In the bulletin this weekend, Fr. Perrone reminds us of the upcoming 40 Hours Devotion which will take place at Assumption Grotto starting this Friday and ending on Sunday with a spectacular closing ceremony at 3:00pm. Conveniently, the ushers are doing their annual pancake breakfast which will last until 2:00pm! It's not uncommon for Grotto-goers to just lurk around for a few hours following the morning and noon Masses. Fr. Perrone encourages all of us to come each of the three days if possible.
Adoration begins early in the morning when the Blessed Sacrament brought out (I think it was 6:00am) and then Our Lord is reposed each evening around 8:00 or 8:30 ( don't have a bulletin with me).
Now, I'm 44 years old and never heard of 40 Hours Devotion for the first 43 years of my life. When you really think about it, two things are needed to make a 40 Hours Devotion possible: Priests willing to give their time for preparation, and in handling the Blessed Sacrament for Exposition and, just as importantly, people willing to sit with our Lord. If a parish has several hundred families at the least, there should be no problem finding enough people for each to spend an hour with the Lord, much in the way that Jesus asked the apostles to watch just one hour with Him. Just think of parishes that have thousands of families. This means there is truly one more thing needed for a 40 Hours Devotion: Pure love of the Eucharist by parishioners and priests of a parish - enough to want to do such a thing.
What is 40 Hours Devotion?
Fr. William Saunders explains....
40 Hours with Jesus The Forty Hours Devotion is a special forty-hour period of continuous prayer made before the Blessed Sacrament in solemn exposition. Of course, the focus of this devotion is on the Holy Eucharist. As Catholics, the words of our Lord burn in our hearts: "I myself am the living bread come down from Heaven. If anyone eats this bread, He shall live forever; the bread I will give is my flesh for the life of the world" (John 6:51).
Affirming our belief in the real presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, the Vatican Council II taught that the Holy Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life" (Lumen Gentium, #11). While the Mass is the central act of worship for us Catholics, an act which participates in the eternal reality of our Lord's passion, death, and resurrection, Vatican Council II upheld and encouraged the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass. Of course such devotion derives from the sacrifice of the Mass and moves the faithful to both sacramental and spiritual communion with our Lord (Eucharisticum Mysterium, #50). As Pope Pius XII taught in Mediator Dei, "This practice of adoration has a valid and firm foundation." Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II has repeatedly "highly recommended" public and private devotion of the Blessed Sacrament, including processions on the Feast of Corpus Christi and the 40 Hours Devotion (cf. Dominicae Cecae, #3, and Inaestimabile Donum, #20-22).
Second, the number forty has always signified a sacred period of time: the rains during the time of Noah lasted 40 days and nights; the Jews wandered through the desert for 40 years, our Lord fasted and prayed for 40 days before beginning His public ministry. The 40 Hours Devotion remembers that traditional "forty-hour period" from our Lord's burial until the resurrection. Actually in the Middle Ages, the Blessed Sacrament was transferred to the repository, "the Easter Sepulcher," for this period of time to signify our Lord's time in the tomb.
The Forty Hours Devotion begins with a Solemn Mass of Exposition, which concludes with the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and a procession. The Blessed Sacrament remains on the altar in a monstrance. During the next 40 hours, the faithful gather for personal or public prayer in adoration of our Lord. The Blessed Sacrament is reposed in the tabernacle for the daily Mass, and then returned for exposition after Mass. At the end of the devotions, the Mass of Deposition is offered, again concluding with a procession, benediction and final reposition of the Blessed Sacrament. While the forty-hour period should be continuous, some Churches break-up the time, reposing the Blessed Sacrament at night because of security reasons.
The Forty Hours Devotion can be seen almost like a parish mini-retreat or mission. A guest priest may be invited to give a series of homilies. Confessions should be offered and encouraged. Consequently, an appropriate time to schedule Forty Hours is either Advent or Lent.
While the Forty Hours Devotion nurtures the love of the faithful for our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, three special dimensions have also surrounded this devotion: the protection from evil and temptation; reparation for our own sins and for the Poor Souls in Purgatory; and deliverance from political, material, or spiritual calamities. Here the faithful implore our Lord to pour forth His abundant graces not only for themselves, but their neighbors, not only for their own personal needs, but for those of the world. Such practices are evidenced in the history of this devotion, which we shall explore next week.
Having explored the spiritual dimension of the Forty Hours Devotion, a greater appreciation for this spiritual exercise is found.....(continue reading 40 Hours with Jesus by Fr. William Saunders)
Some of the many priests in attendance at last year's closing ceremony are seen in the Sanctuary.
