St. Francis of Assisi parish will hold a 40 Hour Eucharistic Devotion beginning with morning Mass on March 14th and closing with a solemn Benediction on Thursday early evening, March 17th. The Forty Hours Devotion can be celebrated either in 40 continuous hours, or based on the needs of the local parish, can be broken into daily celebrations. Here at St. Francis, we have elected to do the latter. The daily schedule will be:
- Morning Mass (8:45 am)
- Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament (from after morning Mass until 7:30 pm each day)
- Hour long segments with a small prayer service and extended periods of silence. Materials in support of prayer will be available.
- Each day will close with the Repose of the Blessed Sacrament at 7:30 pm
- On Thursday, the closing Benediction begins at 18:15 pm
What is the Forty Hours Devotion? The Forty Hours Devotion is an opportunity to gather as a community before the Blessed Sacrament and to pray before the Lord in adoration. It gives us time to deepen our appreciation of the importance of the mystery of the Eucharist in our lives. Traditionally it begins with a celebration of Mass. At the end of this opening Mass the Blessed Sacrament is exposed in a monstrance placed upon the altar and over a period of a few days the faithful are given the opportunity to assemble in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
In the celebration of the Forty Hours Devotion we are able to witness a fuller expression of our theology of the Eucharist. It is first and foremost about our participation in the Paschal Mystery through our celebration of Mass. In the celebration of Mass we participate directly in the saving acts of Christ and by the grace of the Holy Spirit unite the sacrifices of our lives with the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross. It is in this way that we give praise and thanksgiving to God for Jesus and participate in the true worship of our God by which we are sanctified as His holy people. This leads us then to live out our lives more fully in Christ. This devotion also gives an opportunity to give voice to our belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharistic elements. As the community gathers in prayer before the exposed Blessed Sacrament, it witnesses to our belief, as a Church, that what is before us is bread no longer but truly the Body of Christ.
Why the number 40? The number forty has always signified a sacred period of time: the rains during the time of Noah lasted 40 days and nights; the Jews wandered through the desert for 40 years; our Lord fasted and prayed for 40 days before beginning His public ministry. The 40 Hours Devotion remembers that traditional “forty-hour period” from our Lord’s burial until the resurrection.
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