24th Sunday "Faith & Works" Sign-up Day for Adoration

Today is the long awaited Sign-up day for Eucharistic Adoration. And after the homily, you will have the opportunity to sign up and spend an hour with Jesus every week. I am certain Jesus Himself has been waiting for this day.

In the second reading from the book of James, it said, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” Can faith save him?”

All of us are here at Mass because we have faith. We have faith that by coming to Mass, we are worshiping God, by giving our self totally to God and He gives Himself totally to us. We have faith that Jesus through the priest will change bread and wine into His body and blood. Our visible senses of seeing and tasting and feeling cause us to think its only bread, but our faith tells us the Eucharist it the real resurrected person of Jesus. And during Eucharistic Adoration, we believe we are truly gazing upon Jesus and He is gazing upon us. Jesus is alive. Jesus is risen. Jesus is here in the Eucharist. This is our faith.

But we do not live by faith alone. We are also to do actions (works). The reading today said, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” Can faith save him?” James also said, “Faith without works is dead.” Therefore, faith and works are necessary for salvation. If we have faith, we need to put into action. What are the works we are to do? There are the 7 corporal and 7 spiritual works of mercy? The seven corporal works of mercy are: Feed the hungry. Give drink to the thirsty. Clothe the naked. Shelter the homeless. Visit the sick. Visit the imprisoned. Bury the dead. The seven spiritual works of mercy are: To instruct the ignorant. To counsel the doubtful. To admonish the sinner. To bear wrongs patiently. To forgive offenses willingly. To comfort the afflicted. To pray for the living and the dead.

Have you ever wondered which type of mercy is a greater, the corporal or the spiritual? I believe Jesus gives us the answer when He went to the house of His friends, Lazarus, Martha and Mary. Remember Martha was busy preparing a meal for Jesus, who was hungry and thirsty. But He corrected her when she wanted Our Lord to ask her sister Mary to help her. Mary stayed sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to Him. Our Lord told Martha, “Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” Jesus wanted Martha and us to know that to listen, to pray and to talk to Our Lord, is a greater work of mercy. Not that the others aren’t important, they certainly are important and they are very much needed. But for Mary to sit at the feet of Jesus adoring Him, was a greater act of love because she was being merciful to Jesus Himself, by just being with Him.

When we make our Holy Hour we are sitting at the feet of Jesus. Its a better work to come and be with Him than to do other things. For Martha she was doing a necessary work to prepare a meal for Jesus. But its better to just be with Him, to listen to Him and adore Him. This is what Eucharistic adoration is all about—to just be with Jesus and to love Him and allow Him to love us in return.

It is more efficacious to do something directly for Jesus than to do something for our neighbor. For example. If a soldier dies to save the life of another soldier in battle, he laid down his life for a friend. But if someone dies for the sake of protecting Jesus in the Eucharist, the person will be considered a martyr and can become a saint because he laid down his life for Jesus. One such person is St. Tarscius who was a 12 yr. old boy who was attacked and killed by non-Catholic boys. He was an altar boy carrying Hosts to prisoners and he refused to give the Hosts to his attackers. They beat him to death as he died clutching the Hosts and they were not able to take the pyx with Hosts from him. They could not even remove the pyx from his hands even after he died. The point is we can and should do all sorts of works for others, but the greatest work we can do is for something directly for Jesus. And to be with Him in adoration, it is more pleasing to be Him than if we were to do all sorts of other good works.

There are 168 hours in a week and Our Lord is asking every one of us to spend one hour a week with Him. During His agony in the garden, Jesus told Peter, “Could you not even watch one hour with me?” Our Lord is saying to each of us today, “Come by yourself to an out way place and rest awhile.” If Jesus often went to a quiet place to pray, shouldn’t we? And there is no better place than to be with Him in His real true presence in Eucharistic adoration. Everyone who makes a Holy Hour will always leave their hour with a greater peace than when they came.

