I was thinking of Father Donald Arsenault sometime around the time of his death on Dec. 30. I knew him personally and the last time I spoke with him was by phone many years ago. He no longer recognized me.
I had been wanting to connect with him when I sadly found out he had passed away.
The founder of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in Canada was instrumental in establishing perpetual adoration at Holy Trinity Church in North Vancouver in 1996, the first perpetual adoration chapel in the Archdiocese of Vancouver. The parish priest was Father Terrence Larkin.
Many B.C. parishes followed, establishing perpetual adoration from the Lower Mainland to Fort Nelson. Although the pandemic suspended Eucharistic adoration, it is now being revived at parishes everywhere.
I had the privilege, honour, and blessing to have Father Arsenault as spiritual director of the Aquinas pilgrimage to Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and Croatia in 2004. He was a very humble man from New Brunswick, and during the pilgrimage we witnessed how caring, spiritually motivating, and holy he was.
As Father Arsenault offered Mass at the Franciscan Convent in Assisi, I saw clouds form behind him during the consecration. I closed my eyes to make sure I was not dreaming. I closed them a second time. Then a third time after several minutes. The clouds were still there.
Years passed by. One day I had the chance to talk to Father Arsenault after he retired in New Brunswick. I related my vision of clouds behind him during the consecration. He told me, “Teresita, in the Bible when you see clouds it means that God is present.”
I treasured his words and there was no doubt in my mind that Father Arsenault was indeed a holy priest whose life was committed to the propagation of Eucharistic adoration in Canada. I consider myself blessed to have known him and to have had him as one of the pioneer priests who helped Aquinas Institute in its early life.
A faithful servant of Jesus and Mary during his life on earth, he passed away on Dec. 30, 2021. We thank God for the life of Father Arsenault and pray that his legacy would be continued by priests who love Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. May his soul rest in peace in heaven.
Below are writings about Father Arsenault by parishioners in the Archdiocese of Vancouver that give an idea of what kind of priest he was and the effect he had on their spirituality.
I grieve the loss of this humble, dedicated, and holy priest's passing. His enthusiastic response to the Lord's inspiration to leave everything to promote adoration was met with perpetual and partial adoration chapels across Canada.
Our job now is to pray for his intercession so his work can continue bringing a font of grace and blessings to every congregation. We owe so much to this gentle disciple of love for the Holy Eucharist. — Carolyn Wharton
Father Arsenault was a humble and simple priest I will greatly miss. He was the reason I spent hours before the Blessed Sacrament at various parishes in Vancouver, especially at St. Helen's when they needed adorers in the early mornings. I used to bring a pillow and blanket to stay with Our Lord from midnight to 5 a.m. and then go to work. His talk at the parish mission was so inspirational that I am still an altar server at St. Jude's and Holy Family.
The love of the Mass and Eucharistic adoration are the key points to a healthy soul on our earthly pilgrimage toward heaven. — Edmond Gee
How blessed we were to have Father Arsenault come into our midst in 1995! After nine years of hermitage, he felt that Our Lord was calling him to assist parishes across Canada in establishing Eucharistic adoration chapels, and that's how we at Holy Trinity began our blessed relationship.
He agreed to present a mission on the Holy Eucharist, including adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. He was very passionate in promoting this very special devotion, and on May 13, 1996, we opened our perpetual adoration chapel for anyone who wished to become an adorer. It was the first of its kind in the archdiocese.
We thank Our Lord and Blessed Virgin Mary for sending us their servant Father Arsenault to assist us. He set our hearts on fire and to this day we are ever so grateful. — Natilie Domitter
Father Arsenault will always be close to my heart. He taught us the beauty of loving Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. To adore him, to be brave, and start our adoration chapel at Holy Trinity parish. Because of his love for the Eucharistic Lord, we were able under his guidance to start perpetual adoration. It was always important to him that we make it perpetual, not partial. He taught us that if we are faithful then Our Lord will bring the adorers. They came, they offered their holy hour, and we were blessed.
Father Arsenault also gave our parish priest at the time, Father Larkin, courage to approve of perpetual adoration as well. Thank you, dear Father Don, for your love for us and Jesus in the Eucharist. I will forever be grateful for the grace that the Lord bestowed on all of us at Holy Trinity. — Denise Blackstock
During one of his many visits to Vancouver – and after one of many lunches at White Spot for clam chowder – we were walking back to a parish mission. It was our first time going to this particular church, and Father Arsenault made a comment about its architecture: “It’s very fitting that the tabernacle is placed on a pillar, because the Eucharist is the pillar of our faith.”
As I remember the life and work of Father Arsenault, I think it’s most fitting to remember him as a “pillar” of the Eucharist, which reflects a major thread that runs through St. Thomas Aquinas’ writings on the Eucharist as a sign of maximum charity or love. Coincidentally, I received the news of Father Arsenault’s passing on the feast day of St. Thomas.
Father Arsenault was a “pillar” of the Eucharist, quite literally and visibly, when he elevated the consecrated host at Mass or at benediction and, intentionally and invisibly, presented the mystery of Christ’s love for us that makes us love him more.
We can best remember Father Arsenault’s life and work as a “pillar” of the Eucharist in that he constantly held up before us this great mystery and dynamic of Christ’s love. Christ loves us and joins us to himself familiarly and intimately in the Eucharist, which excites even greater love for him and neighbour. Father Arsenault was deeply immersed in this love, by his celebration of the Mass, by time spent in adoration, and particularly by being a hermit.
By his spiritual and mystical immersion in Christ’s love, Father Arsenault’s own charity was enkindled and stimulated to great works – especially travelling across the country to promote perpetual adoration and spending hours hearing confessions, that sacrament which restores friendship with Christ in preparation for the Eucharist.
The adoration chapels in many parishes of the Archdiocese of Vancouver are traces of the life and work of Father Arsenault. But what’s more important is how he was a “pillar” of the Eucharist; namely, that he held up and was simply and singularly focused on the mystery of Christ’s love for us. Nourished and inebriated by this familiar and intimate love, he brought so many to find nourishment and inebriation in the divine presence so that others too could become pillars of the Eucharist. — Zane Chu
For information or assistance on starting, expanding, and maintaining perpetual Eucharistic adoration or Eucharistic adoration, contact www.eucharisticadorationcanada.com, 1 (800) 784-9550, [email protected].