Perpetual Adoration

The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, reserved on our altars, is the living fulfillment of the Risen Christ's promise: "Behold I am with you all days, even until the end of time." (Mt. 28:20)

All human beings have the duty and privilege of giving to God, their Creator, adoration - the noblest act of faith in the great mysteries of our religion. Following in the footsteps of our Holy Father Francis, whose words and example never ceased to praise and adore Christ present in the Sacred Mysteries, our foundress, Ven. Mother Maria Theresia Bonzel left our congregation the priceless heritage of perpetual adoration.

In adoration we express our dependence on God and our gratitude for all that His love has provided for our salvation, especially for the gift of His living presence in the Blessed Sacrament. Our adoration is a continuous act of reparation and atonement for the offenses against God throughout the world. Seeing Jesus in all His self-abasement, His total giving of self, we gain the strength to be His disciples. In adoration we lift our hearts and hands, as well as our minds and voices, to God in intercession for the needs of the Church and the world. In union with Christ who is uninterruptedly offered on countless altars throughout the world and visibly present before us in sacramental form, we join in His prayer, "Father, bless them! Father, forgive them! Father, receive them!" Finally, our adoration is a most powerful witness to the world, the Church, the congregation, and to one another.

Our Charism of Perpetual Adoration

According to the priority of the goals of our foundress, our whole religious life should be a single act of adoration and praise of God. (Our Form of Life)

Like St. Francis, Ven. Mother Maria Theresia deeply reverenced the mystery of the Holy Eucharist, which for her and her sisters was their fountain and source of strength. Already in her early youth she realized that participation in the Sacrifice of the Altar presupposes that total surrender and sacrifice of self. The earliest prayer of our foundress affirms this by saying: "O Lord, I am Your victim; take me as Your holocaust; do not reject me." (Our Form of Life)

As Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration, we foster in a special way the continuous adoration of Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament as a sign of our surrender, in thanksgiving, in atonement for sin, and in intercession for the needs of the Church, for our congregation and for the world. (Our Form of Life)

Of the plentitude of the charism, one element attracted her above all else: the burning veneration of St. Francis for the mystery of the Holy Eucharist. That is why Ven. Mother Maria Theresia called her congregation not only the Sisters of St. Francis, but the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration, thus distinguishing them from all other Franciscan sisterhoods. Adoration is not merely a pious exercise. In the hours of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, the Sisters are to gain the strength to make their entire life and all their actions a ceaseless adoration. Whoever adores subjects himself completely to God and places himself unconditionally at His disposal. (Our Form of Life)