Insert to the Parish Bulletin for Sunday, October 20, 2019
Forty Hours Devotions: A Special Time of Prayer
This year our parish will celebrate the annual Forty Hours Devotions on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, November 3-4-5. The Forty Hours Devotions are a special time of prayer before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, solemnly exposed in the monstrance on the altar. All are encouraged to participate in this great time of grace at Saint Elizabeth!
At this year’s Forty Hours Devotions, our pastor, Fr. Tom Mullin, will offer a series of three reflections on the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist) within an overall theme: “Continuing to Grow as a Community of Disciples with God at the Center of our Lives.” This theme is rooted in our Parish Vision:
We are called by Jesus Christ to grow as a community of disciples,
deepen our faith and be grateful stewards of God’s gifts.
On Sunday, Monday & Tuesday evenings, we will have Evening Prayer, a homiletic reflection and Benediction at 7:00 PM in church. On Monday and Tuesday, we will have Mass in church at 7:30 AM, followed by Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament between 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM, providing time for personal prayer and quiet reflection throughout the day.
On Tuesday morning, we will have Mass for the parish school at 11:00 AM. And on Tuesday evening, we will close with a Eucharistic Procession together with our parish liturgical ministers.
Please consider participating in this year’s Forty Hours Devotions with your loved ones. Individuals, couples and families are invited to take advantage of this sacred time and spend a few minutes, a half-hour or more praying before Jesus really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist during the day and/or to attend the communal prayer services each evening. Those who would like to register for a period of adoration as public representatives of the parish community as a whole are asked to sign their names on the schedule posted on the bulletin board outside the daily Mass chapel.
Some Background to the Forty Hours Devotions
The Forty Hours Devotions have a long history in the Church, beginning in 1530 in Milan, Italy. Each parish in the Archdiocese of Milan was assigned a specific three days for the Forty Hours Devotions, so that Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament continued throughout the entire year. In 1539, Pope Paul III issued a solemn pronouncement confirming the practice of the Archdiocese of Milan for the Church as a whole. By 1550, both Saint Peter Neri and Saint Ignatius Loyola had instituted this devotional practice in their religious communities.
Here in the United States, Saint John Neumann, fourth bishop of Philadelphia, was a strong advocate and promoter of the Forty Hours Devotions. In 1853, he developed the first systematic schedule for all the parishes of the diocese to conduct the Forty Hours Devotions. It has since been customary for many parishes to celebrate the Forty Hours Devotions on or near the feast day of their patron saint. Here in our parish, we celebrate each year around the traditional feast of Saint Elizabeth and her husband Zachary on November 5. What a fitting way to mark the anniversary of the dedication of our church (November 4, 2005) and to honor our patroness, Saint Elizabeth!