BC Students Bring New Devotions to Campus

With the new school year, Boston College students have sought to increase student access to the diversity of the Catholic prayer tradition by establishing new opportunities for devotional prayer on campus. 

First, a group of students plans to meet at 10:30 P.M. after Candlelight Mass in St. Joseph’s Chapel to pray the Rosary, a form of prayer that involves the contemplation of mysteries of the faith through consequential moments in the lives of Christ and His mother, Mary in tandem with the vocal recitation of prayers. Countless saints have expressed a devotion to Mary through praying the Rosary, including St. Louis de Montfort, according to whom “the Rosary is the most powerful weapon to touch the Heart of Jesus, Our Redeemer, who loves His Mother.” 

Another devotion popular on campus is Eucharistic Adoration, which most often takes the form of Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. During Exposition, the Eucharist is displayed in a monstrance for the faithful to view and adore, whereas during Benediction (usually after exposition), the priest blesses the faithful with the Eucharist. According to Therese Johnson Borchard’s book Our Catholic Devotions, “Eucharistic Adoration makes us more aware, or leads us to a deeper understanding, of the presence of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist…The theological purpose of Eucharistic Adoration… exists in the remembrance, celebration, and affirmation of the Paschal Mystery, our Christian story of redemption.” There are increasingly more opportunities for Adoration on campus, including most Mondays from 6:00-6:45 P.M. in St. Mary’s chapel and Tuesdays from 9:50 A.M. – 4:30 P.M. in St. Joseph’s chapel. There is also “Praise & Worship Adoration” on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month at 9:00 P.M., during which contemporary praise and worship songs are sung during the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. 

Una Voce, the Latin Mass society at Boston College, is also in the process of organizing a schola (or liturgical choir) which coordinator David O’Neill says will “lead the congregation in singing the ordinary and hymns at some of our Masses.” 

O’Neill further explains, “Reverent music is important to add to the Mass because, as the old trope goes, something is worth doing well if it is worth doing. God gave each of us talents when we were created so that we might use our talents to adore and serve him, including through praying with beautiful music. It is my hope that establishing a schola will allow members of the BC community to use their talents Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, for the Greater Glory of God, and make the Latin Mass a more beautiful opportunity for prayer.” 

Such devotions align with Boston College’s mission as members of the school community seek to “fulfill its Jesuit, Catholic mission of faith and service.”