2049 K Wed 31 Jul 2002

Today is the memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556). He was the founder of the Jesuites and wrote the Spiritual Exercises which I did for about 40 days at the end of 1999 at the Campion Retreat Centre in Melbourne.

Most of my memories are positive and I am glad that I did the retreat. But I also remember problems with liturgy, particularly the continuous exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

On this Monsignor Peter Elliott gave a good answer in Liturgical Question Box:

Perpetual Adoration?

In our diocese, a movement of lay people is promoting perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. But some liturgists are against it and have tried to persuade the bishop to forbid it, claiming it is against the modern liturgy. The lay group says that it is not breaking any liturgical law. Who is right?

Here a distinction needs to be made between perpetual adoration and perpetual exposition. The diocesan liturgists may have the impression that the latter is taking place in situations where no one is present to adore Our Lord, a practice that is clearly forbidden. ...

Unfortunately this "clearly forbidden" practice is what was happening on my retreat. Today I have added two pages about church laws on the worship of the Eucharist.

Posted by J.R. Lilburne, 31 July 2002. Extract from Liturgical Question Box by Monsignor Peter Elliott (Ignatius Press, 1998) page 162.