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Local News
Sept. 21, 2006
Children encouraged to pray rosary, adore Eucharist
By Ambria Hammel
The Catholic Sun
Children from 110 countries will unite their voices and prayers for world peace this October.
The World Apostolate of Fatima USA asks children in second through eighth grades around the globe to pray in eucharistic adoration and a Marian holy hour Oct. 6.
Their presence will mark the fourth annual worldwide Children of the Eucharist Day celebration held in honor of the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Debby Engard, vice president of the local World Apostolate of Fatima, said parents often think their children are too young to participate in eucharistic adoration.
“Jesus is there for the kids, too,” she said, referencing Jesus’ command to let the children go to Him. The apostolate is a public association of the faithful under the pontifical council of the laity.
“We definitely need more emphasis on adoring Jesus and the Eucharist,” Engard said. She noted some children aren’t familiar with eucharistic adoration.
The U.S. bishops’ committee on the liturgy states it is a chance to thank Christ for His resurrection and draw Him near. As a result, He strengthens the adorer’s share in His divine life.
“Adoration is essentially an embrace with Jesus in which I say to Him: ‘I am yours, and I ask you, please, stay with me always,’” Pope Benedict XVI said during a meeting last year with children on the holy Eucharist.
Some children at St. Timothy’s Catholic Academy in Mesa regularly welcome that embrace. The second grade class is learning to pray the rosary during weekly adoration. The seventh- and eighth-graders recently began their own weekly adoration.
“The children really begin to understand the presence of Christ in the Eucharist,” said Principal Pamela Gomez, adding that the younger ones always remember to genuflect. This realization is especially important because, for now, they are unable to receive Christ in the Eucharist.
“It’s the presence of Jesus. It touches the child,” said Engard, who once taught at St. Thomas the Apostle School. “I don’t think they can verbalize why they love it.”
Sr. Mary Norbert Long, SC, principal of St. Mary-Basha Elementary School in Chandler, said her students enjoy the quiet peacefulness of the adoration environment and the peace it brings to their lives.
Both schools provide 24-hour access to eucharistic adoration in their churches. Pope John Paul II called worship of the Eucharist “an important daily practice [that] becomes an inexhaustible source of holiness.”
The World Apostolate of Fatima invites families, parishes and Catholic schools to organize holy hours in their own locations at times that work for them. They can unite their voices and silent prayers in union with children at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
Eternal Word Television Network will air the ceremony live at 7 a.m., Oct. 6, and replay it throughout the day.
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Ambria Hammel/CATHOLIC SUN
More Information
Celebrate Children of the Eucharist Day with a eucharistic and Marian Holy Hour Oct. 6.
Folllowing are some ideas to help children experience adoration:
Recite one Hail Mary, one decade or an entire rosary and make specific dedications;
Pray for peace in their families and families throughout the world;
Create a World Mission rosary in advance and pray it on the special day;
Act out each mystery of the rosary in freeze-frame fashion;
Hold a teaching on the story of Fatima, which inspired the celebration;
Pray a litany with “Mary, queen of families – pray for us!” as a response;
Light a candle as sign of unity;
Quietly remain in Jesus’ presence in front of the tabernacle.
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