Devotions
Faith involves both the head and the heart. Catholic devotions and traditions enliven and nurture our Catholic faith, touching our hearts and allowing us to express our love of God.
Eucharistic Devotions
Benediction & Forty Hours Devotion
A number of rites and devotions focus on the Eucharist. They help us to become closer to Jesus and to desire to celebrate the Eucharistic liturgy. Examples include Benediction and Forty Hours Devotion. During these periods of adoration, the Blessed Sacrament is exposed on the altar in a monstrance, a special vessel in which the Eucharist can be viewed and adored.
Benediction
In this Eucharistic ceremony the priest or deacon places the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance. The assembly usually sings a hymn of praise (sometimes "O Salutaris Hostia," written by Thomas Aquinas). A time of silent prayer follows. Special devotions or Scripture readings are often part of the service. Typically the service ends with a hymn of adoration--often part of the "Pange Lingua" by Aquinas--and then the priest blesses the assembly by making the Sign of the Cross over them with the monstrance.
The practice of exposition and Benediction began in the Middle Ages. People did not receive communion very often, so adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was they way in which they connected with Jesus in the Eucharist. The feast of Corpus Christi, or the Body and Blood of Christ, began during this time. On that feast day the Eucharist was placed in a monstrance and carried in procession. Eventually a custom arose in Germany of keeping the Eucharist exposed to view for a certain period of time in church. In France and elsewhere it became the custom to gather in church after work to sing songs to Mary. Over time the two services merged: songs and chanted prayers accompanied the period when the Eucharist was exposed.
Forty Hours Devotion
This is a special period of continuous prayer during which the Eucharist is exposed in a monstrance for adoration. The devotion begins with a Mass followed by continuous adoration over a 40-hour period, and it ends with a Mass and Benediction. In the Bible the number 40 is associated with a sacred period of time: the rain at the time of the flood of Noah lasted 40 days and nights, and the Hebrews wandered in the desert for 40 years on the way to the Promised Land. Jesus fasted for 40 days before beginning his public ministry. The devotion was promoted by both Saint Philip Neri and Saint Ignatius of Loyola in the 1500s.
The Importance of Eucharistic Devotions
Although the Mass is central to Catholic life, devotions to the Eucharist are also important. Through them we can adore Jesus, pray in his presence, express our sorrow for sin, and experience a oneness with him that leads us to participate in the Mass.
Praying the Rosary
The Rosary helps us to pray to Jesus through Mary. When we pray the Rosary, we think about the special events, or mysteries, in the lives of Jesus and Mary.
The Rosary is made up of a string of beads and a crucifix. We hold the crucifix in our hands as we pray the Sign of the Cross. Then we pray the Apostles' Creed.
Between the crucifix and the medal of Mary, there is a single bead, followed by a set of three beads and another single bead. We pray the Lord's Prayer as we hold the first single bead and a Hail Mary at each bead in the set of three that follows. Then we pray the Glory Be to the Father. On the next single bead we think about the first mystery and pray the Lord's Prayer.
There are five sets of ten beads; each set is called a decade. We pray a Hail Mary on each bead of a decade as we reflect on a particular mystery in the lives of Jesus and Mary. The Glory Be to the Father is prayed at the end of each set. Between sets is a single bead on which we think about one of the mysteries and pray the Lord's Prayer.
We end by holding the crucifix in our hands as we pray the Sign of the Cross.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus
Your heart pumps about 100,000 times a day to keep your lifeblood flowing through you. For this reason it has become a symbol for our very selves. We say, "I put my heart into it" and "I want that with all my heart." The heart also is a symbol for love, perhaps because it seems to beat faster when we are in love. The biblical image of the heart means the depth of our selves where we decide for or against God. God, who always speaks to us using our own experiences, has chosen our symbol of the heart to represent Jesus.
The heart of Jesus was a human heart like ours. It stopped beating the day Jesus was crucified. According to the Gospel of John, after Jesus had died a soldier made sure of his death by piercing his side with a lance. Blood and water ran out (19:34). Jesus' pierced heart became a sign of the completeness of his love for us, a love that compelled him to die for us and that prompted him to remain with us in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. The physical heart of Jesus is the symbol of the total love of Jesus, divine and human.
Jesus said that from within him would flow streams of living water (John 7:38), referring to the Holy Spirit. The water from the side of Christ on the cross was the water of salvation, the Holy Spirit.
In art the Sacred Heart is pierced, surmounted by a cross, and encircled with thorns. Light radiates from it to show that it is a burning furnace of love. The Heart of Christ summarizes the paschal mystery--the death and resurrection of Jesus that were prompted by divine love.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart began in the twelfth century. Saints such as Bonaventure, Gertrude, Catherine of Siena, and John Eudes were attracted to the Sacred Heart. It was St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a sister in France, who promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (with the support of St. Claude de la Colombiere, S.J.). She had visions of the Sacred Heart from 1673 to 1675. For instance, in 1675 on the Feast of Corpus Christi (the Body and Blood of Christ) Christ showed her his wounded heart. He said, "Behold this heart burning with so great a love for men." In 1856 a feast in honor of the Sacred Heart was set for the Friday after the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. In 1899 Pope Leo XIII dedicated the world to the Sacred Heart.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart focuses not only on the love and mercy Jesus has for us but on reparation for sin. In St. Margaret Mary's visions, Christ requested that a Communion of reparation be made on the first Friday of every month.