By Reagan Scott
for the Register
The School Sisters of Christ the King invite all to a Eucharistic Revival holy hour Sunday, Oct. 15 at noon at Villa Regina Motherhouse, 4100 SW 56th St., Lincoln.
It is the second in a series of holy hours taking place over the next seven months. The holy hours are open to all who desire to spend time with the Lord in prayer.
Sister Marie Amata, C.K. said the desire to hold the holy hours stems from the order’s charism, central to which is devotion to the Holy Eucharist.
“We live this charism daily by our prayer, by working to instill a deep love for the Eucharist in our students, and by our desire to bring all those to whom we minister into the love of Jesus’ Heart, made present in the Eucharist,” she said.
The holy hours are also held in conjunction with the National Eucharistic Revival, a nationwide movement to renew devotion to, and worship of, Jesus in the Eucharist. Sister Marie Amata is part of a team of sisters working to share the work of the revival with the community.
“As daughters of the Church, and given our particular charism, we are in a position to extend the efforts of the Revival to those whom we serve. The public holy hours are a means in which to do this: they provide opportunity to invite the lay faithful to spend time in Jesus’ Eucharistic presence, to adore Him, and to open themselves to Him,” Sister Marie Amata said.
The dates for the holy hours are Oct. 15, Nov. 12, Jan. 7, Feb. 4, April 7 and May 12. Each will be held at noon, except for on Divine Mercy Sunday in April, which will begin at 3 p.m.
The holy hour on Divine Mercy Sunday will be held at the hour of mercy, which Jesus asked Saint Faustina to observe in remembrance of his Passion. During this holy hour, attendees will pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet.
Sister Marie Amata said the holy hours were scheduled on Sundays to offer families an opportunity to “keep holy the Sabbath day.” The noon hour was chosen so that families would have time to attend Sunday Mass before making their pilgrimage to the motherhouse.
The first Eucharistic Revival Holy Hour was held Aug. 20. The format included both Exposition and Benediction, songs sung by the sisters, time for quiet prayer and Visio Divina.
Visio Divina, or “divine seeing,” is a form of prayer that involves focus on a religious image. The image used for Visio Divina in August was the center panel of the Ghent Altarpiece, also known as “Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,” painted by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck. Each attendee received his or her own copy of the photo to reflect on during Adoration.
Sister Marie Amata said the holy hours are an ideal venue in which to expose people to the practice of Visio Divina, as it is a lesser-known form of prayer.
“Visio Divina has a particular capacity for bringing beauty and adoration together in a way that is accessible to people of all ages,” she said. “Praying in this way has been fruitful for the sisters, as well as many of the students we teach.”
Sister Marie Amata said the format for future holy hours will vary, with some including Lectio Divina, a method for praying with Scripture, and Eucharistic reflections. She said that regardless of the format, the goal for each remains the same: “to assist those who are present in entering deeply into prayer and contemplation of Jesus.”
Because the formats for the holy hours will vary, attendees will be able to experience these different prayer aids, and may discover a new form of prayer that they enjoy, or find that they are more inclined to some than others.
Different sisters will lead each of the holy hours, and Sister Marie Amata said each sister will rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit in her planning.
For those visiting the motherhouse for the first time, Sister Marie Amata said that they will find the chapel a quiet and prayerful space in which to encounter Jesus.
She recommends that those who are new to making holy hours first and foremost, come with an open heart, ready to receive the gifts that Jesus wants to give them. For those who may be unused to spending longer lengths of time in silent prayer, Sister Marie Amata said bringing a Bible or spiritual reading book may be beneficial.
However, Sister Marie Amata said, “the greatest gifts we receive in prayer often come in the silence of just being in God’s presence and listening to His voice spoken in our hearts and minds. For this reason we encourage those attending to spend some of the hour not doing something but rather just being with Him.”
The sisters have spiritual children’s books available for children to read or look at during the holy hours.
“We hope that people of all ages attend these holy hours,” Sister Marie Amata said. “As our apostolate is Catholic education, we are particularly mindful of bringing the children and their families to Jesus. Having said that, all are children to Jesus, young and old, and our desire is simply that He is loved and adored.”
It is the hope of the sisters that the holy hours enkindle a deeper love and reverence for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in the hearts of all who attend, and encourage families to incorporate prayer more firmly in their daily life.
Sister Marie Amata said the enemy likes to suggest all sorts of reasons why it wouldn’t be a good idea for someone to set aside an hour to pray. If someone feels inundated with reasons he or she shouldn’t attend, she encourages them to think in terms of invitation. If they feel an invitation to come, in spite of the doubts they may feel, Sister Marie Amata said to listen to that voice of invitation.
“That’s God’s voice,” she said. “He will take care of the details, and He can never be outdone in generosity. Let the words of our late Holy Father Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI be an encouragement: ‘Time spent in the presence of God is never wasted.’”
The Villa Regina Motherhouse is located at 4100 SW 56th St. Lincoln, NE 68522. Major roads to get there from Lincoln include West Denton Road and West Van Dorn. Visitors may want to be aware that SW 56th Street is unpaved.
