PASSION OF JESUS AND MARY

 

 In the love story of the Passion of Jesus is also the love story of

The Passion of Mary, the Mother of Sorrows


OPENING PRAYER

TO JESUS IN THE BLESSED SACTRAMENT

ALL: On Holy Thursday night, O good Jesus, You gave us the Eucharist, the
memorial of Your Passion, which was soon to unfold in all its sorrow and tragedy.
By instituting this Most Blessed sacrament, You made Your love present and
effective in the world until the end of time.
You spoke about Your love in most tender terms to the apostles at the Last
Supper. Your words ought never be forgotten. You said:

LEADER: .As the Father has loved Me,
So I have loved you.
Live on in My love.
You are My friends
If you do what I command you.
I call you friends,
Since I have made known to you
All that I heard from the Father.
It was not you who chose Me,
It was I who chose you......
(John 15:9, 14-16)
ALL: Lord Jesus, You have also chosen me and my fellow Christians to go
forth and set the world ablaze with Your love by keeping alive the memory of
Your Passion, intensively in our own hearts and extensively in the hearts of
others. To that end, we begin this Holy Hour and prayerfully enter into the
contemplation of Your sacred sufferings and death. May this Holy Hour bring us
closer to You and to one another in love!

JESUS IN GETHSEMANI . MAN OF PRAYER

LEADER: This is the wood of the cross, on which hung the Savior of the world.

ALL: Come, let us worship.

READING: Matthew 26:36-42

LEADER: He said to his disciples, .Stay here while I go over there and pray..

He took along Peter and Zebedee.s two sons, and began to experience sorrow and

distress. Then he said to them, .My heart is nearly broken with sorrow. Remain

here and stay with me.. He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer. .My

Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Still, let it be as you would have it,

not as I.. When he returned to his disciples, he found them asleep. He said to

Peter, .So you could not stay awake with me for even an hour? Be on guard, and

pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing but nature is weak..

Withdrawing a second time, he began to pray, .My Father, if this cannot pass me

by without my drinking it, your will be done!. Once more, on his return, he found

them asleep, they could not keep their eyes open. He left them again, withdrew

somewhat, and began to pray a third time, saying the same words as before.

PRAYER

ALL: Your entire life, O Jesus, was characterized by constant prayer, an ongoing

communion with Your Heavenly Father. Prayer was the air You breathed. And it

culminated in the most powerful prayer of all: .My Father, your will be done!.

This prayer is at the very heart of the one You taught us to say: the Our Father.

O Lord Jesus, Teach us to pray. For how else can we be brought into the inner

life of the Godhead? How else can we glimpse the splendor of the divine Trinity

in all its truth, beauty and love? How else can we see our own misery, emptiness,

sinfulness and nothingness? How else can we be transformed into the closer

likeness of You, O Jesus, if we do not pray to the Father from our hearts at all

times and under all circumstances; in the Gethsemani garden of our sufferings; in

the joyous, quiet and peaceful surroundings of gardens, hills and countryside; in

the lonely places where sorrow, pain, old age and the going forth to die are

present; in the sanctuary of our home and family; in the sacred environs of a

church. There is no place where we cannot pray. We need only choose to do so.

With the help of Your grace, O Lord, we choose to do so. We enter with You

now into the prayer of Your Passion, the prayer that tested Your obedience to the

Father.s will.

A GOD-MAN SCOURGED

And purity blooms in all its splendor

LEADER: This is the wood of the cross, on which hung the Savior of the world.

ALL: Come, let us worship.

READING: Mark, 1512-15

LEADER: Pilate again asked them, .What am I to do with the man you call the

king of the Jews?. They shouted back, .Crucify him!. .Why? What crime has he

committed?. They only shouted the louder, .Crucify him!. So Pilate who wished

to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them, and after he had Jesus scourged,

he handed him over to be crucified.

