Adoration

This chapel is open 12 hours a day, 8 am - 8 pm, 7 days a week, all year except Triduum

Call the office for the code 616-459-4731

Exposition is every first Tuesday of the month from 6pm - 9pm

Jesus beckons you to Himself in the Blessed Sacrament so that He might:

• Help you grow in virtue in order to heroically face your daily struggles
• Deepen your relationship with Him to the most intimate degree
• Reveal to you His most excellent will for your life
• Fulfill your deepest longings which nothing else can satisfy
• Deepen His peace within you
• Heal you physically and emotionally, as He chooses

What is Eucharistic Adoration?

Eucharistic Adoration is simply spending quiet time in the presence of Jesus. When Jesus was suffering His agony in the garden, He asked his apostles, “Could you not spend one hour with Me?”

Adoration is for anyone who wishes to come. You do not have to be Catholic and there are no special requirements, except a willingness to be quiet and respectful in the chapel.

In the chapel, it is not necessary to remain kneeling the entire time. A genuflection or a bow as a sign of our belief in the presence of Jesus upon entering and upon leaving is all that is necessary.

During the time that you spend with Jesus, you may choose to pray to Him or to quiet your thoughts and listen. Some choose spiritual reading or devotional practices such as the rosary.

The Adoration Chapel pass code may be obtained by calling the office at 616-459-4731.

The lay practice of adoration formally began in Avignon, France on September 11, 1226. To celebrate and give thanks for the victory over the Albigensians, King Louis VII of France asked the Bishop of Avignon to have the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the Chapel of the Holy Cross. The throng of adorers was so great that the bishop decided to have the adoration continue day and night.

During the Middle Ages, many more of the faithful began to adore the Blessed Sacrament apart from the Mass. At first, the custom was to worship the host reserved in the tabernacle. Eventually, some came to practice the devotion with the tabernacle doors open. Later still, solemn exposition of the host, in a monstrance, became the norm.

The practice spread through Europe and culminated in the establishment of the Feast of Corpus Christi—Latin for "the Body of Christ"—in 1264. The feast itself, now celebrated each June, helped spread the devotion.

It was not until after the Council of Trent, however, that perpetual adoration began to develop on a worldwide scale. During the Protestant Reformation, church lootings were common, as were desecrations of the Blessed Sacrament. Faithful Catholics made reparation to God by keeping a loving vigil before Him, around the clock. Perpetual adoration became a symbol of constancy in a volatile age.

Throughout Europe and eventually America, new religious orders arose centered on uninterrupted Eucharistic adoration. In 1907, the Catholic Encyclopedia could state that such orders were too numerous to list. In the years following the Second Vatican Council, the devotion began to wane, only to rise again in popularity with the encouragement of Pope John Paul II.

Bl. John Paul II opened a Perpetual Adoration Chapel in Rome on December 12, 1981, saying that when enough people came before  Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, abortion would end once and for all forever, there would be peace on earth and the whole world would return to the True Light of the Gospel.  He called for prolonged hours of adoration in every parish, even unceasingly.

In response to this need, St. Isidore Parish opened the John Paul II Adoration Chapel on August 15, 1993.