The initiative is undertaken in response to Pope Francis’ invitation to celebrate "24 hours for the Lord" during Lent. Adoration will be held on 26 and 27 February at the Prarthanalaya Chapel, which will be open from 7 am to 20 pm. The nuns will pray even at night. The superior invites people to 'Come and celebrate God's mercy; come to be fed by our loving God’s abundant mercy’.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – In the spirit of "24 hours for the Lord" that the world Church will celebrate on 4 March, the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master in Bandra (Mumbai) will hold a 48-hour Eucharistic adoration at the Prarthanalaya Chapel on 26 and 27 February, from 7 am to 20 pm.
Sister Amita Mascarenhes, superior of the community, told AsiaNews that the chapel will be open to everyone – bishops, priests, religious but also individuals or groups of believers, families and friends, anyone who want to "adore the Eucharistic Lord and ask his intercession for all humanity, especially for the needs of the Church ".
Sister Amita said that the initiative comes in response to the invitation of Pope Francis and Card Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai, to join in prayer, especially during the Jubilee Year.
"When Pope Francis announced the Jubilee of Mercy,” she said, “he called on the universal Church to celebrate the '24 hours for the Lord' in the period of Lent (on the Friday and Saturday before the fourth Sunday of Lent, Misericordiae Vultus n. 17). Our community has decided to respond generously to his call with 48 hours of Eucharistic adoration during which we will be face to face with Jesus."
The 48 hours of devotion "will be a special moment of communal prayer to ask for intercession but also a time for personal meditation to ask for the remission of sins, or give thanks. It will be a general adoration or a way to contemplate the majesty of our Lord. The congregation will continue the prayer even during night hours."
adoration will start both days with a Mass at 6.30 am after which people will be able to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
“Reconciliation,” said Sister Amita citing the papal bull, "is the way to find again the path to return to the Lord, to live a moment of intense prayer and rediscover the meaning of his life . . . It will be for each penitent a true source of inner peace" (Misericordiae Vultus, n. 17).
Finally, the superior noted that "mercy is the true foundation of the Church's life" and the mission of the Disciples is to "live and carry the Lord Jesus into the world.”
“Our consecrated life,” she added, “is centred on the Eucharist,” which is “a life of prayer and intercession for all humanity. In our apostolic activity, we seek to know, love and adore Jesus. Therefore, in these 48 hours of Eucharistic adoration we tell everyone, 'Come and celebrate God's mercy; come to be fed by our loving God’s abundant mercy’."