Strategy
1. Preparation for Coordinators
Preamble
It is important to begin with noting that parishes throughout the world are living different circumstances during this crisis. Some chapels have had to close completely, others partially, whilst others have been able to remain open 24 hours but with a reduced number of adorers. What is a common factor in all circumstances is that there are adorers who are not coming whom Jesus does not want to lose.
The reasons why people cannot come for their hour vary according to each one’s circumstances.
-
Some because the chapel is closed
-
others because public transport is not operating
-
Many adorers are in an age bracket where they are encouraged to not take to many risks
-
or have health conditions that put them in a more vulnerable category
-
whilst others will simply be acting out of concern for themselves or people in their household
-
parents have children home from school which means they can't leave the house for their hour.
We simply don’t know when ALL these factors will disappear but we know it will happen in stages, and different stages for every person. This means that all adorers won't be returning at the same time. For their sake, for the sake of their relationship with Jesus, we want to keep them inspired to ensure that when the time is right they restart their weekly hour with ease.
Certainly all these adorers are experiencing the desire to be with Jesus and none of these reasons are a reflection on the commitment to their holy hour, but the fact remains, that the longer we stay away from doing anything in life the greater the risk of us losing that commitment. However, those who can’t come for their hour are not the only ones at risk of losing their commitment.
People’s circumstances may have changed as a result of this crisis. e.g., change of employment, working from home etc. This means a reorganization of their daily life where a conflict may arise with their current hour in the chapel. They may lose their hour completely if their commitment is not strong enough and desire deep enough to contact their coordinator to choose a new hour on the schedule.
All the above issues pose challenges for coordinators who are having to reorganize the schedule in order to keep all the hours covered with fewer adorers. Sometimes this means requesting adorers to transfer to different hours, or even to take extra hours until everyone is able to return for their weekly commitment, it also means looking for new adorers in the long term. In the midst of all these factors coordinators will need the full cooperation from all adorers to help get through this situation.
In view of all this it is recommended that every adorer is included in a complete renewal of perpetual adoration.
Eucharistic Evangelization
The key to understand how to move forward from this point is understanding how perpetual adoration is normally started in the first place: through Eucharistic evangelization. This evangelization is aimed at deepening Eucharistic faith in order to inspire individuals to commit to spending a quiet personal hour each week with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and to inspire the whole parish to give Jesus the glory due His name through perpetual adoration. Eucharistic evangelization is a call to make the Eucharist the centre of the life of the people of God.
What was done in the beginning must be reinforced now!
St. Paul says, “Faith comes through hearing and how will they hear if nobody speaks”. It follows then that the more they hear the deeper their faith, and the deeper their faith the stronger will be their commitment to their weekly holy hour.
Based on this principle the proposal is that this Eucharistic Renewal be done over a period of 4 weeks with new material being given each week.
The Eucharistic evangelization is made up of both Audio Talks and Pamphlets.
-
The audio talks are the Eucharistic evangelization a missionary gives when they come to a parish to either start perpetual adoration or give a renewal. They would usually speak at all the masses on Sunday because it is important that every person in the parish hears the message.
In this situation the audio talks are intended for people to listen to them at home on their own devices so that:
- they can listen to it at their own convenience
- they can listen to it as many times as they like
- they can listen to it with others e.g family or friends, whom they can invite to come with them to the chapel.
-
they can send the files to others which gives them another way to participate in bringing others to Jesus in the Eucharist.
It is recommended they listen to only one talk each week which gives them time to meditate over and over on the content. Each talk is only 15min +/- which makes it easier to find time to listen to it more than once in the week.
-
The pamphlets follow and reinforce the Audio talks and are a vital part in the Eucharistic evangelization. In the context of a complete renewal every adorer should receive a copy of the pamphlets along with the Audio.
i. Behold the Lamb of God
Behold the Lamb of God is a resource to help adorers find substitutes.
During the Renewal, while adorers are being inspired, is the ideal time to encourage them to think of potential substitutes. For this reason this is the first pamphlet they are asked to read.
In the Eucharistic Renewal extra emphasis is given to adorers to take this responsibility in order to relieve coordinators of this added stress.
NOTE: This pamphlet mentions 3 books that are often made available in chapels. They were written specifically to support the faith of adorers involved in perpetual adoration. If you don’t have the books in your chapel and would like to find out how to obtain copies please see the “Contacts” page on this website.
ii. The Value of Sacrifice
The Value of Sacrifice is written to inspire people to make the sacrifice to come out in the middle of the night to be with Jesus. It is normally given to adorers who make this commitment, however, these circumstances justify giving it to all adorers because you may need to ask some of them to temporarily cover night hours.
