Perpetual Adoration: Cleaning the Chapel? [edited]

[sonatina]

I would like to ask if anyone knows the protocol for cleaning in a Chapel of Perpetual Adoration. Since the Blessed Sacrament is exposed 24/7 in our Chapel, obviously we do need to have regular vacuuming and dusting done. Recently, I heard that whenever we do this, the priest/deacon must remove the Real Presence until the work is done. Is this correct?:

 

[passus]

Yes, it is necessary to return the Blessed Sacrament to its place of repose (it should be a tabernacle) before cleaning the adoration chapel. It is not appropriate to go about cleaning with the sacrament exposed.

Run a spot in the weekly bulletin announcing that the adoration chapel will be closed for however many hours on whatever date to allow for cleaning. Just make sure to check your hours log and call the people who have signed up and make that holy hour regularly to let them know that there will be no adoration. You might invite them to join in and help, though.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

I have never heard that it is necessary to repose the Blessed Sacrament for cleaning.

This time of year, with people tracking in snow and slush, our maintenance man comes in and mops daily. It only takes a moment; the Blessed Sacrament is not reposed when he does this.

There is a woman who has taken upon herself weekly upkeep of the chapel. During an adoration hour she shares with her husband, she dusts, polishes, mops, and straightens. It takes her only part of the hour; the Blessed Sacrament is not reposed.

I never saw anything wrong with this; it is done with mindfulness and respect of Jesus’ presence.

 

[passus]

I think we need to take a look at some Scripture.
Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42).
If you were sitting in the adoration chapel and Jesus Christ as a man, radiant and beaming with white light, appeared and began to approach you, I think you would put down your petty dusting, polishing, mopping, and straightening. Well, guess what! In the exposed Blessed Sacrament, He is there right before you, so why would you not afford Him that same exact respect?

Don’t be a Martha.

God bless!

 

[malphono]

I think we need to take a look at some Scripture.
Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42).
If you were sitting in the adoration chapel and Jesus Christ as a man, radiant and beaming with white light, appeared and began to approach you, I think you would put down your petty dusting, polishing, mopping, and straightening. Well, guess what! In the exposed Blessed Sacrament, He is there right before you, so why would you not afford Him that same exact respect?

Don’t be a Martha.

God bless!

Whenever the Sacrament is reserved, the Real Presence is there, irrespective of exposition.

Are you then suggesting that the reserved Sacrament be removed from the tabernacle while the church is being cleaned or the altar linens changed?

 

[sonatina]

Our Chapel of Perpetual Adoration has been open for 13 years, 24/7, and in that time the coordinator has done the cleaning as needed. The reason I asked is that she was recently told that this was incorrect, and she was disturbed by this. No one is a “Martha”…My question was made in order to try to find the correct protocol, not to read an exchange of personal opinions, which do not help at all. If there is a priest or member of the clergy who can clarify this, I would be very grateful.
+PAX

 

[passus]

Whenever the Sacrament is reserved, the Real Presence is there, irrespective of exposition.

Surely, the Real Presence is there in and of itself irrespective of exposition, but it is not present to us in the same regard.

If such were the case, as you seem to propose, the rite of Eucharistic exposition for adoration and veneration would not exist.

 

[theistgal]

I think we need to take a look at some Scripture.
Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42).
If you were sitting in the adoration chapel and Jesus Christ as a man, radiant and beaming with white light, appeared and began to approach you, I think you would put down your petty dusting, polishing, mopping, and straightening. Well, guess what! In the exposed Blessed Sacrament, He is there right before you, so why would you not afford Him that same exact respect?

Don’t be a Martha.

God bless!

Of course, He didn’t tell Martha to stop cooking.

 

[maryj]

Our Chapel of Perpetual Adoration has been open for 13 years, 24/7, and in that time the coordinator has done the cleaning as needed. The reason I asked is that she was recently told that this was incorrect, and she was disturbed by this. No one is a “Martha”…My question was made in order to try to find the correct protocol, not to read an exchange of personal opinions, which do not help at all. If there is a priest or member of the clergy who can clarify this, I would be very grateful.
+PAX

Check with Fr, Serpa in the AAA forum. I believe you can PM him also.

