Blessed Sheen Holy Hour and the new film “Adore Him”

Growing up as a cousin of Blessed Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Rosemarie Holliger Costello had an up-close look at the powerful love he had for the Eucharist.

Throughout the 60 years—from the time he became a priest in 1919 until his passing in 1979—Sheen never missed having a Holy Hour with Eucharistic Adoration every day of his life.

That intense devotion fueled his remarkable media ministry, as he became the most famous Catholic leader in America through his enormously popular radio and TV shows, as well as the dozens of books he authored.

Holliger Costello speaks of Blessed Sheen’s passion for prayer in the new documentary “Adore Him: He Is Here,” which spotlights the powerful practice of Adoration and debuts in movie theaters nationwide October 4-8.

“Of course, we did know that he was a famous person. We always knew he was a priest because he always dressed like a priest. We also knew he was extremely holy and extremely close to God, and his Holy Hour certainly was an extremely important part of his life, and we experienced it when he visited us,” she recalls.

“It was the first thing that we knew we had to figure out, each day he was with us: When was the bishop going to do his Holy Hour? And where? You couldn’t just pop into a church. You had to make those arrangements, and all of our other plans revolved around Bishop Sheen’s Holy Hour. We knew from an early age that this was a very important thing.”

“Adore Him” is the sequel to the award-winning 2024 documentary film “Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist,” with both films executive-produced by Deacon Steve Greco through his Spirit Filled Hearts Ministry and released through Fathom Entertainment. “Adore Him” utilizes dramatized depictions set throughout history—from the Jewish people carrying the Ark of the Covenant across the Sinai wilderness in 1445 BC and Mary carrying Jesus in her holy womb, on through an Eucharistic procession in Bavaria in 1538—to show the history of God coming close to His people in earthly forms.

These dramatizations are interwoven with more than two dozen present-day interviews with prominent Catholic figures speaking of the power of Adoration as a devotion, ranging from USCCB president Archbishop Paul Coakley and seven other bishops and five priests to Mark Hart of the Catholic youth ministry Life Teen and Chris Stefanick of Real Life Catholic. As they share their insights and own experiences with the power of the Eucharist, the movie provides a stirring invitation to viewers to establish their own habit of engaging in Holy Hours and Adoration.

“I’ve been a deacon for almost 20 years, and I have seen so many people not go to Mass on a regular basis because they truly didn’t believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in body, soul, blood, and divinity in the Eucharist,” explains Greco. “And the bottom line is that I wanted to make a movie with ‘Jesus Thirsts’ talking about the Real Presence and really talking about the history of the Eucharist from the Last Supper on, and how the Church believed from the very beginning that the Mass and the Eucharist was real and that this was Jesus.

“And once you understand the Eucharist, that’s not enough because then it comes down to how is this going to impact my life? How am I going to change my behavior? And that comes down to certainly attending Mass more frequently, daily if possible. But many Catholics are not aware of the power and the beauty and the transformation of Eucharistic Adoration, and so I wanted to do a film that’s not just a sequel, but that’s meant to transform our hearts.”

Ultimately, Costello notes that she herself has adopted a weekly Holy Hour into her spiritual life and hopes that “Adore Him” will inspire others to do the same.

“I think that the film is going to be a transformative experience for people who go and see it. But that’s exactly what adoration is. It transforms you when you are praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament,” explains Costello.

“Bishop Sheen would always say it was transformative, and he used to say that’s where he got his power. He would think about his sermons, formulate his ideas for his books, all in front of the Blessed Sacrament in his Holy Hour. He’d be absolutely thrilled with this movie, because he always preached about trying to get people to do that.

“Not everyone can do it every day, but even if people could do it once a week or once every other week, he knew how wonderful and special and important it was to spend those moments with our Lord and he would stress: don’t just do all the talking. When you talk to our Lord, listen to Him, and listen for his voice when you pray. When you’re in adoration and you have the beauty and peacefulness of that Adoration chapel surrounding you with our Lord right in front of you, it’s easy to just pour your heart out about all the things that are weighing heavy on your heart.”