This is the second pamphlet given and accompanies the Audio talk on the night hours, called ‘Worthy is the Lamb’.
iii. ‘I call you friends‘
”I call you friends” highlights various aspects presented in the talks. It is normally given to all adorers after they have heard the talks and made a commitment. It is intended to be read in the chapel where adorers can meditate on these aspects in the presence of Jesus where they can make a more personal commitment to Him.
It also contains a section encouraging adorers to find their own substitutes.
It is encouraged that adorers also use this booklet as part of a personal yearly review of their commitment.
1. Preparation for Coordinators
The events surrounding this crisis may have lead to discouragement when we see chapels closed or so many not being able to come for their hour. We even may be wondering if our chapel will ever restart or whether all the adorers will return. This is understandable. It may even feel impossible, but for God nothing is impossible. He brings a greater good out of every circumstance.
So! Where do we start?
Each coordinator needs to be personally inspired! And each coordinator needs to be convinced of the effectiveness of this material in helping people remain faithful to their hour. Every coordinator is an adorer, so the place to start is with every coordinator reviewing the “Eucharistic Renewal” section, listening to the talks and reading the pamphlets. This would give each coordinator the conviction and the will to share it with their fellow adorers. Each talk is short and the pamphlets are not long so it should only take a few days for coordinators to review all the material.
When every coordinator has reviewed the material, discuss it together - whatever way is possible, and make a plan as to how EVERY ADORER will receive a copy.
If you are experiencing a shortage of coordinators this is a good opportunity to invite others to help you with the work needed to accomplish this renewal, and they may hopefully become permanent coordinators.
2. Making a plan
The general strategy is that EVERYONE receive 4 talks and 3 pamphlets to meditate on over a four week period. The question that has to be answered is: how will everyone receive this material? Every parish has varying circumstances and the way to accomplish this will vary from place to place.
Basically there will be three ways to do this:
a) sending them the link to the webpage;
b) sending them the files electronically,
e.g. via Whatsapp or email;
c) giving them a physical copy.
The challenge will be to make sure that no one is left out.
The reality is that whatever method you decide is most suitable for your parish there will always be a few who cannot receive it according to that method. For these few people an alternative way will need to be worked out on an individual basis.
An example of this is in the parish of San Antonio de Padua in Suchitepequez, Guatemala. Coordinators decided to send the files to adorers via Whatsapp. However, a few coordinators found that in some homes no one had a phone so went to the adorer’s house to play the audio for them on their own phone.
Other situations that could be encountered include:
- when an adorer doesn’t have an internet connection a coordinator could go to their house and transfer the files from one phone to the other, e.g. via Bluetooth
- or, it may be necessary to transfer files through a USB drive, or burn a CD.
- if an adorer does not have an appropriate phone an option is to send it through a family member or neighbour.
When making a plan it is important to keep in mind that it’s ideal that everyone does the renewal at the same time because at the end of the 4 weeks, while everyone is inspired, will be the best time to make any necessary revisions to the schedule.
FIRST STEP
The first step then, is to contact each adorer and
-
share the idea of the Eucharistic Renewal.
-
find out from each one how to best give them the files.
SECOND STEP
The second step is sending the material to all adorers according to the method you have decided is best for your parish. Please don’t forget those people who require an alternative method.
a) When sending the link to the webpage
“Eucharistic Renewal”:
When sending the link to the adorer let them know the date everyone will begin the Eucharistic Renewal
The link for adorers is:
https://perpetualadoration.net/HOME/
Because it is so easy to forget it is also good to give some kind of a reminder for the first couple of weeks.
You have a couple of reasons to contact them anyway in the first weeks and that could serve as the reminder:
-
Firstly, it would be common sense to contact them a few days after sending the link to make sure they had no problems accessing the webpage. This would serve as the first reminder.
-
The following week, after they have listened to the first talk, a simple reminder to read the questions they have been asked to consider would suffice. Make sure they have your contact details in case they would like to contact you before the renewal ends.
b) When sending the files electronically:
First, send each adorer the file ‘EUCHARISTIC RENEWAL’ (audio or text). This will give them the opportunity to understand the renewal before receiving the material for each week.
Let them know which day the renewal will begin.
Rather than send the files all at once send only the files for each particular week, including the explanation for that week. Send the audio of the explanation if necessary.
