SACO — It had been opened 24 hours a day, seven days a week to offer a place for prayerful, silent reflection and to host perpetual adoration of the Eucharist, a continuous prayer before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
But the COVID-19 pandemic forced a temporary suspension of the activity at the Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel in Saco last summer.
“We’re grateful for all of the adorers who continued to pray regularly throughout the coronavirus pandemic,” said Lucille Simard, a leader at the chapel. “To borrow from recent language, some may think of it as ‘distance’ praying, but Jesus does not. Even though we were physically away from our chapel building, Jesus is still holding us and our prayers close in his heart.”
With the mask mandated lifted, the chapel is reopened and appealing for more adorers to help it get back to perpetual adoration. Adorers can commit to as little as one hour a week to keep the 24/7 adoration going at the chapel, which is located in the convent adjacent to the former Notre Dame de Lourdes Church at 27 Thornton Avenue.
“The chapel is currently open to scheduled adorers only at this time,” said Virginia Calvo, another chapel leader. “Thanks to hundreds of scheduled adorers, this chapel continues to keep open its doors, but it needs a continuing amount of new adorers to keep the chapel active.”
Chapel leadership say that the greatest hours of need right now are Wednesday at 3 a.m., Friday at 2 a.m., and Saturday at 3 a.m. and 9 a.m.
If you can assist at any time, even as a substitute, please contact the appropriate division leader:
12 a.m. to 6 a.m. Steven Plante (207) 283-0782
6 a.m. to 12 p.m. Priscilla Welch (207) 710-1913
12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Lucille Simard (207) 284-7627
6 p.m. to 12 a.m. Virginia Calvo (207) 432-1151
“We pray that we will be back to our 24/7 chapel on a regular schedule soon,” said Plante.