PRAYER

ALL: Why did You endure it, Lord? You

 

 

In the five wounds of Jesus dyed,

And in thy bleeding thoughts, Mary!

endured it first of all, to make

reparation for sins committed against the body, which is Your living temple. Your

apostle Paul was horrified by the very thought of so holy a temple being profaned

by sins of the flesh. He said: .Are you not aware that you are the temple of God

and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God.s temple, God

will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Cor.

3:16). And again Paul reminds us: .Do you not see that your bodies are members

of Christ? Would you have me take Christ.s members and make them members of

a prostitute? God Forbid!. (1 Cor. 6:15)

Only by living purely shall we be able to exert a moral and spiritual force that

will help cleanse the world of its corruption, sensuality and selfishness.

O Jesus, scourged at the pillar, be our strength as we struggle to keep ourselves

pure. Purity is one of the gifts we earnestly desire to give back to You, with all

our love. If we have sinned in the past, forgive us. Help us not to sin again.

JESUS CROWNED WITH THORNS

 

Teaching a fundamental lesson in spirituality

 

LEADER: This is the wood of the cross, on which hung the Savior of the world.

ALL: Come, let us worship.

 

 

READING: Matthew 27:27-31

 

LEADER: The procurator.s soldiers took Jesus inside the praetorium and

 

collected the whole cohort around him. They stripped off his clothes and wrapped

him in a scarlet military cloak. Weaving a crown of thorns they fixed it on his

head, and stuck a reed in his right hand. Then they began to mock him by

dropping to their knees before him, saying, .All hail, King of the Jews!. They

also spat on him. Afterward they took hold of the reed and kept striking him on

the head. Finally, when they had finished making a fool of him, they stripped him

of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him off to crucifixion.

PRAYER

 

ALL: O Lord, Your apostle Paul wrote in reference to You: .Though he was in

 

the form of God, he did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at.

Rather, he emptied himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the

likeness of men. He was known to be of human estate, and it was thus that he

humbled himself.. (Phi. 2:6-8).

This, O Jesus, Son of God, is strikingly affirmed and confirmed in the crowning

with thorns. A cap of thorns for a crown, a reed in Your hands for a scepter; a

dirty garment for a kingly robe; then being spat at and struck . what could be

more humbling?

Lord Jesus, crowned with thorns, never let us lose sight of the truth that we are

creatures, sinful creatures, creatures who, by Your grace, have been elevated to a

supernatural state wherein we partake of Your own life. And never let us forget

that we can very easily fall from grace.

O Jesus, take our emptiness and fill it with Yourself! Jesus, meek and humble of

heart, make our hearts like Yours!

JESUS CARRIES THE CROSS

 

Through the Cross to Glory

 

LEADER: This is the wood of the cross, on which hung the Savior of the world.

ALL: Come, let us worship.

 

 

READING: John 19:17

 

LEADER: Jesus was led away, and carrying the cross by himself, went out to

 

what is called the Place of the Skull (In Hebrew, Golgotha)

PRAYER

 

ALL: The cross of pain and suffering that You carry, O Jesus, on the way to

 

Calvary is the burden of our sins and the sins of the whole world. You carry it

willingly and gladly and lovingly because You see it as the instrument of our

salvation, the sign of victory over sin and death, and the fulfillment of Your

heavenly Father.s will. It was a hard price that You paid . a hard, long,

excruciating, and agonizing way that called for the greatest courage and patience.

O Lord Jesus, when we became Catholic at baptism, we also thereby were made

crossbearers along the way marked out by Your bloodstained footsteps. You said:

.If anyone wishes to come after me, they must deny themselves, take up their

cross and begin to follow in my footsteps. (Matt. 16:24).

The cross, which You have given us to carry along the way of life, is the burden

of the commandments, the responsibilities of our particular state in life, the

pressures and tensions of life, the sufferings, inconveniences, disappointments,

bodily weaknesses and mental anguishes, oppositions and misunderstandings,

struggles with temptations, and so much more.

