From Australia comes this story about schoolchildren transformed by the practice:
Two Catholic teachers with a devotion to Eucharistic adoration have introduced young children to the Real Presence of Christ with heart-warming responses. Acting assistant principal for religious education at St Finbarr’s Primary School, Ashgrove, Luke Thomsen and fellow staff member Naimh Healy organised Eucharistic adoration sessions for 187 students aged four to 11 during Corpus Christi week. The adoration initiative is part of a school-wide pioneering program called Kids in Action, and encourages students in Christian outreach and social justice as well as evangelisation and faith formation. Every classroom was invited to a 30-minute adoration session inside the adjoining St Finbarr’s Church. The sessions included staff-led scriptural meditations, reflection times and silent prayer. Ms Healy, who led each classroom’s adoration session, said the children developed a deeper desire for prayer, with a couple returning to the church during their lunch breaks. Parishioners were invited to fill out the remaining sessions in the 24-hour block of adoration, with several teachers taking up holy hours in the early hours of the morning. Students were also asked to write feedback about their adoration experience, many identifying an increase in peace and joy, a commitment to prayer and even private confession of their sins. One student said it was “one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever experienced”. “God truly spoke to me and I felt as though all my worries were washed away in prayer,” the student said. “The Blessed Sacrament was an amazingly uplifting and beautiful thing.”
Photo: The Catholic Leader
And today we celebrate...