In response to the Holy Father's request for prayers and fasting today for peace in Syria, Fr. Perrone is holding Adoration in the main parish church (it is offered most weekdays and Saturdays in the small convent chapel).
Adoration begins following the special, First Saturday, 8:30 AM Mass for the Carmelite community at Assumption Grotto* and concludes about 15 minutes before the 4:00 PM Mass.
Noteworthy is that Saturday is a typical Catholic Sacramental Confession day. Assumption Grotto priests are available from 2:30 to 3:30, and sometimes until the 4:00 Mass, but it is never good to count on this. That half hour between 3:30 and 4:00 is a good time for prayer. But, when there is Adoration, it could end any time after 3:30, so if you want to be there for Exposition, get there earlier.
While we typically think to fast with food, which is a good thing for those who are not able due to reasons of age or infirmity, there are lots of ways to make God-pleasing sacrifices on a day like today, or any day. Even if you are fasting from food, you can participate, for example, in "fasting" from things like social media or television and spend the time reading Scripture and wholesome material. There is an indulgence for 30 minutes of Scripture reading.
More on the Secular Carmelite Community at Assumption Grotto
*The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Secular Carmelite Community meets at the parish on the First Saturday of every month beginning with 8:30 AM Mass and concluding around Noon with the singing of the Salve Regina. We are a commuter community so Fr. Perrone felt it best not to force everyone to be there at 7:30 AM - the normal daily Mass time, Monday through Saturday.
That 8:30 AM Mass is open to anyone, and visitors are welcome to stay with the Carmelites in praying the Rosary, chanting the Divine Office, and the formation meeting which takes place in the old parish school. Those who want to discern a call to be a secular Carmelite should come to the meeting. They usually ask if their are visitors at some point during the business meeting, which follows the brief coffee and snack social. Formation in Carmelite spirituality begins following that until Noon.
A good book to read that explains quite well what a secular Carmelite is and isn't, would be the book by Aloysius Deeney, OCD - the Order of Discalced Carmelite Delegate to the secular branch of the order. "Secular" is usually associated with "lay," but even a diocesan priest can become a secular Carmelite (this is true of other orders like the Franciscans, Benedictines, and Dominicans, among others). Fr. Perrone is a diocesan priest and a secular Carmelite. He is chaplain to the community and speaks a several times yearly as his schedule allows.Note: There is an exception for October due to a meeting involving all council members in the region, and I believe it is shifted to the second week in October, with the 8:30 AM Mass.
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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church;
it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!
- Diane M. Korzeniewski
it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!
- Diane M. Korzeniewski
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