Why is it that we are so unwilling to carry the cross, even though we profess to

be Your followers? Why are we so bitter at times? Your cross, Lord, was one of

love, not bitterness. So may our crosses be from now on. Help us to carry them

patiently, courageously and lovingly so to prove that we are Your true followers.

We are determined, with Your help and grace, to make the journey of the cross,

trusting in You and in the help You are ever ready to give. Let us clearly see that

this is the only way to glory . the glory that You have promised to all those who

follow in Your footsteps.

THE PIERCED HANDS OF JESUS

 

See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name

 

LEADER: This is the wood of the cross, on which hung the Savior of the world.

ALL: Come let us worship.

 

 

READING: Isa. 49:13-16

 

LEADER: Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,

 

Break forth into song, you mountains

For the Lord comforts his people

And shows mercy to his afflicted.

But Zion said, .The Lord has forsaken me;

My Lord has forsaken me..

Can a mother forget her infant;

Be without tenderness for the child of her womb?

Even should she forget

I will never forget you.

See, upon the palms of my hands I

Have written your name.

PRAYER

 

ALL: We are mindful, Lord, that Your pierced hands were once the baby hands

 

that caressed the sweet, lovely face of Your mother; the carpenters hands that

were such strong tools for work and which became rough and hard and calloused

from physical use in Your foster-father.s workshop in Nazareth; the folded hands

that were the symbol of Your union with the Father through prayer and

contemplation during Your whole life; the open hands that were always ready to

give and bless and cure, and even to raise the dead to life; the beautiful priestly

hands that absolved repentant sinners and held the bread and wine at the Last

Supper and changed those elements into Your own Body and Blood.

Your pierced hands, O Jesus, are the instruments of a new creation; the source

of all blessings; the symbol of forgiveness and deliverance; the expression of

Your tremendous love for us. Allow us the privilege to touch and kiss Your

pierced hands that we too may be blessed, healed, forgiven and transformed.

Thank You. Lord.

IN THE PASSION OF JESUS THE PASSION OF MARY

LEADER: Happy are you, O Blessed Virgin Mary

ALL: Without dying you won the martyr.s crown beside the cross of Jesus.

 

 

READING: John 19:25-27

 

LEADER: Near the cross of Jesus there stood his mother, his mother.s sister,

 

Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdelene. Seeing his mother there with the

disciple whom he loved, Jesus said to his mother, .Woman, there is your son.. In

turn he said to the disciple, .There is your mother.. From that hour onward, the

disciple took her into his care.

9

FIRST SORROW: The Prophecy of Simeon

 

ALL: O Mary, Jesus was undoubtedly your greatest pride and joy. You had

 

such high hopes for him. And rightly so. For an angel had revealed to you at the

Annunciation that; .The holy offspring to be born (of you) will be called Son of

God. (Lk. 2:35). Your son.s birth was heralded by angels. Shepherds had come to

adore Him. And wise men from the East had come to pay Him homage.

And then came the disturbing news that cut you to the quick: .This child is

destined to be the downfall and the rise of many in Israel, a sign that will be

opposed.. (Lk. 2:34).

Those words were like a sword piercing your heart. Even though you

continued to believe and hope and love, that did not stop the bleeding thoughts

from coming, nor did it take away the pain that burned like a fire in your soul.

With this first sorrow, your own Passion in the Passion of Jesus had already

begun. Did you cry as you listened to Simeons prophecy? Surely burning tears

must have welled up in your eyes. And they probably flowed now and then as you

pondered the words of Simeon in the days and years ahead.

SECOND SORROW: The Flight into Egypt

 

ALL: It was not long afterward, O Mary, that you again suffered grief, the kind

 

that refugees all over the world experience when they are uprooted from their land

and made to flee for their lives, suffering the hardships and miseries that such

flight entails. Truly, O Mary, you were no stranger to that kind of sorrow. To

protect the life of your dear son, you had to flee from those who wanted to destroy

him. The fright, apprehension, uncertainty and suffering experienced by you in

the flight into Egypt and during the sojourn there was the second sorrow in the

series of many more to come. It broke your mother.s heart to see your Son being

hunted down as if he were some kind of a scourge on the face of the earth. Truly

were you becoming the .Mater Dolorosa..

