May I make a suggestion for Election Day?
Get a group of people together and ask, plead, beg, pester the pastor of your parish to open the church or chapel so you can have all day and all night Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament exposed.
Priests and bishops? Please do something? Get the word out?
Something like this will take place at Assumption Grotto in Detroit.
At least make a plan to do some penance, perform works of mercy, pray pray pray for a good outcome for the election for the nation’s sake.
It may be that we will be punished for our many sins, but ask God to give us better than what we deserve in this election.
Loading ...
Democracy is all about getting the government you deserve.
Democracy is all about getting the government you deserve.
Yes, but thankfully, we live in a Republic, albeit one which is degenerating into democracy.
I have been praying and praying. I did the same in 2008 and was devastated, but I remind myself that God knows better than I do. I hope that He thinks 4 years of this was enough.
I also dragged myself to confession yesterday after much too long. If I wasn’t pregnant, I would fast. Trying to think of other things I might do as well.
I was disappointed that the election did not make it into the priest’s sermon today (maybe because he’s Canadian?). It hasn’t been mentioned at all. In 2008 our deacon gave a very good fire and brimstone homily.
wmeyer: degenerating into a democracy? How about just degenerating? At least in a democracy, there is some hope that an intelligent populace is informed and interested enough in contributing to their self government (at least in theory) that reasoned discourse and measured decisions can be made in a spirit of commonweal (at least in theory…).
What we are degenerating to is a dictatorship of the market rabble. Just like Rome. Just like any ‘res publica’ that has ever stood. Human nature never changes, because of our fallen nature. Sorry if this sounds so down…but, no republic has ever stood as such for more than 300 years. Why do we think we are any different? The Romans of ancient times thought their possession of a powerful standing army, stable currency, governmental system, learned and middle classes was a mark of sophistication. Then they lost control of their borders, debased their currency, their elected leaders started pandering to the base instincts of the populace through fear, bribes, freebies…and look where it got them.
No, democracy is not where we are headed. And I fear, the persecution of Christians, first by rumour and innuendo, later by physical force, will mirror in some ways Nero’s. Except ours will be more nuanced and painful.
St. Thomas in Ann Arbor will have Exposition while the polls are open.
Ss Cyril and Methodius parish in Sterling Heights, MI will have adoration from 6:30 am Monday through 12:00 noon on Tuesday.
St. Sebastian in Akron, OH will have Exposition starting after 8:00 AM Mass until Solemn Benediction at 8:00 PM.
St Theresa Parish, Trumbull, CT will have adoration in the main church from after the morning Mass until 5:15pm, just prior to the evening Mass. (Adoration is usually in the chapel)
wmeyer: degenerating into a democracy? How about just degenerating? At least in a democracy, there is some hope that an intelligent populace is informed and interested enough in contributing to their self government (at least in theory) that reasoned discourse and measured decisions can be made in a spirit of commonweal (at least in theory…).
Sadly, not much hope.
Our Lady of Czestochowa parish in Turners Falls, Mass. will have exposition from 8am until the 5:30pm Mass on election day.
At my parish, in the Diocese of Arlington, the pastor has ordered that the Rosary be said every hour on the hour in our Adoration Chapel, beginning at midnight Monday, through Midnight on Tuesday, with the intention that the candidates elected will be those most pleasing to God.
From the Church of Saint John the Beloved in McLean, Virginia:
“There will be 55 Hours of continuous prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in anticipation of the General Election. Please mark your calendars and prepare to offer an hour in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in anticipation of the General Election. Eucharistic Adoration will begin Sunday, November 4th after the 12:00 noon Mass and conclude at 7:30 PM on Election Day, Tuesday November 6th with Devotions and Benediction.”
Mamajen,
Congratulations!!! Don’t fast. Instead, spend Election day eating only healthy things. That, itself, is penance! My prayers for a happy and healthy pregnancy!
G
manwithblackhat: I emailed you via your website. Still waiting for your list your offered to send me of TLMs in Madison diocese.
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote about three basic forms of government: monarchy, aristocracy, and republic. In their degenerate forms they became, respectively: tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy.
We will be open from 7 to 4 for traditional adoration before the tabernacle. No request thus far for any extensions. We usually lock up at 4.
My dear Godson hung out with Joe Biden for a few minutes and two of his friends had a ride with him in his limo. He called the parents and said “this is the Vice President and you child is with me”. The. Usss made sure the kids got home. A day they will never forget.
Thanks Father Z.
While the Exposition at Assumption Grotto ends before the 7:30 AM Mass, Exposition continues in the convent chapel where we have it daily (M-Sat). It begins there around 9:00 AM and ends at 6:30 PM with Benediction, just before the 7:00 PM Mass. If unsure how to enter, go to the convent yard door (just inside the gate to the left of the school doors) and ask the sisters.
I’m glad to see others also having something. People need to just ask, even if it’s a Holy Hour sometime Tuesday.
