The final Station Adoration Chapel that I visited is a chapel where I have gotten to spend some considerable time in. The fourteenth Station Adoration Chapel can be found at St. Mary (aka St. Joachim and Anne) in Shakopee. This chapel has provided me with a nice place to pray whenever I am in the area.
This Adoration Chapel is about the size as the one at St. Hubert. It has pews for seating and it becomes the cry room during Masses. The monstrance sits on a small altar in the front with candles on either side of it. To the right is a tabernacle and candles. To the left is a Mary statue and more candles. Behind the altar are windows that look out into the sanctuary. A crucifix hangs on the wall as well as a small Divine Mercy print and Our Lady of Guadalupe print. They have a small wood statue of the Blessed Mother and Baby Jesus and opposite of that is a wood statue of the Holy Family. They have six stain glass windows. Four of them are regular size windows with a basic pattern and two of them are smaller with pictures. One of the small windows if found above the door and features the Blessed Mother. The other one is in the back, near the ceiling, and features the Eucharist. The entire chapel is made out of brick which lends to the quaintness of it.
As I sat there praying the Fourteenth Station of the Cross: Jesus is laid in the tomb, I noticed how peaceful the chapel was. Sometimes chapels can be noisy places with tons of coming and going and people praying out loud in whispered voices. That afternoon it was quiet and provided a peaceful place to pray. This peace and quiet seemed fitting for this Station of the Cross. Up to this point, I imagined that Jesus’ journey was loud because of all that was going on and now that he was being laid to rest, it would be quieter. The crowds would have dispersed so only his mother, his disciples, and some of the guards would have remained there to take care of things. Finally, the horrible ordeal was done and Jesus was no longer suffering. Now he could rest in peace. “I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).
It seems interesting that my first reflection talked about Jesus being condemned surrounded by chaos and now my last reflection ends in the peace and quiet of the grave. Our lives can be chaotic and challenging but when we allow Christ to be part of it, we will find peace in that chaos. Jesus helps us carry our cross and get up when we fall. He also heals, strengthen and encourages us along the way. We will never be without our struggles for it is in our struggles that we grow in holiness and virtue. But we are guaranteed that as we go through our struggles, we will have a peace that only Jesus gives us. “Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)
We adore you, O Christ, and bless you because by thy holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
pews for the seating. On a stand in the front, sits our monstrance. On either side of the stand are two candles and mounted on the wall above monstrance is a San Damiano Crucifix. In one corner we have a Blessed Mother with the Child Jesus which came from the first St. Hubert Church and in the other corner is a bible. We also have three prints hanging on the walls; the Divine Mercy print, Da Vinci’s Last Supper, and Bouguereau’s Innocence. The windows in our chapel are made of stain glass and portray the pictures of the Annunciation, the Tree of Life, St. Hubert and St. Juliana, a nun who helped bring the Corpus Christi Feast to the Catholic Church. I personally like our chapel and it has brought me many consolations over the years.
My reflection started to come to me while I was looking at the crucifix on my rosary. I thought about the Blessed Mother’s and St. John’s presence at the foot of the cross and something about that struck me. As I began to pray the rosary, I switched my focus from my rosary’s crucifix to the San Damiano Crucifix in the chapel. As my eyes scanned the San Damiano Crucifix, they kept going back to the people and angels who were in the background of Jesus’ crucifixion. I started to reflect on all the people that were present for Jesus’ crucifixion. First God, the Father, and God, the Holy Spirit, would have been there because the Godhead cannot be separated. Then there was the Blessed Mother, St. John, and St. Mary Magdalene as well as a couple of other women named Mary. As I started to notice all the people that were there, I was comforted by the fact that the dying Jesus was not alone and he was actually surrounded by those whom he loved; God and the Church.
Even though the chapel was large, there was not a lot of seating to fill up the space. There were approximately 12 – 15 chairs with about half of them having kneelers. The Monstrance was located on an altar like structure and behind it stood a wood crucifix that included two angels who were adoring the crucified Jesus as part of it. Mounted on the walls were a couple of candle holders, a large picture of the Transfiguration and another large picture of the Resurrected Jesus in the upper room. There was one stain glass window of the Blessed Mother with a dove who I believe represented the Holy Spirit since it had a halo around its head. It was simple chapel that did not have a lot of things to distract you with so you could focus on your prayer better.
praying each one of the Stations of the Cross. The openness has allowed the Holy Spirit to take the lead and direct the prayer verses me manufacturing my own experience. This has helped me to see things in different ways as well as experience God’s guidance and love in my prayer time. With this in mind, you would think that by the eleventh Station, I would have figured this out by now but nope. I only proved to myself that I know how to be stubborn.
