Newsletter Second Sunday of Lent (Year A) Sunday 1st March 2026

Newsletter 2nd Sunday of Lent (Year A) 1st March 2026.pdf

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In 1981 the Pope, St. John Paul II established perpetual Eucharistic adoration in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome and at that time, he prayed that every parish would have perpetual Eucharistic adoration.

Adoration is simply appreciation that the Blessed Sacrament is really Our Lord.  This appreciation is expressed when a parish has a chapel or sets aside a small prayer room that is open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day with permanent exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.  There are 168 hours in a week.  All that is needed is for each of us to be willing to spend one hour - once a week - with Jesus, so we can organise EVERY hour in such a way that every hour is covered with at least one person in the chapel at all times so that Jesus is never left alone, the chapel can always be left open. Jesus stays with us day and night in the Blessed Sacrament to call us back to Himself sometime during the week that we might spend some quiet time with Him in prayer in order to deepen our union, our friendship, our personal relationship, and our intimacy with Jesus - Our Saviour.

Each moment we spend in His Presence, we deepen our unity with Him and make our soul everlasting more beautiful and glorious in Heaven, because The Blessed Sacrament is Jesus our Risen Saviour with all of the glory and beauty of His resurrection flowing out to those who come into His Eucharistic Presence.

For just as you can’t be exposed to the sun without receiving its rays, neither can you come to the Son of God in the Blessed Sacrament without being bathed with all the rays of His Kingdom.

This is why Pope St. John Paul II said: “Jesus waits for you in this Sacrament of His love” where He repeats His timeless appeal: “Could you not watch one hour with Me.” Matt 26:40  This hour Jesus wants you to spend with Him is spent any way you want to: with your own favourite prayer book or reading the Holy Bible or praying the Holy Rosary, the Rosary is my favourite prayer  because when we pray the Rosary in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament WE LOVE JESUS with the HEART OF MARY who makes up for everything that is lacking in us. It is as if Mary herself were making the Holy Hour, or you may be so tired or troubled or worn out that you may want to do NOTHING but just sit and relax and enjoy the sweet peace that comes from simply being with the One who loves you the most, Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

What Jesus wants all of us to Know is that He is absolutely the easiest person to be with the easiest person in the world to please.  Even if you think you can’t pray very well because you are easily distracted and get restless, the mere fact that you get into your car and go to the chapel IS IN ITSELF A PRAYER OF FAITH that brings great joy to His Heart.  For nowhere on earth are you more loved, nowhere on earth are you more welcomed, nowhere on earth is your presence more appreciated, than in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

What Our Lord wants of us when we go to Him in the Blessed Sacrament, is to put all of our worries, all of our anxieties, every one of our cares into His Heart burning with love for us, that He may fill us with His peace… so that when we leave the chapel,  there should not be one thing that bothers us, not one thing that affects us, not one thing that disturbs us. 

The Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. The Eucharist is not a symbol, but the PERSON of Jesus Himself.   The same Jesus born over 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, the same Jesus who died on the cross for our sins and Who rose again on Easter Sunday, is really, truly and personally present in the Blessed Sacrament where He appeals to us personally: “Come to Me it is really I…” 

When we are praying in the presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, we are in Heaven, just as much as the angels and saints in Heaven are. The only thing that prevents us from seeing Jesus as clearly as the angels and saints do, is a thin veil or wall, which is our fallen nature or lack of love.  In the presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, we receive from God all of His Love, as much as the angels and saints in Heaven do. He is the same God.

The advantage of having a chapel open all the time is that everyone can participate, because everyone can find at least one hour a week to be with Our Lord, and whatever hour you choose - morning, afternoon, evening or night - is most pleasing to the Lord.  We need people for all of the hours, but the hour we need people the most is one of the night hours, between midnight and 6am, because these are the hours that are most difficult to find volunteers for. Those of you who can, we ask you to please help us out by taking one of these difficult hours.

As scripture reminds us, Our Lord spent nights in prayer.

St. John Paul II is an inspiration. According to a Cardinal who was with the Pope all day, the Pope began his day with a Holy Hour in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and ended his day with a Holy Hour, plus one day of the week he often spent the whole night in prayer.  

For me personally, my favourite time to pray is in the middle of the night. An hour spent with Jesus in the middle of the night is an anointed hour.

This is why St Pope John Paul II said, “The Church and the world have a great need for adoration because this is what will bring about God’s kingdom on Earth and an everlasting peace to all mankind.”

“For what we await are new Heavens and a new Earth.” 2Peter 3:13 

When we give Jesus the glory He deserves through Perpetual Adoration then the world will be transformed by the all-powerful love  of the Blessed Sacrament into a new, a second and a more glorious earthly paradise, by Jesus who says: “SEE I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW.”