Have you ever visited the most beautiful Perpetual Adoration Chapel in the world?
I’m very blessed to have grown up in Mundelein, Illinois, where on the edge of the town next to the seminary for the archdiocese is a magnificent perpetual adoration chapel. Everybody calls it Marytown and it’s pretty popular now – it even was before the International Eucharistic Congress in Chicago in 1926. This chapel was made with one purpose in mind: it was made to pray for the priests and seminarians in and for the Archdiocese of Chicago.
As I said, I’ve been blessed; I’ve traveled the world and seen some of the most extraordinary shrines there are. But Marytown in Mundelein is a real gem among all of them.
If you’ve never been to this adoration chapel (the Shrine of Saint Maximilian Kolbe), let me describe it to you: the nave is flanked with colorful marble columns. The ceiling is coffered and covered in gold leaf, like something straight from a Renaissance palace. The mosaic behind the main altar is magnificent, and the stained-glass windows illustrate the riches of our faith for all to see. Over the tabernacle and the monstrance where the Holy Eucharist is, there’s a big cupola. The real gem is that Monstrance, which contains Jesus himself and the Holy Eucharist.
The monstrance is five feet and two inches tall, and its column is a silver statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The faithful of Chicago donated all sorts of jewelry, diamonds and amethysts and pearls and sapphires, to adorn her with. They knew you can’t outdo God in generosity, and so they gave their best!
I hope you go visit Marytown if you’re in the Chicago area sometime, what I think is the most beautiful perpetual Adoration chapel in the world. And if you spend 30 minutes in silent adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, you can receive a plenary indulgence, which is the remission of all of the punishment due to your sins. I hope you pay the church a visit, and that you’ll pray that we fill the stadium in Indianapolis next year for the National Eucharistic Congress. Let’s all show up for Jesus.
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