Tomorrow, Monday, will be a solemn, thoughtfl and prayerful day for me. Tuesday I will do what i need to do and try to remain calm and get some sleep, unless the results are in early.
Somehow, it will be a source of comfort to me that I will be able to share whatever the outcome brings us with all you.
Mamajen says: I also dragged myself to confession yesterday after much too long. If I wasn’t pregnant, I would fast. Trying to think of other things I might do as well.
First, congrats on going to Confession! This is really an important first step to presenting ourselves before Our Eucharistic Lord – to make our sacrifice of prayer acceptable by offering it with a clean soul. Nothing pleases Him more.
PRIEST READERS: In addition to offering a Holy Hour, consider offering Confession opportunities during Adoration. At Assumption Grotto priests often avail themselves in the confessional when there is something big happening in the parish church, and people respond to a priest in the confessional.
REPARATION: Let’s not just make prayers of petition. Before we ask God to grant our petition for a more positive outcome to this election, it is good to acknowledge our own sinfulness, but also the sinfulness we witness in our country. Make acts of reparation for these things. This too is an imitation of Christ who thirsts for all souls, including those who reject his teachings. We can do penance for our own sins, but a more perfect imitation of Christ includes penitential acts for the sins of others. Jesus Christ died on the Cross, sinless – so His sacrifice was for others – us. This we must imitate. When our petition is presented by first considering our sinfulness, and sinfulness in the world, it is more efficacious.
CAN’T FAST?
Mamajen – there are lots of ways you can “fast.” Perhaps we should just put it under mortification – a good thing to practice. You are right not to fast from food if you are pregnant. Ditto with people who have health conditions. But there are lots of ways to offer God-pleasing sacrifices. Fast from TV or the internet. If music is your thing, fast from that for a day. Or fast from particular kinds of things that are non-essential – like watching movies. On the food front, there are some pretty creative sacrifices I’ve run across since coming to Assumption Grotto. Give up condiments like salt, pepper, catsup; or if you like cream and sugar in your coffee, drink it without one or both. Or, give up coffee for a day and drink something else you don’t like as much. Refrain from sweets. These are not trivial or for kids as some of us were taught in “my butterfly and me” type catechism classes.
pray pray pray for a good outcome for the election for the nation’s sake
Here mainly hoping for a legal, honest and fair election, sans the monkey business such as recently in Oregon and in 2000 by Blackwell in my brother’s state.
I’ll be happy with an election with no dirty tricks even if Romney should happen to beat the odds.
@Giuseppe – Thank you!
@Diane – You’ve given me some very good ideas – thank you!
@Everyone else – Very heartening to hear that so many parishes are taking the election seriously!
@mamajen:
Congratulations on your pregnancy! May the Lord Bless you and your child. +JMJ+
Divine Mercy Parish in Bellevue, KY will have a Holy Hour Monday evening at 7:00 pm with Adoration and Confession. Old St. Mary’s in Cincinnati will have Adoration, Vespers and Confession on Tuesday evening. These are in addition to the regular Masses and daily Adoration opportunities.
St. Gertrude’s in Cincinnati (home of the Eastern Province Dominicans’ novitiate) will have Exposition “beginning at Noon on Monday Nov. 5th and ending at 8 PM on Tuesday Nov. 6th.” They’ve also posted a link to a Youtube video by Fr. Ezra, O.P., on Obamacare: http://youtu.be/E4a1Ji2qqio
Old St. Mary’s in Cincinnati, mentioned by Kypapist, will have a Holy Hour from 6-7 PM on Tuesday in reparation for the US of A, with Confessions after and Solemn Benediction “at about 8:30.” They will also have the usual Adoration times 8 AM – 12 PM today (which I suppose has begun) and tomorrow. There will also be the regular Exposition from 5:30 PM – 9 PM today.
I’m praying that stubborn Catholics stay home.
@Clinton
Thank you!
A flat democracy is no more than a glorified brawl. This country is supposed to be a republic, not a democracy.
Some people who voted for Romney early had their vote switch over to Obama. Be sure to watch when you push the button-who the machine says you are voting for.
I thought it was interesting since there are more people on the ballot running for President yet the only votes that were switched were from Romney to Obama. It has happened in three states so far.
“but ask God to give us better than what we deserve in this election.”
That is in my prayers every day Father Z.
This is not my parish, but St. George parish in St. Louis has a Mass every hour on the hour from 6 AM to 6PM on election day. They have the rosary in between each Mass. Bishop Robert Herman says the last Mass of the day. I went to a Mass there last election day when I had a sinking feeling that Obama was going to be elected, and was comforted by Bishop Herman’s homily. He reminded us that God calls us to be faithful in season and out of season, and he pleaded for us to remember the unborn when we vote and engage in political discourse.
St. George
4980 Heege Rd
Affton, MO 63123
(314)352-3544
St Clements Eucharistic Shrine, Boston, MA
Monday evening, Rosary @ 6:30 PM, Holy Mass @7:00 PM for the election
Adoration 24 – 7