Whenever your physical presence at a Mass is not possible, such as lockdown due to pandemic, illness, or unable to leave your home, you are invited to unite your hearts, minds, and souls with the sacrifice of Christ in the Holy Mass.
A schedule with links to online Mass can be found here.
If you are unable to physically attend the Mass you may instead start by using this prayer of spiritual communion, which you may find to be helpful, and you may also watch the Mass online by clicking the schedule of Mass times above.
My Jesus,
I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already there
and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You.
♰ Amen.
You may also Adore the Blessed Sacrament online
Press Here to watch and Adore the Blessed Sacrament
St. Mary’s Hermitage (Celtic Hermit) website has not yet been able to install the camera into their perpetual adoration chapel. Once it becomes live it will replace the above link.
Although Eucharistic adoration via the internet (webcam) cannot be said to be comparable to the adoration performed physically in front of the Body of Christ, it remains a valid adoration, praise and visit to Christ, an offer of one’s time to God, also valid for obtaining indulgence, where foreseen and given particular conditions. In this regard, the Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary concerning the gift of the Indulgence during the Year of the Eucharist (December 25, 2004), in paragraph n. 2 specifies that:
“Members of the faithful prevented by illness or by other just causes from visiting the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist in a church or chapel, may obtain the Plenary Indulgence in their own home, or wherever the impediment obliges them to be, as long as they are totally free from any desire to relapse into sin, as has been stated above, and intend to observe the three habitual conditions as soon as they possibly can; they will make the visit in spirit, should they deeply desire to do so, with faith in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar, and they will recite the “Our Father” and the Creed, and in addition, a pious invocation addressed to Jesus in the Sacrament (for example, “Praise and thanks be at every moment to the Blessed Sacrament”).
Viewing the Sacrament of Holy Mass online or on television is not the same as actually attending in person and fully participating. Yet during the coronavirus pandemic we had to do exactly that. Someone asked me if its valid? And my answer has to be, yes it is. It has merit, because it allows us to find and connect with God the Father wherever we are and in the midst of the clamour and the madness of this world. The Church has withstood numerous tempest throughout her 2000 year history. There has been persecution, wars, plagues, famines; all of which have engraved themselves upon the memory of Christianity. The inspired notions developed as a result of the many trials and tribulations Christianity underwent is spiritual communion. The traditional practice of spiritual communion also teaches us that desire for Christ is a means of communing with Christ. The theology of spiritual communion gave us a heartfelt insight into the very essence of the Eucharist.
The Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament online is exactly the same; whatever it lacks as a complete physical presence and manifestation, in spite of everything, adeptly draws our hearts towards prayer, towards loving God the Father and towards a singular purpose. Filling our hearts with gratitude for the things that we have at a time when difficulty is rife and obtaining things has been almost impossible.
Have these times not made you thirst and hunger to enter a church, smelling the incense whilst absorbing the silence of the house of God, sparsely lit by candles and the Stained glass windows where a divine ray of light descends upon the Eucharistic Host, in front of which we can prostrate ourselves with humility to adore and pray, just God and you.
Message of the Holy Father Saint John Paul Sunday, 12 May 2002 for the 36th world communications day “Internet: a new forum for proclaiming the gospel” John-Paul II tells us “The Internet is certainly a new “forum” understood in the ancient Roman sense of that public space where politics and business were transacted, where religious duties were fulfilledwhere much of the social life of the city took place, and where the best and the worst of human nature was on display. It was a crowded and bustling urban space, which both reflected the surrounding culture and created a culture of its own. This is no less true of cyberspace, which is as it were a new frontier opening up at the beginning of this new millennium. Like the new frontiers of other times, this one too is full of the interplay of danger and promise, and not without the sense of adventure which marked other great periods of change. For the Church the new world of cyberspace is a summons to the great adventure of using its potential to proclaim the Gospel message. This challenge is at the heart of what it means at the beginning of the millennium to follow the Lord’s command to “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch” : Duc in altum! (Luke 5:4).
St. Mary’s Hermitage 