The Forty Hours Devotion is a special forty-hour period of continuous prayer made before the Blessed Sacrament, the True Presence of Jesus Christ, in solemn exposition.
Why Forty Hours? Most historians base the Forty Hours Devotion on the period of time Jesus spent in the tomb from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. Today we focus our Forty Hours Devotion not on the tomb, but on the Eucharist. Vatican II taught that the Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life (Lumen Gentium # 11). That same Council, as well as the late Pope John Paul II, highly recommended public and private devotion of the Blessed Sacrament.
The faithful are urged to pray during these devotions for the grace of God to flow into their lives and their neighbors’ lives and especially during our 25th Anniversary year for the strengthening of the Church in Palm Beach. In the words of St. Francis de Sales,
“When you have received Him, stir up your heart to do Him homage; speak to Him about your spiritual life, gazing upon Him in your soul where He is present for your happiness; welcome Him as warmly as possible, and behave outwardly in such a way that your actions may give proof to all of His Presence."