge of a monthly or quarterly
contribution. Enclosed for your convenience is a self-addressed envelope with a
pledge form attached. Your contributions are tax-deductible.
Please be
generous so that APEA may continue to serve our Lord by leading people to Him in
the Blessed Sacrament.