In just a few minutes is the sign up. You can sign up your family and your family can come together to be with Jesus. You can also sign up individually. Jesus is not only wanting adults to be with Him, He also wants children. Remember when the Apostles were trying to keep the children from Him, He said, “Let the little children come to me.” If you sign up your family for a Holy Hour, you can also sign up for a personal Holy Hour, so you can be with Jesus all to yourself. If you choose to do this, please use two separate forms. One for you and one for your family.

Young people can also have their own Holy Hour. A high school boy, Neal Adams, at St. Rose in Council Grove signed up. Every week, we rode his bicycle to the church to do his Holy Hour and then would go to school right after his hour was complete. He also enjoyed substituting for others. There was also a 10 yr. old boy at St Patrick in Wichita who on his own, without the encouragement of his parents, decided to make a Holy Hour every week. Because he lived a few blocks from the church, he would walk to church to do his Holy Hour. He never missed his Holy Hour until he was 30 years old, when he died unexpectedly. Neither parents believed their child would keep the commitment, but both boys proved their parents wrong. Parents, give your child a chance, if he or she wants to sign up.

There are four sections of the day you can sign up. 6am to noon, noon to 6pm, 6pm to midnight and midnight to 6am. Please mark you first choice and then your second choice. I believe from midnight to 6am is the best and to those who sign up, they are Our Lord’s “specials”, because He will give special graces for your special act of love. Men I encourage you take a night hour. Women are sometimes fearful to come at night. How can anyone be afraid in our quiet town of Little River. I knew an older lady at St. Francis parish in Wichita who did two Holy Hours 2am and 3am every week. She did this for over 20 years. She wasn’t afraid to come at night.

We will call you today starting at 11am to assign you an hour. Though it will be your Holy Hour, adoration is for everyone. And anyone can come day or night whenever they want to be with Jesus. So we should welcome anyone who wants to come and pray during our hour.

Next Sunday we will start adoration. Immediately after Mass, we will have a Eucharistic procession and so PSR will be delayed until the procession is complete. Everyone should come for the procession including the children. After the procession we will begin Adoration.

I have personally seen the lives of many change and not just those who come to adoration, but also their families. Relationships will be healed. People will come back to church. Non-Catholics will become Catholic. This will be the 5th parish, I have been involved in getting adoration started and honestly, it is Jesus who makes these things happen and its Jesus who continues adoration.

Don’t worry, if something comes up, if you are unable to make your Holy Hour, you will be able to find someone to take your hour. You will see, people will be willing to take your hour. You can ask family and friends to take it. All who sign up will have a list of adorers, whom they can contact.

Some of you may be thinking, “What will I do for a whole hour?” You can pray the Rosary, read the bible, pray prayers from a prayer book and most importantly talk to Him about your life, your family, your job, and just gaze upon Him with eyes of faith and then listen to Him. And then before long the hour is over and you wondered where time went.

There are a lot of things to pray for. With the terrible crisis in the world from covid, from the government over reaching, from abortion, violence, war, persecutions, drugs, not to mention the crisis in our own Catholic Church with a bishop saying one thing and another bishop saying the total opposite. The world is in a sad state.

But when we come to Jesus, He will help us to have peace in the midst of everything. He will help us to endure life’s difficulties. He will strengthen us to be witnesses and most especially, He will prepare us-- for our home in heaven. Every hour we spend with Him, Mother Teresa said it is recorded in heaven and will have a great glory.

Catherine Murphy, the coordinator of St. Anthony in Strong City typed a letter for you that was in the bulletin a few weeks ago. She said, “During adoration this week, I asked the Lord what I should say to the people of Little River about adoration. In the stillness of my heart I heard, “Tell them I love them, and tell them I want them to come to me. I want them to tell me all of their joys, their sorrows, their disappointments, who and what they are worried about. I already know all of these things, but I want them to talk to me as a friend. I am The Best Friend who will never betray them or abandon them. I love My Precious Children.”

My dear parishioners, Jesus is here in the Eucharist and He loves you so much! By our faith, and by just being with Him, we reveal our love for Him and for others. Don’t be afraid. Sign-up. And trust Jesus. May, Mary our Mother, give us Her sweet nudge to sign up and adore Her Son every week in Eucharistic adoration.