Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Better is one day in your house ...

... than a thousand elsewhere. The words are from the refrain of a Matt Redman song. The setting was the student chapel at Catholic U, which was packed with students (and a few seminarians other than yours truly, I would imagine) for the weekly Wednesday night Adoration. I am certain that when this beautiful chapel was built and Masses were being offered daily on the side altars, no one would have envisioned evangelical Praise & Worship music rising to the rafters along with incense and the prayers of young people adoring the Real Presence in the Most Holy Sacrament.

It was a beautiful and powerful experience, moving and prayerful. And yes, so wonderful to see so many college students out! It brought back fond memories of our State Wide college retreats back in SC, which also featured night-time adoration, with Praise and Worship, followed by confession (where the lines stretched forever). Tonight, there was a reading from the Gospel, followed by a decent homily by a Conventual Franciscan vested in a cope, and time for silent prayer, before Benediction, and the Salve Regina (in Latin. And most everyone around me seemed to know the words and didn't need to refer to the program).

It's been ages since I've been to Adoration and I was most grateful for this opportunity. I will most certainly be back.

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