The picture that I have been referencing was the scene of St. Thomas inspecting Jesus wounds. We know from the Gospels that the only wounds that Jesus had after he was resurrected were the wounds in his hands, feet, and side. The other wounds that he had sustained from the scourging and the crown of thorns were gone but these five remained. Why is that? Because those wounds are our reminders that he died on the cross for us so that we could have eternal life. Those wounds are the ones that Jesus shows the Father when he intercedes on our behalf. Those wounds provide us with the help, strength, and healing we need whether we know it or not. Jesus willingly went to the cross so he would not have needed the nails to hold him there but we can appreciate the nails because it created the wounds that comfort and protect us now and every day into the future. Isn’t it beautiful that God took something so awful and terrible and turned it into something beautiful and good? Of course, this is no surprise because “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28).
I believe that they might celebrate daily Mass in there since it has the setup for it. There was an ambo, presider chair, and two altars. One altar was the standard one you see in most Catholic churches which allows the priest to face the people when celebrating Mass. The other altar was against the wall which the priest could use to celebrate ad orientem (aka facing away from the people) and in this altar was built a pocket with a light. Placed in this pocket is the monstrance which stands predominately for all to adore. Below the monstrance were two candles on either side of the pocket. They had one stain glass window that was back lit since the chapel was in basement and on the walls were pictures of St. Joseph in its early days. It was fun to look at these pictures as I was walking in and out of the chapel because it gave me a glimpse into the history of this church.
I started my reflection on the tenth Station of the Cross: Jesus is stripped of his garments as I would normally do and it was during my reflection that I felt drawn to Jesus’ tunic. Of all his garments, his tunic was the only thing that was not divided into four parts. It was woven from top to bottom without a seam which was rare for that time so that is why the guards cast lots to see who would get it. As I was thinking about his tunic, a bible verse kept going through my mind, “’Yet even now,’ says the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and tear your hearts and not your garments’” (Joel 2:12-13). When I added this bible passage to my reflection, my eyes began to see the untorn tunic as something a little different. Instead of it being just a tunic, I saw it as being a call for all us to convert our hearts.
St. Peter’s adoration chapel can be found in their Parish Center. This chapel is about mid-size and it has approximately 10 chairs and kneelers. The monstrance along with one candle was sitting on what looked like a marble altar which was placed in the corner. There was a small Our Lady of Fatima statue in another corner. There were no windowsbut there were some small square stain glass windows. Each square window had its own design which then created a bigger design when placed in proximity of each other. While the stain glass’ design was simple, I liked how it looked and worked together.
My reflection on the Ninth Station: Jesus falls a third time took an interesting start in the fact that I did not feel called to pray with the Station itself but instead I felt called to pray with Peter’s denials. This seemed strange to me but since it kept popping into my head, I decided to embrace it and start my reflection there. Oh, how confident Peter was at the Last Supper when he told Jesus that he would never deny him. Then when the time came for him to follow through with that promise, he failed. As predicted, he denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed and I wondered if Peter felt as if a knife had gone through his heart when he realized what he had done. Yet all was not lost and after the Resurrection, Peter was able to repent of what he did and pledge his love to Jesus. In a conversation between the two of them on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, Jesus would ask Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” and he responded, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” As I was thinking about this conversation, God showed me what this third fall represented. It represented a pledge. A pledge of Jesus’ love for us.
four pews for seating which pretty much took up most of the space in the chapel. The pews were placed really close to one of the walls so in order to enter and exit comfortably, you could only use one side to do so. In the front was a table that held not only the monstrance but candles and a huge Sacred Heart of Jesus statue. The statue had Jesus’ one hand pointed to his Sacred Heart while the other one was extended out, looking like it was being offered to anyone who wanted to take it. This statue was my favorite thing about this chapel. Also included in the chapel was a small Our Lady of Fatima statue and on the walls, there was a Divine Mercy print as well as the Stations of the Cross and a stain glass window. I am guessing that this chapel becomes a Children’s Cry Room during Mass because they had a door with a window that looks out into the church’s sanctuary and speaker controls. All in all I thought it was a very quaint Adoration Chapel.
