CATHOLIC DEVOTIONS
SOLEMN VESPERS
Solemn Vespers is an evening prayer service in the Catholic Church, part of the Liturgy of the Hours. It includes psalms, hymns, Scripture readings, and incense, offering a peaceful time of reflection and worship. Solemn Vespers honors the close of the day with reverence and praise and prayed after 4:30pm Mass during Lent, the Easter season, Advent, and the Christmas season.
DIVINE MERCY CHAPLET
This Catholic devotion came to us through the hands of St. Faustina Kowalska as a result of Jesus appearing to her many times with a message about his Divine Mercy. A special part of this Catholic devotion is praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet daily at 3:00 pm. Some groups pray the chaplet together weekly or monthly. In our church’s liturgical calendar, Divine Mercy Sunday is the Sunday after Easter. Ascension parishioners, led by Deacon Sergio Colon, gather to pray this devotion on the first Friday of the month in the church at 7:00pm.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER
It is only at the end of this world that we shall realize how the destinies of persons and nations have been shaped, not so much by the external actions of powerful men and by events that seemed inevitable, but by the quiet, silent, irresistible prayer of persons the world will never know. (Anthony de Mello, S.J.)
Intercessory prayer is prayer for other persons and the needs of our world. At Ascension we have a group of parishioners who pray for needs that are given to them by the coordinator of this ministry. For more information, contact Terry Roy at theresa.roy@gmail.com.
PERPETUAL ADORATION
Prayer in our Adoration Chapel is a response to Jesus’ question to his sleepy disciples in Gethsemane: “Can you not watch one hour with me?” More and more Catholics are finding that one hour spent in prayer before the Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the best hour of their week.
Our small Adoration Chapel, located at the entrance of the Ministry Center, allows parishioners to pray before the exposed Blessed Sacrament 24/7. Over 400 parishioners are committed to praying for one specific hour each week in our chapel, enabling us to have around the clock prayer on our campus.
Security cameras are located outside and inside the main door of the chapel. The main door is locked from 7pm to 6am and accessible only by a fob issued to registered adorers. For more information, contact Lyn Becker at 561-531-3173 (text is best) or accadoration2950@gmail.com.
ROSARY
In his spiritual classic, True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis de Montfort writes:
The holy rosary is a gift come down from heaven;
a great present that God gives to His most faithful servants.
God is the Author of the prayers of which it is composed
and of the mysteries it contains.
In his Apostolic Letter on the Rosary (Oct. ’02), St. Pope John Paul II shared with us his special love for the rosary when he wrote: “The Rosary has accompanied me in moments of joy and in moments of difficulty. To it I have entrusted any number of concerns: in it I have always found comfort. The Rosary is my favorite prayer. It is marvelous in its simplicity and its depths” (Para. #2). During her many apparitions here on earth, our Blessed Mother has encouraged us to pray the Rosary. This exhortation alone should be reason enough for us to seek to develop a love for this form of prayer.
Every day after the morning Mass, some Ascension parishioners gather in Our Lady’s Chapel to pray the Rosary.
The Rosary – A Way to Pray for Personal & Global Intentions
STATIONS OF THE CROSS DURING LENT
Each Friday during Lent, we celebrate the Stations of the Cross in the church at 5:30 pm.