THIRD SORROW: The Loss of Jesus in the Temple

 

ALL: Mothers the world over experience deep joy and satisfaction watching

 

their children grow up. They observe them closely and mark their progress. They

take great pride in seeing the development of their children.s personalities. So it

was with you, Mary. What you noticed most in Jesus was that .He progressed

steadily in wisdom and age and grace before God and men. (Lk. 2:2). How proud

you were of Jesus, your Son! To be with Him, to enjoy His company, to love Him

and be loved by Him is something that you alone could fully understand and

appreciate.

I wonder whether you ever thought to yourself: What if I should lose Him;

what if I should be deprived of His presence; how could I go on living without

Him? And yet that is what happened, at least for a time. Even so, while it lasted it

hurt. .Son, why have you done this to us? You see that your father and I have

been searching for you in sorrow. (Lk. 2:48). Mary, you must have been puzzled

by Jesus. answer: .Why did you search for me? Did you not know that I had to be

in my Father.s house?. (Lk. 2:49). Like all mothers, you too were somewhat

bewildered when your Son began to show signs of greater independence; you

suffered because of the gradual .letting go. process.

10

FOURTH SORROW: Mary Meets Jesus on the Way to Calvary

 

ALL: Later on, the sword of sorrow, sharpened for the fourth time, is plunged

 

into your tender heart on that fateful day when you met your Son, Jesus, carrying

a heavy cross on His way to execution, being treated like the worst of criminals,

rejected by the people and hated with such passion by those who would not be

satisfied until He was destroyed and the remembrance of Him would be no more.

Now the words spoken to you by Simeon are recalled in all their stark reality:

.This child is destined to be the downfall and rise of many in Israel, a sign that

will be opposed.and you yourself shall be pierced with a sword.. (Lk. 2:34-

35).

LEADER: O sweet Mother, font of love,

 

Touch my spirit from above,

Make my heart with yours accord,

Make me feel as you have felt,

Make my soul to glow and melt,

With the love of Christ my Lord.

 

(Sacramentary, Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows)

FIFTH SORROW: Mary Stands beneath the Cross of Jesus

 

ALL: Few writers have so clearly seen your own Passion in the Passion of Jesus,

 

O Mary, and captured the meaning of your fifth sorrow as has the English poet,

Francis Thompson, who pays this beautiful tribute to you in his poem: .The

Passion of Mary.. I should like to make that tribute my own.

LEADER: O Lady Mary, thy bright crown,

 

Is no mere crown of majesty;

For with the reflex of His own

Resplendent thorns Christ circled thee.

The red rose of the Passion-Tide

Doth take a deeper hue from thee,

 

The soldier struck a triple strike,

That smote thy Jesus on the tree;

He broke the Heart of Hearts, and broke

The Saint.s and mother.s heart in thee.

Thy Son went up the angels. ways,

His Passion ended, but, ah me!

Thou found.st the road of further days

A longer way of Calvary;

O the hard cross of hope deferred

Thou hung.st in loving agony,

Until the mortal-dreaded word

Which chills our mirth, spake mirth to thee.

The angel Death from this cold tomb

Of life did roll the stone away;

And He thou barest in thy womb

Caught thee at last into the day,

Before the living throne of Whom

The Lights of Heaven burning pray.

SIXTH SORROW: Mary Receives the Dead Body of Jesus in Her Arms

ALL: All those who suffer and carry a heavy cross, whose hearts are broken,

whose cup of bitterness is filled to overflowing, who bear gaping wounds in their

brain, in their limbs, in their bodies and souls, who have lost a loved one through

death and are inconsolable, have simply to think of you, Mary, holding the dead

body of Jesus in your arms to understand that you were no stranger to sorrow,

grief and bereavement. Who can really understand or feel the grief of a mother

who loved her Son with a natural love, such as only the best of mothers could

have for the best of Sons, and who also loved Him with a supernatural love, such

as only the holiest of mothers could have for the holiest of Sons?

