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Holy Family Area Catholic Community Newsletter — November 2022
During the First World War, in 1917, Our Lady of Fatima appeared to three children in Portugal six times from May to October. Our Blessed Mother urged the young children to pray the Rosary daily for peace in the world and to offer sacrifice with the intention for sinners to convert. Years later, Our Lady appeared to Sister Lucia — the oldest of the visionary children — and asked her to spread a first Saturday devotion to her Immaculate Heart for reparation of sin.
Rosemary Hendrickson, along with Nick and Claire Weimann, takes the instructions for Our Lady of Fatima seriously and hosts the First Saturday Eucharistic Adoration devotion at the Church of St. James in Dawson from 8 a.m. to noon.
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“As the name suggests, it occurs on the first Saturday of each month,” Rosemary says. “We ask for two ‘Guardians of the Blessed Sacrament’ to sign up and be present for each hour, but others are welcome to come and go as they please.”
The time of prayer is contemplative and is mostly done silently. At 10 a.m., Rosemary leads those who are in attendance through a meditative Rosary and the Fatima Prayers.
“Adoration is a special time with Jesus, as He is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament,” Rosemary says. “It is an opportunity to extend the time that we have with Jesus beyond the Mass — to really sit with Him and have a good long heart-to-heart conversation.”
During Eucharistic Adoration, Jesus is truly present — Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity — in the consecrated host. The host is placed in a special and reverent vessel called a monstrance that has the purpose of exposing our Lord in a dignified way so that we can see and adore Him.
“If we believe that Jesus is God, then His words make present what they signify,” Rosemary says. At the Last Supper Jesus took bread and wine and said “This is my body… This is my blood.”
“We don’t have to wish to have lived when Jesus was on earth because He is still with us in the Sacrament of the Eucharist,” Rosemary says. “Praying in His presence is different than praying at home, like being in conversation with a good friend who is sitting in the same room as you is different than having a phone call.”
The First Saturday Adoration at St. James started this past May and offers a valuable opportunity to sit face-to-face with Jesus. It is a time when you are invited into greater communion with our Lord and are free to bring to Jesus your burdens and joys and to pray for those who are most in need.
“First Saturday Adoration and devotion is one more way I can set aside time to be with Our Lord,” Rosemary says. “Life gets so busy, but for me, First Saturday Adoration is one of the first things I write on my calendar each month.
“Spending time in Eucharistic Adoration has become one of my favorite things to do,” she adds. “I think of it as practicing for heaven, where I hope to spend all eternity kneeling in silent adoration before my Lord and King.”
