Earlier this year, Doran Oancia, CEO of Chemex Modular LLC, in Houston, went on LinkedIn, the businessperson’s social network, asking the following:
“Does anyone know a solidly Catholic parish, preferably with adoration chapel, in the Woodlands TX area?”
Finding an adoration chapel in the city of his new company was a key factor in choosing his new home. His previous employer in Colorado fired him and his broken ego needed healing.
“Friends of mine who were stunned by my firing just fed my ego, telling me the executives were jealous of me,” Oancia said. “The best thing for me was going to holy hour, getting in front of the Blessed Sacrament, which was just down the road from my house [in Colorado]. I had to do it again and again, and say ‘I forgive them’—but it took a long time of persistently doing that.”
Oancia’s ego healed after repeatedly opening his heart to God. He wanted to keep it open in adoration as he moved his family to a new home hundreds of miles away. This Sunday’s mass readings will give him and anyone requiring frequent ego-healing some ready medicine. In the first reading, Sirach (SIR 3:17-18, 20, 28-29) talks to us like we’re a child on his knee:
My child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God. What is too sublime for you, seek not, into things beyond your strength search not. The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs, and an attentive ear is the joy of the wise.
That’s what Oancia and anyone will find in their church’s Adoration Chapel. God’s ear. And as Sunday’s second reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us (HEB 12:18-19, 22-24A), our Father wants us to come to Him without fear.
Brothers and sisters: You have not approached … a blazing fire and gloomy darkness and storm and a trumpet blast and a voice speaking words such that those who heard begged that no message be further addressed to them. No, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering, and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, and God the judge of all, and the spirits of the just made perfect, and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.
Through Jesus, we have a CEO who knows what it’s like to work at the ground floor. He gave his life to that job, and he wants to coach us to rise in his organization. His corner office is always open to us. You can enter via any adoration chapel where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed. You can kneel, you can bow, you can lie face-down on the floor, or just sit in a chair. Just let your humility speak. Sunday’s Gospel reading from Luke (LK 14:1, 7-14) offers a primer for learning that body language:
When you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
You’re invited. There’s an opening in any adoration chapel, right in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Availability is 24/7. The meeting starts in your heart.
–Tom Andel, Brothers in Christ of St. Michael
ED. NOTE: The Brothers in Christ of St. Michael Church, Independence, OH, thought Mr. Oancia’s story was worth exploring further, if only to inspire similar passion among parishioners of any church hoping to connect with God for healing—or just to connect. The following link will take you to an audio recording of a conversation we had with him about what makes adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament so important to a CEO. We discuss his faith formation, his crisis of faith, and how regular meetings with the Almighty in his local adoration chapel saved him. Please visit: http://bit.ly/2zqe65L
Tom, what a great blessing to speak with you. As men I believe it is ENORMOUSLY important that we (1) root ourselves in Christ – in prayer, and regular partaking of the Sacraments….. including signing up for a weekly Holy Hour!; (2) lift each OTHER and each other’s families up in prayer, especially marriage and children; (3) make time to meet with other believers who can strengthen us for the battle that surrounds us in what is frankly a toxic culture of death….. and (4) never ever ever ever ever give up, whether we fall, fail or slide, Christ welcomes us back with open arms in the Sacrament of Reconciliation – He wants our fiat, our Yes, let’s be MEN of VALOR men of FAITH. God bless you and all the Brothers in Christ! Regards, Doran. Pray for me.
Doran, thank you for your passionate witness to the power of our faith. Your comment about the importance of making time to meet with other believers to strengthen us in that faith against the lure of our culture’s false idols is powerful in its truth. I take communion to a 96-year-old home-bound gentleman. He’s a WWII veteran and knows what it is to risk his life against the forces of evil. We live in freedom thanks to his sacrifice, but sometimes it seems we take that freedom for granted. This man remembers the evil we faced, which is why the physical suffering that comes with old-age hasn’t dampened his passion for the faith we are free to profess. If he could he would be in that adoration chapel on a regular basis, thanking God for the miracle of his life. We who enjoy the freedom he and his colleagues won for us so many years ago should be inspired by his undimmed desire to connect with God while he’s still alive–and not be content to wait for death to confirm his certainty of God’s existence. Thanks again for your example to the younger generations.