Upcoming Eucharistic Reverence and Reparation Novena, January 24 to February 1, 2021

It has become increasingly clear that the year 2020 was, by God’s providence, a wake-up call on many levels. Massive disruption has been caused by draconian civil and episcopal responses to COVID-19, and these may well worsen in 2021. In our churches, where we might have expected to find strength and consolation, faithful Catholics have faced demoralization from liturgical tinkering, shutdowns, arbitrary rules, and institutionalized abuses. The message has been transmitted that Mass is optional, resulting in what appears to be a permanent dramatic dropoff in attendance. Crowdedness now seems to be a “problem” only at liturgies offered in a more traditional manner, where Catholics have found to their relief a spirit of reverence lacking elsewhere. This, indeed, is a silver lining on an otherwise dark cloud.

In so fraught a situation, at least a few should “stay awake and watch” with Our Lord in His Agony in the Garden, uniting themselves to His Cross and begging Him for His mercy on mankind and on the household of believers. The Lord assured Abraham He would spare a city where only a few just men lived. Our prayers and sacrifices will strengthen us and contribute to the eventual restoration of the Church and of the Faith.

Sophia Institute Press has announced a “Novena for the Eucharist,” to take place over the nine days from January 24 to February 1. The website is https://eucharisticpenance.com. Those who sign up pledge to do as much of the following as they can:

• pray a daily Rosary and Divine Mercy chaplet
• attend daily Mass
• fast by skipping one meal
• give alms
• abstain from media

The Novena of the Eucharist is linked with the release of my book The Holy Bread of Eternal Life: Restoring Eucharistic Reverence in an Age of Impiety, which take a no-holds-barred look at the evils committed daily against the Blessed Sacrament due to decades of liturgical deformation and abuse, and argues for immediate and urgent concrete solutions. Not everyone is equally well-positioned to implement every solution, yet we should all do what we can: pray and do penance. As Jesus said, some demons are driven out in no other way—and there are a lot of demons on the loose right now.

I will certainly be doing this novena, so help me God, and I strongly encourage NLM readers to join the over 5,000 who have signed up for it. Even if you don’t think you can do all of the recommended practices of piety, it would be worthwhile to do at least some. When you sign up at the website, Sophia will send you, for each day of the novena, a short daily meditation from Scripture and a prayer.