Spiritual blindness affects all of us in some way or another. We are good at calling out the sins of others but when it comes to our own sins, we will often turn a blind eye to them. In some cases, we will even make excuses or blame someone else for why we commitment our sins. Let’s face it. To acknowledge our sins, means that we have to admit that we are weak and need help. In a world that values strength and power, that is a hard thing to do so we take the easy route of turning a blind eye to them instead. Yet Jesus knows that is not going to help us so he tries to cure us of our spiritual blindness so that we will reach out to him and ask for help. When we do that, he can enter into that wound or wounds that are causing us to sin and help to heal them. Once the healing starts, we experience Jesus’ great mercy which then turns our tears of sadness into tears of joy.
only about a year old. Their former location was an old convent that was located on the property. If I remember right, the increased cost of maintaining the old convent and insurance issues encouraged them to find a new location for the chapel. They decided to incorporate the chapel into the church’s building so now you can find it next to the parish offices. I would consider the chapel midsize and has approximately 13 chairs with kneelers. The monstrance is located on top of an altar like structure with candles on either side of it. Behind it hangs a beautiful large wooden crucifix that uses back lighting to help it stand out. To the left of the altar is a tabernacle and there is one stain glass window as you enter the adoration chapel. This stain glass window features a lot of our newly canonized saints which I really like.
As I sat there reflecting on the Seventh Station – Jesus falls the second time, my eyes kept going back to that stain glass window. Since I was sitting right across from it, I was able to look at from a distance but still had a good view of it. I noticed at the bottom of the window there were the words “Cor ad Cor” which I had no idea what that meant. Suspecting that it was Latin, I did a quick Google search to find the translation and I soon discovered that it meant “heart to heart” (this translation was later confirmed by the seminarian I know). Since those words really struck me, I decided to include them in my reflection and soon I found that they would provide a key component to explaining this Station for me. Before I share how these words helped, I wanted to share some other insights first.
The next Station Adoration Chapel is a unique situation where I did not go and pray in a chapel but instead I prayed in a church (more to come on that shortly). The sixth place I visited was at St. John the Baptist in Excelsior. I am very familiar with this church because this is the church where I grew up and where my parents still attend. I have spent many hours praying in either the church or chapel thus it is not surprising that it ended up being one of the places where I would visit for this Lenten project.
Each time we make the choice to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, we are figuratively touching the Eucharistic Face of Jesus. We show him love in the fact that we have chosen to spend time with him instead of spending our time on other activities that we either do not need to do or could wait to do. I would liken this time to us being like Mary who sat at Jesus feet learning instead of being Martha who kept herself busy with work. We show him comfort by choosing to be there with him while in other places throughout the world, he is either forgotten or treated with disrespect or disdain. Jesus humbles himself to become literal food for us to eat and yet so many people are immune to this fact that they just do not seem to care. I cannot imagine how much this breaks Jesus’ heart especially since he is always seeking us out and calling to us. Eucharistic adoration provides us with the opportunity to comfort his Sacred Heart while at the same time it helps us to become more like Veronica in a world that needs people to care and love them.
Another interesting thing that I found was that around the luna (the part that holds the Blessed Sacrament), the designer had included the symbols for the four Gospel writers. There is the man who represents St. Matthew, a winged lion who represents St. Mark, a winged ox who represents St. Luke and an eagle who represents St. John. On either side of the monstrance’s stand were candles and behind it was the crucifix. On the walls, there was an icon of the Holy Family and small versions of the Stations of the Cross. There was also a stand that held a bible that people could look at it they wanted to. There were no windows at eye level but there were some near the ceiling. Part of them were colored glass but none of them were the traditional stain glass. I found that this chapel was a warm and inviting place to pray.
the angel who had come to administer to Jesus during his agony in the garden and how it would have wanted to help in any way that it could. What a stark difference that was to Simon of Cyrene. Simon was not willing to help and had to be forced into doing so. Now to be fair to Simon, he was not from the area. Cyrene was in northern Africa, in eastern Libya, so I am not sure if he would have heard about Jesus. There was no indication that he knew Jesus beforehand and since he could have been there for business or a visit, he might have heard something but did not pay that much attention to what people were saying. Now he is being forced to help a person, who he probably thought was a criminal (criminals would often be given this type of punishment), without having a say in the matter. I am sure that his pride did not want people to think that he was the type of person who would help a criminal or be associated with them in anyway. He had a repudiation to protect after all, so I am sure that he was grumbling to himself about having to do this. Pride, grumbling, and not being happy at being forced to something. I could see a lot of myself in Simon.
A Poor In Spirit 