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Angolan Archdiocese to Begin Monthly Adoration of Blessed Sacrament in Parishes ahead of Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year

Archbishop Filomeno do Nascimento Vieira Dias of Angola’s Catholic Archdiocese of Luanda. Credit: Radio Ecclesia

By João Vissesse

Luanda, 22 April, 2024 / 9:27 pm (ACI Africa).

Archbishop Filomeno do Nascimento Vieira Dias of Angola’s Catholic Archdiocese of Luanda has asked the people of God under his pastoral care to dedicate the last Sunday of the month to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament as part of the preparations for the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year. 

Pope Francis announced the start of a Year of Prayer in preparation for the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year on January 21, the second in his Pontificate after the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2015.

“Following the Holy Father's call, as an Archdiocese we will be holding Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on the last Sunday of each month in all parishes and, in alternate months, a meditation on the importance of prayer in the life of the Church,” Archbishop Dias says in his April 18 message.

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, he says, facilitates “a true encounter with Christ”.

The Angolan Catholic Archbishop highlights the link between prayer and holiness as important, saying, “Just as there is no true encounter with Christ that does not give rise to holiness, so there is no holiness without a deep life of prayer.”

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Prayer provides “the space in which holiness takes shape,” Archbishop Dias further says, and adds, “Holiness is the journey of discovering God's beauty and truth in every man and woman of all times.”

“Holiness is fulfilled in the silent openness of one's life to the totality of God's love,” the Catholic Archbishop, who started his Episcopal Ministry as Auxiliary Bishop of Luanda Archdiocese in January 2004 says.

Referring to Pope Francis’ February 2022 letter to Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Archbishop Salvatore Rino Fisichella, Archbishop Dias highlights aspects of prayer that he considers essential as the monthly adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in all Parishes is set to begin.

He encourages “prayer, above all else, to renew our desire to be in the presence of the Lord, to listen to Him and to adore Him. Prayer, moreover, to thank God for the many gifts of His love for us and to praise His work in creation, which summons everyone to respect it and to take concrete and responsible steps to protect it.”

Still referring to the Holy Father’s letter, Archbishop Dias encourages “prayer as the expression of a single heart and soul, which then translates into solidarity and the sharing of our daily bread.” 

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He calls for “prayer that makes it possible for every man and woman in this world to turn to the one God and to reveal to him what lies hidden in the depths of their heart.”

The Local Ordinary of Launda Archdiocese since January 2015 goes on to describe prayer as “the royal road to holiness, which enables us to be contemplative even in the midst of activity.”

“In a word, may it be an intense year of prayer in which hearts are opened to receive the outpouring of God’s grace and to make the ‘Our Father,’ the prayer Jesus taught us, the life program of each of his disciples,” he says.

Archbishop Dias adds, “Let us therefore entrust ourselves to the intercession of Mama Muxima, The Beloved Mother, who taught us through her life that prayer, as the silent gaze of the soul towards God, is the first fruit of faith and the place in which Christians learn to keep the precious things of God in the sacred place of the heart, to meditate on them daily.”

João Vissesse

João Vissesse is an Angolan Journalist with a passion and rich experience in Catholic Church Communication and Media Apostolate. 

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