Note: the audio file of the explanation is available in each week.
After sending the first files follow up each adorer to make sure they could open the them.
c) When giving a physical copy:
There is more than one way of giving a physical copy and it will depend upon the need of each person.
Some will only need you to give them all the files, both audio and text, on a CD or USB drive. But others, for example, may only have a CD player to listen to the Audio and will need a printed copy of the text given to them.
When preparing the material for each adorer make sure everything is included for the whole 4 weeks. This includes the file ‘Eucharistic Renewal’ that has an explanation for the adorer and weekly instructions.
Include a note about the date everyone will begin the Eucharistic renewal, and a reminder to read the weekly instructions.
Follow up with each adorer, if you can, to see if they had any problems listening to the audio, or printing the files - if applicable.
THIRD STEP
The third step is following up with each person who did the Eucharistic Renewal.
When contacting everyone you will want to have the schedule with you so that you can tell them which hours still need adorers the most and encourage them to choose these hours if possible. This will help you keep adorers evenly spread across the schedule.
There are two categories of people you will be contacting: those who are already on the schedule and those who have not yet taken an hour.
-
Contact first all scheduled adorers to confirm if their hour is the same or if they need to change their time on the schedule. After this you will have a clearer idea of which hours still need adorers, or need adorers the most.
-
Then contact everyone else you sent the Eucharistic Renewal to. Confirm if they did the renewal and if they did, ask if they would like to take an hour on the schedule.
You will most likely encounter people who didn’t do the renewal and who have never done a holy hour but still express interest. It may be better to ask them to do the renewal before putting them on the schedule. This will help avoid the situation where people will say yes simply because they are embarrassed to say no. And will prevent a situation where too many people are on the schedule but not really committed.
Take encouragement from the fact that every effort you make to contact people is a form of evangelization, since the purpose of evangelization is to help people come to the Eucharist. Every call you make God is using your voice as a form of evangelization. Every word you speak is accompanied by His grace to encourage each person you talk with to come to Him in the Blessed Sacrament.
Coordinators who have already been through the Renewal have shared how much the adorers appreciate this effort and how encouraged and comforted they are, and how they felt Jesus reaching out to them.
"This makes us ambassadors for Christ.
God as it were appealing through us." (2Cor 5:20)
Strategy
Preamble
It is important to begin with noting that parishes throughout the world are living different circumstances during this crisis. Some chapels have had to close completely, others partially, whilst others have been able to remain open 24 hours but with a reduced number of adorers. What is a common factor in all circumstances is that there are adorers who are not coming whom Jesus does not want to lose.
The reasons why people cannot come for their hour vary according to each one’s circumstances.
- Some because the chapel is closed
- others because public transport is not operating
- Many adorers are in an age bracket where they are encouraged to not take to many risks
- or have health conditions that put them in a more vulnerable category
- whilst others will simply be acting out of concern for themselves or people in their household
-
parents have children home from school which means they can't leave the house for their hour.
We simply don’t know when ALL these factors will disappear but we know it will happen in stages, and different stages for every person. This means that all adorers won't be returning at the same time. For their sake, for the sake of their relationship with Jesus, we want to keep them inspired to ensure that when the time is right they restart their weekly hour with ease.
Certainly all these adorers are experiencing the desire to be with Jesus and none of these reasons are a reflection on the commitment to their holy hour, but the fact remains, that the longer we stay away from doing anything in life the greater the risk of us losing that commitment. However, those who can’t come for their hour are not the only ones at risk of losing their commitment.
People’s circumstances may have changed as a result of this crisis. e.g., change of employment, working from home etc. This means a reorganization of their daily life where a conflict may arise with their current hour in the chapel. They may lose their hour completely if their commitment is not strong enough and desire deep enough to contact their coordinator to choose a new hour on the schedule.
All the above issues pose challenges for coordinators who are having to reorganize the schedule in order to keep all the hours covered with fewer adorers. Sometimes this means requesting adorers to transfer to different hours, or even to take extra hours until everyone is able to return for their weekly commitment, it also means looking for new adorers in the long term. In the midst of all these factors coordinators will need the full cooperation from all adorers to help get through this situation.
In view of all this it is recommended that every adorer is included in a complete renewal of perpetual adoration.
