February 12, 2022

40 Hours of Devotion held in Hampden; prayers offered for canonization of Matt Talbot

REGIONAL
Story and photos by Carolee McGrath

HAMPDEN – St. Mary Parish in Hampden held 40 Hours of Devotion for the Year of the Eucharist last weekend, Feb. 3-Feb. 6. Each month, a church in the diocese has been chosen to host the 40 Hours which includes Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

As part of the weekend, parishioners prayed for the canonization of the Venerable Matt Talbot, born in 1856 in Dublin, Ireland. Talbot, one of 12 children, struggled with alcoholism. He is considered the patron of those battling addiction.

“Unique to the devotion here is that we incorporated prayer for the canonization of Matt Talbot who is the patron of people living with addiction. Many people come to our shrine outside the church, Our Lady of Fatima Shrine, day after day,  week after week, morning, noon and night. Many of them are people in recovery,” said Father Mark Stelzer, the pastor of St. Mary Parish.

“Often, we find the chips that they get for months or years of sobriety left in the shrine behind in gratitude for that sobriety. So we were able to attract people from the 12 step movement to that particular devotion,” he said.

Springfield Bishop William D. Byrne attended eucharistic adoration at St. Mary’s before celebrating the 11 a.m. Mass there on Sunday, Feb. 6.

“What it does is places Jesus in the very center of the parish’s life. Whenever we worship Jesus amazing things happen,” said Bishop Byrne about Adoration the Blessed Sacrament. He said even 15 minutes of prayer is not wasted time.

“That’s the power of the Year of the Eucharist, to place Jesus in the very middle, to recognize that He is truly present body, blood, soul and divinity. And as we worship Him, as we adore Him, so that grace is spread into us and through us out into the parish and to the world,” he said.

The first two 40 Hour Devotions were held at St. Jerome Parish in Holyoke and Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Westfield.

The Year of the Eucharist, which began in November, is refocusing the faithful on the central teaching that the Eucharist is truly Christ’s body and blood. Christ instituted the Eucharist on the night of the Last Supper when he said, “Take and eat; this is my body” (Matthew 26:26).

A Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2019, found that 69% of Catholics don’t believe in the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist; rather they believe bread and wine are symbols. The Year of the Eucharist’s mission is to change that.

“We had a wonderful response,” said Father Stelzer of the 40 Hours. “Each of the Masses brought people from a lot of neighboring parishes, people from Springfield, many people from Connecticut were here. The phone was ringing off the hook in the rectory with people inquiring about when the 40 hours would be and the times of the services.”

The next 40 Hours of Devotion is scheduled at St. Joseph Parish in Shelburne Falls, March 3.

To learn more about the Year of the Eucharist, go to yearoftheeucharist.net.

A video version of this story will featured on tonight’s edition of “Real to Reel,” which airs Saturday evening at 7 on WWLP-22NEWS.