What do we do 24 hour or perpetual adoration?

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I’ll start by saying I love spending time in prayer before Christ, and I value the opportunity to do so regularly. In recent years, our parish went from First Friday Adoration, for about 12 hours of the day, to every Friday Adoration, and 24 hour Adoration on the First Friday. It was gratifying to see the growth in numbers seeking this opportunity to be with Christ.

When we vacation at our summer home, I visit a parish where Adoration is scheduled several nights per week for a few hours, in addition to Fridays through the day but not the night.

If it were up to me, I’d prefer to have Adoration available to me several times per week at convenient times. When I’m on vacation, I schedule my errands around Adoration times, so I can go for an hour of prayer then, say, get groceries. It makes it so easy to weave regular Adoration into the fabric of my life. But it also seems that when a community starts to promote Adoration, they tend to move towards 24 hour Adoration or Perpetual Adoration as an optimal outcome. Is there something about 24 hour or Perpetual Adoration that makes it somehow preferable or more ideal than simply making it available several times per week?

I can see how it might be more sacrificial for me to opt to wake up in the middle of the night and drive to the Church for my time slot, so one could argue it is beneficial in a personal way for one’s own faith life. But this seems to attract only one or two people at a time in the late night/wee hour time slots. In contrast, my experience is that there are dozens who will be in attendance through a 2 or 3 hour time slot scheduled either in the daytime after morning mass or in the evening, just after the supper hour.

So my question is really this: is there something gained by keeping it going for longer stretches of time or is it equally as beneficial to make Adoration available to as many folks as possible in time slots in which they are more likely to attend in greater numbers?

I hope this question makes sense to you and I look forward to the usual high quality of CA responses. 🙂 God bless you all!
 
I think it depends entirely on the parish and how successful the pastors and those who support the devotion are in getting people to commit. Most bishops will not allow parishes to “advertise” perpetual adoration unless they can guarantee a minimum of worshippers for each hour (here it is 2, 4 is preferred for security reasons).
 
My parish has adoration in the mornings some days, all day and nite on Thurs.

Another parish nearby now has all day Mon, Tues and Wed, and 48 hr on the First Fri and Sat.

I attend adoraton at both churches when I have time during the day or evening. I like to pop in for 30 minutes whenever I can, and then I also attend for 1 hr at least once a week.

While traveling I will try and find adoration where ever I am. I miss being not able to speak to the Love of my Life on a personal basis.

The more face time I spend with Jesus, the more time I want to spend with him.
Please give it a try, He will change your life.
 
My parish has Adoration every Friday from 3 p.m. - 7 p.m.

I really love Adoration. I always love spending my time before Christ, and I always hate to leave Him when the time comes. I was at a retreat last weekend, and they had a whole cabin for Our Eucharistic Lord, and I would always spend so much time with Him there. It was so peaceful. Eucharistic Adoration really is the happiest time of my life like some of the saints said.
 
How I wish I could learn to type!! The title of this thread should say “Why” not “What” - as in “Why do we do 24 hour or perpetual adoration?” Sheesh!! Sorry for any confusion…please, carry on.
 
pigpen said:
How I wish I could learn to type!! The title of this thread should say “Why” not “What” - as in “Why do we do 24 hour or perpetual adoration?” Sheesh!! Sorry for any confusion…please, carry on.
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First of all, God is owed our adoration. We can adore Him from afar, but the most effective and spiritually rewarding adoration is in person. To this end, perpetual adoration should be the goal of every parish. Priests are usually reluctant to rush into this, as words are cheap and many promise an hour, but far less actually deliver. A 24 hour adoration is a very good middle ground, and allows for consistent attendance and will demonstrate to Father just how interested the parishioners are in adoration. In the silence of the night, the soul can listen more attentively to our Lord speaking. As to the middle of the night being inconvenient, let us remember Mary of Bethany’s response when she was told “the Master is here and wants to see you” She immediately rose and hurried to see Him (John 11:28-29). This is a good teaching for us.

Frankly, I would love Father were to pound on adoration at each mass. We may tend to compartmentalize our adoration of Jesus to the mass. This is a spiritual disadvantage to us, since we are called to adore Him at all times. Outside of the mass is a wonderful opportunity to offer our adoration during the course of a weekday.

But, as with our spiritual conversions, adoration is a process. Once adoration is introduced, it becomes a process of growing it into 24 hour, and possibly perpetual adoration.
 
My diocese has only 1 chapel that does 24 hour adoration but they tend to have enough people to cover each day and hour. They do welcome visitors who cannot commit to a time frame. I like being able to go when I can go due to my work schedule and other commitments. Other churches have a few hours a week available for adoration, and advertise those times on their websites and in their bulletins.
 
Since it is difficult to get the people for perpetual adoration in one place, our diocese, Orange CA, requires that each parish have adoration on a specified day each month. That way there is adoration at two or three parishes every day. [Some go 24 hours, some have less]. The intent is to petition God for more vocations.

I understand that it has been sufficiently successful that our auxiliary, Bishop Driscoll, took the idea with him to Boise when he became the ordinary there.
 
I am grateful for all your responses. But what I really want to know, is what makes it better or *preferable *to string together many hours of Adoration, either to the point of offering 24 hours or even perpetual Adoration? If one parish offers perpetual Adoration and over the course of a week, 500 people attend, is it somehow preferable to, say, a parish where Adoration is available 5 days a week for 2 hours, and a total of 500 people attend per week as well?

I know many Catholics who feel it’s optimal to have perpetual Adoration, yet when asked why, all I’ve heard is that it’s somehow better, but we’re not sure why.

I understand and appreciate the value of Adoration. My weekly Holy hour is a huge blessing. But is there some sort of graces received by, I don’t know, the people, the parish, the Church itself, if Christ is adored in a constant or perpetual manner?

Thanks!
 
It is that God is first owed our adoration, and to have this in perpetuity is right and proper. As well, it parallels the fact that during every hour of the day, mass is being celebrated at various points on the earth, and so a form of perpetual adoration is occurring also around the world and around the clock.
 
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