24 Hours for the Lord

“24 Hours for the Lord” is a worldwide initiative called for by our beloved Holy Father Pope Francis to invite all people to receive the mercy of God through Eucharistic Adoration and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is happening all across the world since March 4th and 5th, kicked off by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square.

Many churches across the globe have been open for a 24-hour period, beginning with Mass on Friday evening, March 4th, and concluding with Mass on Saturday evening, March 5th. Confessions are also been offered during this “24 Hours for the Lord.”

This is especially a time to invite back to the Church those who have fallen away from the practice of the sacraments and are just waiting for the door of God's mercy to be opened for them. This Lenten initiative, organized by the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, took place in our church on March 21-22.

This 24 Hours for the Lord is an important part of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy and we are the recipients of a tremendous gift of mercy, and it reminds us that we must also show mercy to our neighbors.

Pope Francis wants all the world's people to enjoy this feeling, so he has called an extraordinary Jubilee for 2016, and unprecedented time of forgiveness known as The Year of Mercy.
In his Lenten message to the world, Pope Francis wrote, "By calling for an attentive listening to the word of God and encouraging the initiative '24 Hours for the Lord', I sought to stress the primacy of prayerful listening to God's word, especially his prophetic word. The mercy of God is a proclamation made to the world, a proclamation which each Christian is called to experience at first hand."

For me it was a great time as an individual as I did two things which I had never done before – I laid the foundation for the one-hour Adoration and conducted first half of this Adoration. In our parish, four communities were formed into one zone and each zone came together to conduct hourly adoration. I was asked to prepare this one-hour adoration which I couldn’t do properly but at least laid the foundation for it. Then I initiated this adoration which was then taken over by someone else in the second half. So I learnt to prepare hourly adorations and also how to conduct them. A new learning for me and I am so glad about it.

The Lord has always been very merciful to me and my family but in this Jubilee Year of Mercy I am experiencing it all the more. I have overcome one of the biggest fears of my life – speaking in public on a microphone colloquially nicknamed mic or mike.