Sleeping or working during adoration

[Episcopalian]

Pre-Covid, a friend of mine regularly attended Adoration at his church but almost always falls asleep in the Adoration Chapel or brings work tasks with him.

He calls it “Resting in the Spirit” and claims that he’s absorbing graces just being present in the chapel with the Eucharist.

He got embarrassed though when he was woken up by other congregants stating it’s inappropriate and he needs to leave rather than sleep there. Same people give him looks and mutters when he’s working.

Is it inappropriate though? The chapel is large enough to fit like 20-30 people so it’s not like it’s crowded or taking up too much space or something

 

[Mtatum1958]

Just my opinion, but no. Someone can fall asleep through no fault of their own, however.

The purpose of adoration isn’t to absorb grace, it’s mor to worship and ador our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

People do sometimes fall asleep at Adoration, especially at night. It’s happened to all of us at least once. However, it’s not something we plan on doing, and it’s not appropriate to go there with the intention of sleeping. If others are present they likely will wake you up, and also, you might snore or talk in your sleep which would be distracting and disturbing to others.

Doing work in the Adoration Chapel is likewise not what you’re supposed to be doing in there.

20 to 30 person capacity is a tiny chapel. If the person were in a large church that held 500 or 1000 people, he might be able to get away with sitting in a back pew and quietly doing some work. You’re not going to be able to pull that off in a little 30-person space. And don’t expect people to be happy to see you working in there.

He should be going to Adoration for an hour when he’s awake and planning to do nothing but adore Jesus. If he wants Jesus around while he’s working, he can go home and pull up a Perpetual Adoration live cam on his laptop or phone, and work with it on.

 

[puer.dei]

Pre-Covid, a friend of mine regularly attended Adoration at his church but almost always falls asleep in the Adoration Chapel or brings work tasks with him.

Falling asleep accidentally would be one thing. But “almost always” indicates that he needs to change his adoration schedule to a time when he can be awake to be with Jesus.
And it certainly seems disrespectful to me, to take work to adoration. That’s not what we’re there for.

 

[Inbonum]

I agree with others.

It’s like going to meet your friend but instead of being together, talking and dedicating your time to him you do job/sleep and act like you aren’t with him… Yeah, I wouldn’t do that to friend.

Accident is different thing but your friend does it almost always

 

[Evan]

I do agree what has been said.

However…

St Teresa of Avila was known to fall asleep while contemplating the Lord during her prayer of quiet. When you set aside all your concerns and open yourself to listen to God’s Word in your heart.

 

[1cthlctrth]

In my opinion, it’s still better to attend Adoration than not to, as long as it doesn’t ALWAYS turn into a nap.

 

[runningdude]

Pre-Covid, a friend of mine regularly attended Adoration at his church but almost always falls asleep in the Adoration Chapel

Matthew 26:40 NIV

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

In Europe I have several times seen people sleeping in Adoration chapels. My guess is that they were very tired (some have backpacks and look like hostellers) and needed a place to rest/sleep where the local police would not give them the boot, and the Adoration chapel was the closest/ best/ safest option.

People generally just ignore them but I’m also guessing they do not do this every day, as they don’t look homeless (the homeless are usually begging at the church doors).

 

[sudy]

In a sense it’d be quite easy to fall asleep during adoration as I feel peaceful and often close my eyes … not that I’ve done it though to be fair. I heard Fulton Sheen say he fell asleep in adoration, can’t recall whether he was making a point though.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I believe Abp. Sheen went on to say that he felt like one of The Apostles who dozed off in the garden, and that God was understanding but at the same time did not want him to do it again.

 

[MNathaniel]

almost always falls asleep in the Adoration Chapel or brings work tasks with him.

He got embarrassed though when he was woken up by other congregants stating it’s inappropriate and he needs to leave rather than sleep there. Same people give him looks and mutters when he’s working.

My suggestion would be for him to consider why others look. Typically, in an adoration chapel, folks don’t notice each other: attention is on Jesus.

What might draw someone’s attention in that context (a reason they look) is noise.

Perhaps your friend snores and doesn’t realize he snores. Perhaps your friend’s work tasks involve the clicking and clicking of buttons, or constant shuffling of papers?

I have no special insight into the appropriateness of bringing work to do in front of Jesus, with regards to being in front of Jesus. But your friend might do well to remember that in a public chapel, he’s not just present to Jesus – he’s also present to the other parishioners. And he might consider the relative importance of conducting himself in a locally acceptable way that doesn’t interfere with the activities and expectations most people set for this location (which would seem to involve meditative silence and relative stillness, without the distractions of snoring, clicking buttons or scribbles, constant movement of arms and shuffling of papers, etc).

Like others have said, it’s one thing to fall asleep a time or two, by accident. It’s another thing to go there planning to sleep, especially if something about one’s sleep (likely snoring) is so disruptive that strangers have actually approached to speak about it.