Father Victor Vella talks about his love of Eucharistic adoration and why his parish has an adoration room
Father Victor Vella, the parish priest of Holy Innocents in Orpington, has been devoted to Eucharistic adoration since he was a small child growing up in Malta. Speaking about adoration, Father Victor said “my mother has given me two things, namely the love of Scripture and the love of Eucharistic adoration”.
This, Father Victor said, is why he is “so passionate about adoration. Not just adoration, but Scripture. Word and Eucharist.”
To be a “disciple of Christ”, Father Victor said, you need “this intimacy with the Lord” and it is in adoration that the intimacy with Christ can truly be developed.
This is because, he said:
“We have got the real and substantial presence of Christ. Christ Himself. So that is the reason the Eucharist is the source and summit of my life. Because if I have got Christ, I have got everything.”
The more time you spend with the Lord Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist, Father Victor said “the more rewarding, the more realising and more fulfilling it will be”. The Catholic Church, has a precious gift, he said, because: “we have got the abiding presence. The perpetual presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Whenever I want, He is there.”
It is this love of adoration which Father Victor has sought to bring to the people of Orpington, where he has been the parish priest for over sixteen years. To help people build an intimacy with Christ, through adoration of the Eucharist, Father Victor has built an Adoration Room.
This special and prayerful room offers people the chance to spend time before the Blessed Sacrament throughout the week and it has been attracting both parishioners and non-parishioners alike. Parents from the parish school, after or before the school drop-off, are coming over to the adoration room to spend time with the Lord Jesus.
The adoration room has a specific and beautiful tabernacle from Rome, which enables people to spend time in prayer before the Eucharist. The consecrated host is embedded in the tabernacle and people are able to open the flap to pray before the Lord. Explaining the concept of the room, Father Victor said: “it’s simple, but it’s prayerful”.
In an interview with the Archdiocese of Southwark, Father Victor, explaining the importance of adoration, quoted Saint Pope John Paul II “adoration dovetails into the Mass and the Mass dovetails into adoration”. Adoration, he said, is the continuation of the Eucharist.
Teaching, Father Victor said, is crucial to helping people connect with the Eucharist and the Lord Jesus – who is truly present there. That is why he makes teaching about the Eucharist and adoration central to his homilies as a parish priest. As a result of this teaching, he said “you can see a difference” in people. Because when you have communal adoration they will then be the first ones there”.
Father Victor spoke about one parishioner who has since become devoted to adoration. At first, she was “inimical to adoration. She said the celebration of the Mass is enough. But once I explained the rationale behind it”, he said, she “changed overnight” and she now values adoration.
Recognising people have busy lives, Father Victor talks about his own experience of adoration. He said when he has spent more time at work and given less time to the Lord in adoration, his ministry has suffered. This is something many will feel the same, as they spend time in adoration their work and their family life will benefit. He said: “When I have had moments of darkness, these moments of darkness have happened to because of a lack of intimacy with the Lord. And especially with a lack of intimacy with the Lord present in the Eucharist”.
Speaking about Scripture, Father Victor cited the institution of the Eucharist in Matthew, Mark and Luke, and the discourse on the living bread in John’s gospel; he also cited first letter to the Corinthians when Saint Paul passes on the tradition he had received about the institution of the Eucharist. By reading and being in love with Scripture, he said, you will begin a dialogue with the Lord Jesus in prayer. Ending the interview, Fr Victor said
“the most important thing is that you are putting the Lord first and foremost. Seek first His kingdom as the Lord says in his sermon on the mount and everything is given to you”.
In 2025, Archbishop John Wilson is encouraging people to make Eucharistic adoration a part of their life. The campaign, ‘Hope in Adoration’, will be releasing a series of interviews with clergy and lay people about their experience of adoration. Various online resources, to support people in Eucharistic adoration, will also be produced and made available for free.
Archbishop John’s challenge to us all and to himself is:
“to turn to the Lord Jesus in Eucharistic adoration. As your heart yearns for the Lord, let it be filled with His love and hope, by entering the presence of Christ who is there with us in Monstrance and in the Tabernacle”.
The Adoration Room at Holy Innocents’ in Orpington is in the Father Phelan Centre and is generally open from 8am-to 8pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. (Not Bank Holidays.) There is also usually Adoration in the church on Monday evenings between 7.30pm and 8.30pm, ending with Night Prayer, and on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings between 9.30am and 10 am, including Morning Prayer.