Eucharistic Evangelization
The key to understand how to move forward from this point is understanding how perpetual adoration is normally started in the first place: through Eucharistic evangelization. This evangelization is aimed at deepening Eucharistic faith in order to inspire individuals to commit to spending a quiet personal hour each week with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and to inspire the whole parish to give Jesus the glory due His name through perpetual adoration. Eucharistic evangelization is a call to make the Eucharist the centre of the life of the people of God.
What was done in the beginning must be reinforced now!
St. Paul says, “Faith comes through hearing and how will they hear if nobody speaks”. It follows then that the more they hear the deeper their faith, and the deeper their faith the stronger will be their commitment to their weekly holy hour.
Based on this principle the proposal is that this Eucharistic Renewal be done over a period of 4 weeks with new material being given each week.
The Eucharistic evangelization is made up of both Audio Talks and Pamphlets.
The audio talks are the Eucharistic evangelization a missionary gives when they come to a parish to either start perpetual adoration or give a renewal. They would usually speak at all the masses on Sunday because it is important that every person in the parish hears the message.
In this situation the audio talks are intended for people to listen to them at home on their own devices so that:
- they can listen to it at their own convenience
- they can listen to it as many times as they like
- they can listen to it with others e.g family or friends, whom they can invite to come with them to the chapel.
-
they can send the files to others which gives them another way to participate in bringing others to Jesus in the Eucharist.
It is recommended they listen to only one talk each week which gives them time to meditate over and over on the content. Each talk is only 15min +/- which makes it easier to find time to listen to it more than once in the week.
The pamphlets follow and reinforce the Audio talks and are a vital part in the Eucharistic evangelization. In the context of a complete renewal every adorer should receive a copy of the pamphlets along with the Audio.
i. Behold the Lamb of God
Behold the Lamb of God is a resource to help adorers find substitutes.
During the Renewal, while adorers are being inspired, is the ideal time to encourage them to think of potential substitutes. For this reason this is the first pamphlet they are asked to read.
In the Eucharistic Renewal extra emphasis is given to adorers to take this responsibility in order to relieve coordinators of this added stress.
NOTE: This pamphlet mentions 3 books that are often made available in chapels. They were written specifically to support the faith of adorers involved in perpetual adoration. If you don’t have the books in your chapel and would like to find out how to obtain copies please see the “Contacts” page on this website.
ii. The Value of Sacrifice
The Value of Sacrifice is written to inspire people to make the sacrifice to come out in the middle of the night to be with Jesus. It is normally given to adorers who make this commitment, however, these circumstances justify giving it to all adorers because you may need to ask some of them to temporarily cover night hours.
This is the second pamphlet given and accompanies the Audio talk on the night hours, called ‘Worthy is the Lamb’.
iii. ‘I call you friends‘
”I call you friends” highlights various aspects presented in the talks. It is normally given to all adorers after they have heard the talks and made a commitment. It is intended to be read in the chapel where adorers can meditate on these aspects in the presence of Jesus where they can make a more personal commitment to Him.
It also contains a section encouraging adorers to find their own substitutes.
It is encouraged that adorers also use this booklet as part of a personal yearly review of their commitment.
1. Preparation for Coordinators
The events surrounding this crisis may have lead to discouragement when we see chapels closed or so many not being able to come for their hour. We even may be wondering if our chapel will ever restart or whether all the adorers will return. This is understandable. It may even feel impossible, but for God nothing is impossible. He brings a greater good out of every circumstance.
So! Where do we start?
Each coordinator needs to be personally inspired! And each coordinator needs to be convinced of the effectiveness of this material in helping people remain faithful to their hour. Every coordinator is an adorer, so the place to start is with every coordinator reviewing the “Eucharistic Renewal” section, listening to the talks and reading the pamphlets. This would give each coordinator the conviction and the will to share it with their fellow adorers.
Each talk is short and the pamphlets are not long so it should only take a few days for coordinators to review all the material.
When every coordinator has reviewed the material, discuss it together - whatever way is possible, and make a plan as to how EVERY ADORER will receive a copy.
If you are experiencing a shortage of coordinators this is a good opportunity to invite others to help you with the work needed to accomplish this renewal, and they may hopefully become permanent coordinators.
2. Making a plan
The general strategy is that EVERYONE receive 4 talks and 3 pamphlets to meditate on over a four week period. The question that has to be answered is: how will everyone receive this material? Every parish has varying circumstances and the way to accomplish this will vary from place to place.
Basically there will be three ways to do this:
a) sending them the link to the webpage;
b) sending them the files electronically,
e.g. via Whatsapp or email;
c) giving them a physical copy.
The challenge will be to make sure that no one is left out.
