"Keep Watch with Christ for One Hour" - 33rd Sunday Homily

In your pews are the mock-ups for the Adoration Chapel.

asked you to take one and maybe pass it to others in your pew.

It's stunning what God has brought about and is bringing about in this chapel.

The mock-up is pending approval by the Archdiocese.

The chapel will be located in the back of the Youth Center.

Not huge, 17 by 20 will fit 20 chairs.

It will be simple and elegant.

We'll use the chairs from the old barn chapel, put kneelers on the back.

See the altar, that's from the old barn chapel.

But then the elegance, what stands out of course is the stained glass window.

It's gonna be 10 feet high.

It was made in the early 1900s before there was Tony Glander.

recently restored and just made a gorgeous backdrop to the focal point of the chapel, which would be the Eucharist contained in the monstrance.

The monstrance, a big gold piece that was donated by Gonzaga High School.

Go Gonzaga.

And that's from the 1800s, the monstrance.

So it's hopeful to, construction's going well.

We're hoping to open it in late January, early February.

as a perpetual adoration chapel.

Perpetual adoration means 24-7.

The chapel will always be open.

will be safe and secure.

You enter through the main doors of the youth center.

There will be a keypad.

It will give you the code.

Whenever the Eucharist is exposed, someone always needs to be present to protect the Blessed Sacrament.

So do the math.

24-7.

That's a lot of people every week.

And I'm asking parishioners and parish families to sign up for an hour a week.

The Lord says, could you not keep watching me for an hour?

It's a big commitment.

I mean, get it.

Well worth it.

Parishes that have a perpetuation are the most vibrant around, across the board.

But I see this gorgeous setup as a room of heaven.

The readings talk about distress and tribulation in the world.

Big events in the world, the end of the world, and there's an escape.

And the reading is this eternal escape into heaven.

But this is a temporary escape from all the stress and distress of the world into this room of heaven.

For you, for your family, you can alternate your hour.

Different people from the family can go each week.

You can share the hour with another family, may divide up 30 minutes each.

I'm taking the midnight to 1 a.m.

slot every day.

It's kind of my winding down time anyway with the YouTube shorts.

I might as well just give that up and be with Jesus.

And I'm asking our men especially, our men's group yesterday was challenged by another priest.

Almost just different from this.

I didn't expect it.

He said, man, you should be going

to adoration in the middle of the night and early morning hours to pray for your family.

It's like, go Father, nice job.

You can sign up as subs, you can make pop-in visits, you can do all the above.

When I first entered this scene of adorations in 1992 at St.

Mark's in Hyattsville and I remember I signed up because I saw the schedule of all the adorers.

Over the whole week, all the parishioners have signed up, this massive amount of people, so committed, this great team effort.

And there was one slot open Thursday 6 to 7 a.m.

and there was a poster above it saying, could you not keep watch with me for an hour?

I'm like, I'm going to do it, Jesus.

I'm going to keep watch with you for an hour.

So I sign up, I go in, and I had no clue what this was.

People are genuflecting on two knees.

There's lights and candles everywhere.

And it took me a little bit to realize that the focal point is, that's the host for Mass that's the Eucharist.

Okay, we are adoring Jesus.

Then it's like, whoa, for an hour.

What do I do for an hour in here?

I'll pray the rosary.

That's only 15 minutes.

What am gonna do the rest of the time?

That's a long time.

And I started to pray.

To talk to the Lord for the first time in my life.

At that time it was serious distress and tribulation in my life.

It's a gorgeous set of folks, but you enter into the real presence, there's such peace that's so palpable, more so than any room on earth.

And so really started to fall in love with this.

And then some months into this, maybe a year, I tried to listen to him.

And one of the first things I heard is, not out loud, but to my heart, like a whisper to my heart, I'm calling you to be a priest.

Now in prayer, you think, was that his voice or my voice?

OK, I was a senior in college.

I was not calling myself to the priesthood.

That was his voice.

I was so convinced I entered the seminary after graduation in college.

And I had some long nights in seminary.

You know my path.

It was a rough go for 10 or 12 years.

But what I clung to was that voice I first heard in adoration, Jesus calling me.

And if that was His voice, if He's calling me, I got to do it.

And eventually it became, I want to do it.

So my whole priesthood comes from adoration.

I'm a big believer in that.

a big lover of adoration.

It's one of the best things you would ever do.

It's a big commitment.

gotta schedule it and maybe bring the kids there and drive and pray.

It's a big whole time commitment.

But it's like going to the gym.

Once you're committed to exercise, you just gotta go.

And then you get the exercising done.

Just try and do it from home and so forth.

It doesn't always work.

So just sign up.

Hopefully it'll be for an hour.

It's the best thing for your...

faith for your heart, for your family, your marriage, your habits, your future, and for this parish.

It's a great thing to keep watch with Christ, especially for an hour, as you keep watch with Him, as you keep watch for Him.