Worshippers at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and throughout the Archdiocese of Los Angeles joined millions of Catholics around the world in an hour of eucharistic adoration on June 2.At the Cathedral, adoration took place in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel after the 8 a.m. Mass with Archbishop José Gomez presiding. Simultaneous eucharistic adoration began at 8 a.m. Pacific Time, an hour during which most parishes in the L.A. Archdiocese are celebrating Mass, but parishes (including the Cathedral) scheduled a Holy Hour during the day, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi which celebrates the Body and Blood of Christ.“The Eucharist is God’s great plan of love for the world,” said Archbishop Gomez in his homily. “God wants to fill us and live within each one of us. He knows our world is hungry. People are hungry for love and community … Jesus loves us so much that he wants to be our daily bread.“The Eucharist is a mystery to believe and we are called to be eucharistic people,” he continued. “We are called to bring the love of God to those around us; we are called to go out to the world and feed the hungry.”At the end of Mass, the Blessed Sacrament was placed in the monstrance, and Archbishop Gomez processed it throughout the Cathedral, followed by hundreds of faithful who eventually made their way into the Blessed Sacrament Chapel for personal prayer and adoration. Indeed, many waited patiently in line for a turn inside the small, quiet chapel where the monstrance was positioned in such a way that a light hit it directly in the center, offering a bright radiant glow. “This was so important for me to be here because this is a direct experience of our faith,” says Marie Clifton who attends Mass regularly at the Cathedral and lives in the San Fernando Valley. Clifton was joined by her two grandchildren, Antonio and Alexandria who were visiting from Arizona. “This is probably the first time they have been exposed to this aspect of our faith,” she said, “and it was so wonderful to be praying all at the same time with everyone in the world.”Likewise, Margarita Villasenor of Pico Rivera was deeply touched by the historic holy hour of prayer. “It’s amazing we haven’t done this before,” she says. “For me, [adoration] is a time to be with our Lord one on one. He’s present to us there and that comfort gives us all hope and guidance in our lives.”Pope Francis had last week invited Catholics around the world to pray before the Blessed Sacrament on June 2, ideally at the same time he was presiding at Eucharistic adoration and benediction in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. It was the Vatican's first attempt at a worldwide hour of eucharistic adoration with Catholics around the world gathering in cathedrals and parishes in almost every time zone.The pope also asked for two intentions during the global Holy Hour. The first was for the church to be “ever more obedient” to the Word of the Lord “in order to stand before the world ‘ever more beautiful, without stain or blemish, but holy and blameless.’”The second was for “victims of war, human trafficking, drug running and slave labor,” as well as “the unemployed, the elderly, migrants, the homeless, prisoners, and those who experience marginalization.”{gallery width=100 height=100}gallery/2013/0607/holyhour/{/gallery}