This article is taken from the English edition of the Vatican paper L'Osservatore Romano, published in December 1981. In view of the importance and necessity of Eucharistic Adoration and Reparation as re-emphasized at Fatima we are sure our readers will be encouraged by this initiative of Pope John Paul II. Needless to say the practice still continues to this day as was recently verified in August 1983 by The Fatima Crusader.

God Asks For Adoration And Reparation When the Angel of Peace appeared to the three children at Fatima, he taught them to make acts of reparation for offenses that were being committed against God in the world. He taught them to make acts of adoration of the Holy Trinity and of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, in order to make reparation for sins, and to give Glory to God. He taught them the following prayer: "Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for all the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended. By the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners."

       Beginning last 2 December, solemn exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the Patriarchal Basilica of St. Peter's in the Vatican begins after the 8:30 a.m. community Mass and concludes at 5 p.m. with the celebration of Vespers in Italian, Holy Mass sung in Latin, and the homily. This practice has been initiated in response to the desire of the Holy Father John Paul II, who has received requests and petitions from priests, sisters, consecrated lay people and faithful from all over the world.

       The Vatican Chapter has made the Holy Father's wish its own and in this way has once more contributed to making the greatest temple of Christendom, which it has the honor of serving, a spiritual reference point, a true and proper sanctuary not only of St. Peter and of the Blessed Virgin, but also and above all, of the Eucharist. Thus our times are again linked with past ages, when the first Christians used to meet at Peter's tomb to celebrate the breaking of bread, when perennial praise was raised in the basilica, when, unceasingly, the basilica was the pulsating heart of the Church of Rome, and at the same time the reference point of pilgrims of the whole world, who have countless continuers today.

       Perpetual solemn adoration of the Eucharist is very particularly fitting in the place where Peter bore his ultimate personal witness to the Lord whom he loved, in the city in which he exercised his primacy, in the city from which he reminded Christians of all communities of the proclamation of the glory of the elect Son, loved by the Father, which was heard from heaven when he was on the holy mountain with the transfigured Christ (cf. 2 Pet. 1:17). The mystery of Tabor is proposed again: a stop at the "holy mountain" from which Peter's exclamation, believed and deeply felt, simple, perhaps, but sincere, may burst forth from one's heart: "It is good for us to be here..." (cf. Lk. 9:33; Mt. 17:4). To remain in the Sanctuary to contemplate, to worship, to investigate before the mysterious but real Presence of Christ, the "reasons for hope'' in an expression of faith and love.

       It has been said and written that Bernini's colonnade represents a universal embrace of the world, but it must be added that this embrace must also signify an invitation. Not only to participation in the great assemblies in which the Catholic and Apostolic Church is manifested through the splendor of the Liturgy which celebrates and actualizes the Death and Resurrection of Christ, of which Peter is the guarantor ("The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" Lk. 24:34), but also in the arrival - communitarian and personal - at the temple near which Peter's successors live, work, and suffer and from which they date the magisterial documents to say to the Lord Jesus - who died and rose again and is present in the Eucharist - like Peter and with Peter: "Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You" (Jn. 21:15 ff.).

       The Lamb of God, chosen, pierced, sacrificed, immolated, glorified and triumphant beside the Father and the Holy Spirit, awaits the expression and the profession of faith, hope and love wherever the Eucharist is present, but the stressing of this presence and this waiting of his in St. Peter's Basilica takes on - if we may use the expression - a particular meaning and sign, and the invitation seems to become sweeter to "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest'' (Mt. 11:28).

       Whenever the Holy Father returned from his apostolic pilgrimages (tired and weary), when he returned from his bed of suffering, he wanted to stop in St. Peter's.

       With the practice of solemn perpetual adoration, his example becomes an invitation and model above and beyond all his formal ministry.

       The basilica opens its doors as an invitation: everyone needs to rediscover himself and to rediscover the "why" in his life as a human being and as a Christian. Before the Eucharist, we meet Jesus, we rediscover ourselves, we discover others. Mother Teresa of Calcutta has written: "If I have this deep faith in the Eucharist, I will naturally be able to touch Him in the bodies of the suffering, of the poor, because He said: 'I am the bread of life'".

       Make a visit to St. Peter's for adoration: to adore the Lord, to feel we are the "Church", to implore, like Abraham, the grace of hope against all hope (cf. Rom. 4:18).

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