As we celebrate 40 years of Perpetual Adoration here at St. Francis of Assisi Parish, we do so with profound gratitude. For forty years, day and night, someone from this parish has been kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament. For forty years, Jesus has not been left alone. For forty years, grace has been quietly poured out upon this parish.
The readings at our anniversary celebration Mass could not be more fitting.
In Genesis (2:7–9; 3:1–7), we hear of the Garden. God creates man and places him in communion with Himself. Adam walks with God in intimacy, trust, and harmony. But then comes the serpent. The temptation is subtle: “Did God really say?” The strategy is to plant doubt, weaken trust, and pull the human heart away from God’s presence.
In the Gospel from Matthew (4:1–11), we see another decisive moment. Jesus, the new Adam, stands in the desert and faces the same ancient enemy. Again comes the whisper: “If you are the Son of God…” But where Adam listened to the lie, Christ remains rooted in the Father. He chooses trust, obedience, and worship of God alone.
Perpetual Adoration is our parish’s decision to choose that same trust. It is our way of remaining with God rather than wandering from Him.
And look at the fruits.
In the last forty years, sixteen priests have been ordained from this parish, with another soon to be ordained. Four consecrated sisters, two religious brothers, five seminarians, and two sisters in formation have come from this community. Vocations are not manufactured; they are cultivated in silence and born in hearts that have learned to listen before the Lord.
Thousands of adorers have offered over 300,000 recorded hours before Jesus—and that counts only one person present at a time. In reality, more than a million hours of intercession, thanksgiving, and quiet surrender have been given. Those hours have shaped an entire parish.
We have witnessed a complete parish renovation—brick and mortar renewed, but more importantly, hearts renewed. When a parish kneels before Christ, it desires to give Him its very best. Beauty becomes an act of love.
Our school is thriving—full of life, faith, and excellence. Children grow not only in knowledge but in holiness. This happens when families are rooted in prayer, when parents draw strength from the Eucharist, and when teachers are supported by grace.
We have embraced a stewardship way of life that recognizes everything as gift, everything belonging to God, and everything returned with gratitude. That spirit flows from adoration. You cannot kneel before Jesus in the Eucharist and live as though life is your own possession. Adoration forms grateful hearts, and grateful hearts become generous hearts.
And so this parish is joyful, mission-minded, generous, and faithful—because adoration changes us.
In the desert, Jesus teaches us that we do not live on bread alone. In adoration, we learn that truth in the depths of our being. The world tells us we survive on productivity and noise, but the chapel teaches us that we live on Presence.
The evil one still whispers today—busyness, distraction, self-reliance: “You don’t have time.” Yet for forty years, this parish has responded: we will make time; we will watch one hour with Him. That fidelity has shaped generations.
But forty in Scripture is not merely a number—it is a time of testing and renewal. The Israelites wandered forty years. Jesus fasted forty days. Forty years marks a moment of transition.
So the question is not only what has happened in the last forty years. The question is: what will the next forty look like?
Will we guard this treasure?
Will new families step into the chapel?
Will our children learn that silence is strength?
Will future vocations be born in that quiet gaze?
The Garden was lost through distrust. The desert was conquered through trust. Perpetual Adoration is our parish’s continual choice of trust—again and again.
Today we give thanks—for priests and sisters, for renewal, for a thriving school, for a stewardship way of life, and for hundreds of thousands of hidden hours of grace. But most of all, we give thanks because for forty years Jesus Christ has been here—waiting, loving, transforming.
May we remain with Him.
And may the next forty years bear even greater fruit, for His glory and for the salvation of souls.
Father James Schibi, Pastor