The reality is that whatever method you decide is most suitable for your parish there will always be a few who cannot receive it according to that method. For these few people an alternative way will need to be worked out on an individual basis.
An example of this is in the parish of San Antonio de Padua in Suchitepequez, Guatemala. Coordinators decided to send the files to adorers via Whatsapp. However, a few coordinators found that in some homes no one had a phone so went to the adorer’s house to play the audio for them on their own phone.
Other situations that could be encountered include:
- when an adorer doesn’t have an internet connection a coordinator could go to their house and transfer the files from one phone to the other, e.g. via Bluetooth
- or, it may be necessary to transfer files through a USB drive, or burn a CD.
- if an adorer does not have an appropriate phone an option is to send it through a family member or neighbour.
When making a plan it is important to keep in mind that it’s ideal that everyone does the renewal at the same time because at the end of the 4 weeks, while everyone is inspired, will be the best time to make any necessary revisions to the schedule.
FIRST STEP
The first step then, is to contact each adorer and
-
share the idea of the Eucharistic Renewal.
-
find out from each one how to best give them the files.
SECOND STEP
The second step is sending the material to all adorers according to the method you have decided is best for your parish. Please don’t forget those people who require an alternative method.
a) When sending the link to the webpage
“Eucharistic Renewal”:
When sending the link to the adorer let them know the date everyone will begin the Eucharistic Renewal
The link for adorers is:
….the link….
Because it is so easy to forget it is also good to give some kind of a reminder for the first couple of weeks.
You have a couple of reasons to contact them anyway in the first weeks and that could serve as the reminder:
-
Firstly, it would be common sense to contact them a few days after sending the link to make sure they had no problems accessing the webpage. This would serve as the first reminder.
-
The following week, after they have listened to the first talk, a simple reminder to read the questions they have been asked to consider would suffice. Make sure they have your contact details in case they would like to contact you before the renewal ends.
b) When sending the files electronically:
First, send each adorer the file ‘EUCHARISTIC RENEWAL’ (audio or text). This will give them the opportunity to understand the renewal before receiving the material for each week.
Let them know which day the renewal will begin.
Rather than send the files all at once send only the files for each particular week, including the explanation for that week. Send the audio of the explanation if necessary.
Note: the audio file of the explanation is available in each week.
After sending the first files follow up each adorer to make sure they could open the them.
c) When giving a physical copy:
There is more than one way of giving a physical copy and it will depend upon the need of each person.
Some will only need you to give them all the files, both audio and text, on a CD or USB drive. But others, for example, may only have a CD player to listen to the Audio and will need a printed copy of the text given to them.
When preparing the material for each adorer make sure everything is included for the whole 4 weeks. This includes the file ‘Eucharistic Renewal’ that has an explanation for the adorer and weekly instructions.
Include a note about the date everyone will begin the Eucharistic renewal, and a reminder to read the weekly instructions.
Follow up with each adorer, if you can, to see if they had any problems listening to the audio, or printing the files - if applicable.
THIRD STEP
The third step is following up with each person who did the Eucharistic Renewal.
When contacting everyone you will want to have the schedule with you so that you can tell them which hours still need adorers the most and encourage them to choose these hours if possible. This will help you keep adorers evenly spread across the schedule.
There are two categories of people you will be contacting: those who are already on the schedule and those who have not yet taken an hour.
-
Contact first all scheduled adorers to confirm if their hour is the same or if they need to change their time on the schedule. After this you will have a clearer idea of which hours still need adorers, or need adorers the most.
-
Then contact everyone else you sent the Eucharistic Renewal to. Confirm if they did the renewal and if they did, ask if they would like to take an hour on the schedule.
You will most likely encounter people who didn’t do the renewal and who have never done a holy hour but still express interest. It may be better to ask them to do the renewal before putting them on the schedule. This will help avoid the situation where people will say yes simply because they are embarrassed to say no. And will prevent a situation where too many people are on the schedule but not really committed.
Take encouragement from the fact that every effort you make to contact people is a form of evangelization, since the purpose of evangelization is to help people come to the Eucharist. Every call you make God is using your voice as a form of evangelization. Every word you speak is accompanied by His grace to encourage each person you talk with to come to Him in the Blessed Sacrament.
Coordinators who have already been through the Renewal have shared how much the adorers appreciate this effort and how encouraged and comforted they are, and how they felt Jesus reaching out to them.
"This makes us ambassadors for Christ.
God as it were appealing through us." (2Cor 5:20)