 

[sonatina]

Check with Fr, Serpa in the AAA forum. I believe you can PM him also.

Thank-you and God bless you.

 

[PJM]

I would like to ask if anyone knows the protocol for cleaning in a Chapel of Perpetual Adoration. Since the Blessed Sacrament is exposed 24/7 in our Chapel, obviously we do need to have regular vacuuming and dusting done. Recently, I heard that whenever we do this, the priest/deacon must remove the Real Presence until the work is done. Is this correct?:

If the Adoration is in a chapel adjacent to the main Sactuary where Holy Mass is celebrated, the Blassed Sacrament is to be returned to the tabernacle durring Mass.

It is at this time that such cleaning may and shouls take place.

If adoration is in a “freestanding chapel” then yes, pius practice would suggest that the Blessed sacrament be placed in the Tabernacle, to avoid the possibility of sacrilidge.

 

[JPUSC]

I think we need to take a look at some Scripture.
Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42).
If you were sitting in the adoration chapel and Jesus Christ as a man, radiant and beaming with white light, appeared and began to approach you, I think you would put down your petty dusting, polishing, mopping, and straightening. Well, guess what! In the exposed Blessed Sacrament, He is there right before you, so why would you not afford Him that same exact respect?

Don’t be a Martha.

God bless!

If someone was visiting a relative for example and noticed that the room was a little dusty, I don’t think the realtive would mind if you took it upon yourself to clean his room to make the space better for him.

Since the church is God’s house and we are his children, I think He would be pleased that someone cares enough to clean His earthly sanctuary.

 

[JPUSC]

Surely, the Real Presence is there in and of itself irrespective of exposition, but it is not present to us in the same regard.

If such were the case, as you seem to propose, the rite of Eucharistic exposition for adoration and veneration would not exist.

What do you mean by this? The Blessed Sacrament is there whether exposed or not.

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

Passus, it is the custom here at CAF when one makes a statement of fact, that they back up that fact with hard evidence, not Scripture pulled out of context. The apologists are frequently quoted as telling folks if somebody tells them something, that people have a right and duty to ask from where they got their information, and not just “Father told me” or out-of-context Scripture.

So- From what manual, encyclical or other Church document did you pull your conclusion that the Blessed Sacrament has to be reposed prior to cleaning? Links will be fine, you don’t have to copy-and-paste the entire document.

 

[passus]

Passus, it is the custom here at CAF when one makes a statement of fact, that they back up that fact with hard evidence, not Scripture pulled out of context. The apologists are frequently quoted as telling folks if somebody tells them something, that people have a right and duty to ask from where they got their information, and not just “Father told me” or out-of-context Scripture.

So- From what manual, encyclical or other Church document did you pull your conclusion that the Blessed Sacrament has to be reposed prior to cleaning? Links will be fine, you don’t have to copy-and-paste the entire document.

The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament deserves the entirety of our respect, honor, and veneration. We are to regard the Blessed Sacrament as we regard Jesus, Himself, because the Sacrament is Jesus, Himself. Everything stops in the presence of Jesus, and one would be hard pressed to justify chores in the stead of adoration.

Unfortunately, the Church does not address every single issue that could possibly arise regarding matters of Christian living or extraordinary circumstances of Church rites. Neither does Scripture. In cases like these, the matters are left to the prudence of the individual believer that, guided by his or her conscience and the Holy Spirit, he or she may come to a worthy and just conclusion in the matter.

That is exactly what I have done.

Furthermore, I did not make any “statement of fact.” Facts do not need evidence for support. Quite clearly, what I posted was my opinion, and I did support it with evidence–the testimony of Scripture.

