Eucharistic Committee members Joan Hamill, Kathi Bailey and Pat Garza will be signing people up for adoration after Masses at the Cathedral during Advent.

The Eucharistic Adoration Committee of Corpus Christi Cathedral met on November 21 to continue plans to promote adoration at the Cathedral. A sacrilegious act of vandalism occurred in the small chapel they previously used causing it to be closed for safety reasons and to ensure adequate protection of the Holy Eucharist.

Adoration was moved to Emmanuel Chapel and established on Thursday from 7 a.m.- 8 p.m. only. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament follows the 7:00 a.m. daily Mass. Parishioners were previously able to go to adoration five days a week, 24 hours a day.

The goal is now to increase the number of adorers and extend the hours, which will make the opportunity more available. "There are great graces that come to us as people and as a parish by this devotion to our Lord," said Joan Hamill, a long-time adorer and committee member. "We want people to be able to share in these blessings by coming and spending an hour with our Lord."

Committee members will be signing people up after the Sunday Cathedral Masses. However, anyone may volunteer for an hour by contacting Hamill at 883-6650 or checking with any member of the committee. People may also make unscheduled short visits for prayer and reflection at any time on Thursdays during the day. Adoration is open to all, and not restricted to members of Cathedral parish.

In addition to recruiting adorers the Committee is seeking to reinforce awareness of the meaning of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist through various educational activities.

Eucharistic adoration is highly recommended by the church as Pope Benedict wrote "In the Eucharist, the Son of God comes to meet us and desires to become one with us; Eucharistic adoration is simply the natural consequence of the Eucharistic celebration, which is itself the Church's supreme act of adoration.

"Receiving the Eucharist means adoring Him whom we receive. Only in this way do we become one with Him, and are given, as it were, a foretaste of the beauty of the heavenly liturgy. The act of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place during the liturgical celebration itself."

Sacramentum Caritatis 66.