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Come Let us Adore Him
Rev. Fr. Gregory Lobo
There is a strange legend that when Almighty God had finished the creation of this beautiful world, He called His angels together and asked them if they could think of anything further that was needed to complete it. The Angels were filled with admiration and praise when the saw this beautiful world. " Only one thing is necessary" they said, "that there should be a voice strong and adoring to praise the goodness of God night and day1".
It seems as if the angels' wish has been granted for today one finds so many adoring and praising God night and day in the chapels consecrated to the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
Strange are the ways of God. It happened on the first Sunday of November'87 around 2.30 p.m. I was fast asleep and was woken by a knock on my door and it was Fr. Martin Lucia an Italian Priest from U.S.A. working in the Philippines. He had taken on himself this mission of spreading this devotion of the adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, exposed in chapels consecrated to Him which would be open day and night. He to ld me that His Lordship Bishop Bosco Penha had given him permission to start this devotion in our Archdiocese, but left it to Fr. Lucia to find a benevolent Parish Priest to start it hi his parish. It seems two Parish Priests were reluctant; so it looked as if the Spirit of the Lord led him to St. Paul's. I don't know how but I agreed especially since we had a spare room close to the sacristy and behind the main church. Fr. Lucia preached at all the masses on the following Sunday and with a small core group headed by Mr. Alex Gracias, got to work enrolling as many people as possible for each hour of the day right into the night.
On the Feast of St. Paul on 30th January, Bishop Bosco Penha blessed and inaugurated this Chapel. From then on I noticed that this devotion soon caught on and became a source of immense graces for our parish at St. Paul's. Learning from my experience at St. Paul's I was keen to have a chapel at St. Francis Xavier's Vile Parle and finally the Lord showed the way. I starfted a chapel especially consecrated to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. I bought a statue of an Angel who holds out the Monstrance in a very simple but prayerful way and used it in this chapel at Vile Parle.
Whatever the reason, the idea of going to adore and prostrate before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament has caught on. Old people as well as young, school children with satchels on their backs, parents with the little ones in tow, tachers, housewives, office-goers even teenagers clad in Jeans and T-shirts can be seen throughout the day, making their way to the Chapel. Some can spare only a minute or two, while others spe4nd even an hour in the presence of the Good Lord. There is a magnificent all - powerful presence there, that draws them to Him over and over again. The chapel is always full, thanks to the Lord, All I can wish for is that the tribe of adorers ever increase throughtout the Archdiocese.
Rev.
Fr. Gregory Lobo
This
report was published in PEA Newsletter January 1997 issue, when Fr. Gregory
was the parish priest of St.Francis Xavier's Church, Vile Parle.