The analogy of Scripture I have presented seems very real to me, and just because you seem to think it “out-of-context” does not make it so. If you have a better response, then by all means please offer it for our consideration.

 

[zab]

I think we need to take a look at some Scripture.
Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42).
If you were sitting in the adoration chapel and Jesus Christ as a man, radiant and beaming with white light, appeared and began to approach you, I think you would put down your petty dusting, polishing, mopping, and straightening. Well, guess what! In the exposed Blessed Sacrament, He is there right before you, so why would you not afford Him that same exact respect?

Don’t be a Martha.

God bless!

If you think Jesus was saying “Don’t be a Martha”, you are mistaken. He was not chastising Martha for being hospitable. He was just telling Martha that Mary was not doing anything wrong by listening to the Word of God. Mary chose the better part. Still, Martha’s work is important, too. Our priests and nuns, even those in the cloister have duties that they attend to every day. They wash clothes, clean the floor, cook meals, some work in the field, some sew, etc. If we are neglecting our duties by spending too much time in vocal prayer and reading, then we are not praying as we should. We can live in the presence of God while we are busy doing our work. We need Marthas and Marys.

 

[Marsha_Adams]

I think we need to take a look at some Scripture.
Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42).
If you were sitting in the adoration chapel and Jesus Christ as a man, radiant and beaming with white light, appeared and began to approach you, I think you would put down your petty dusting, polishing, mopping, and straightening. Well, guess what! In the exposed Blessed Sacrament, He is there right before you, so why would you not afford Him that same exact respect?

Don’t be a Martha.

God bless!

There is a flaw with this logic. When Jesus walked the earth with his disciples, they didn’t spend all their time hanging on his every word. Somebody was doing the cooking and somebody was washing the clothes. Jesus never said to them, “whoa, boys, how come you’re ignoring me for these petty tasks?” And as someone else mentioned, even with the Sacrament in repose within the tabernacle, you are still in the divine presence.

 

[malphono]

There is a flaw with this logic. When Jesus walked the earth with his disciples, they didn’t spend all their time hanging on his every word. Somebody was doing the cooking and somebody was washing the clothes. Jesus never said to them, “whoa, boys, how come you’re ignoring me for these petty tasks?” And as someone else mentioned, even with the Sacrament in repose within the tabernacle, you are still in the divine presence.

Thank you for having expressed it so well.

 

[gelsbern]

If I recall, there is usually a schedule for people to be in the chapel around the clock as the blessed sacrament is never to be left alone. If someone cannot make their shift a person can stay longer, however if that person cannot stay, a priest or deacon is contacted and the blessed sacrament put in repose.

A lot of chapels I have visited, had the cleaning on a schedule. The blessed sacrament was taken out of the chapel during these scheduled cleaning times.

I cannot find anything (yet) regarding any written rules for this, however I have found a couple of parishes that post their schedule for perpetual adoration.

stdunstans.pe.ca/Adoration%20Chapel.html
saintcatherine.us/?page_id=14

You will notice that they schedule times for cleaning.

It seems to me that if the blessed sacrament is exposed, that all that should be happening is adoration without distractions. Using this logic it would seem that removing the blessed sacrament from the chapel during cleaning would be the best practice.

It appears some feel that treating the presence of Christ as just a visitor at your home is acceptable, but we have to remember, in the chapel, it is we who are visitors at the Lord’s house.

I doubt anyone would be whipping out the Hoover to clean up if Jesus was in that chapel in human form. Every person would enter that chapel in total silence and be on their knees in awe to be in the presence of the Lord. When the blessed sacrament is exposed, you are in the presence of the Lord, the true presence, and we should behave appropriately.

 

[passus]

I doubt anyone would be whipping out the Hoover to clean up if Jesus was in that chapel in human form. Every person would enter that chapel in total silence and be on their knees in awe to be in the presence of the Lord. When the blessed sacrament is exposed, you are in the presence of the Lord, the true presence, and we should behave appropriately.

Thank you for having expressed it so well.