It is understandable, O Mary, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, why your sixth

sorrow has been immortalized in stone by some of the greatest sculptors, notably

Michelangelo, whose Pieta so powerfully draws attention to your sixth sorrow and

inspires devotion to you who have shared so intimately in the Passion of your

Son, Jesus. To look at the Pieta and not be moved is something hard to

comprehend.

SEVENTH SORROW: The Body of Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

 

 

ALL: Separation, especially the final one by death and burial of a loved one, can

be heartrending. So it was for you, Mary. It was as if everything you believed in

and hoped for and loved had collapsed. The seventh sorrow of your Passion in the

Passion of Jesus, like a sword pierced and broke your heart. It must have felt as if

your heart was being torn from your body as you gazed for the last time at the

gaping wounds in the dead body of Jesus, now being taken away from you,

seemingly forever. Your very soul was being poured out in sorrow for the Passion

and Death of your Son.

Thoughts, bleeding thoughts, filled your mind as you recalled the opposition,

persecution, rejection, suffering and death that your Son had to endure in carrying

out the Father.s will for the salvation of the world.

The five precious wounds of Jesus and your seven sorrows . this, O Mary,

tells the story of your Passion in the Passion of Jesus.

LEADER: Father,

As Your Son was raised on a cross,

His mother Mary stood by Him,

Shared His sufferings.

May Your church be united with Christ

In His sufferings and death,

And so come to share in His rising to new life,

Where He lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,

One God, forever and ever. Amen.

ADDITIONAL PRAYERS TO JESUS IN HIS PASSION

In Honor of the Sacred Wounds

My Crucified Jesus!

ALL: I adore the wounds in Your Sacred Head

With sorrow deep and true.

May every thought of mine today

Be an act of love for You.

I adore the wounds in Your Sacred Hands

With sorrow deep and true.

May every work of my hands today

Be an act of love for You.

I adore the wounds in Your Sacred Feet

With sorrow deep and true.

May every step I take today

Be an act of love for You.

I adore the wound in Your Sacred Heart

With sorrow deep and true.

May every beat of my heart today

Be an act of love for You.

AMEN.

IN HONOR OF THE HOLY FACE

ALL: O Jesus, who in Your bitter Passion became .The reproach of men and the

Man of Sorrows,. I venerate Your Sacred Countenance upon which shone the

beauty and the sweetness of the Divinity, and which has now become for my sake

like the face of a leper. But in those disfigured features I recognize Your infinite

love, and I long to love You and make You loved by all. O Jesus, whose adorable

Face ravishes my heart, I beseech You to imprint in me Your divine likeness, and

to inflame me with Your love, that I may behold Your glorious Face in

Heaven.AMEN.

STEPS OF THE PASSION

LEADER: O my most loving Jesus, sorrowful and agonizing in the Garden of

Olives, covered with a sweat of blood, praying to Your Heavenly Father:

ALL: Have mercy on us.

LEADER: O most loving Jesus, delivered into the hands of the wicked by a

traitor.s kiss, seized and bound as a robber, and forsaken by Your disciples:

ALL: Have mercy on us.

LEADER: O most loving Jesus, condemned to death by the unjust Council of

the Jews, led as a malefactor before Pilate, despised and mocked by the impious
Herod:

ALL: Have mercy on us.

LEADER: O most loving Jesus, stripped of Your garments, and most cruelly

scourged at the pillar:

ALL: Have mercy on us.

LEADER: O most loving Jesus, crowned with thorns, beaten with rods, struck

with a reed, blindfolded, clothed in mock purple, an object of derision and steeped
in opprobrium:

ALL: Have mercy on us.

LEADER: O most loving Jesus, likened to the infamous Barabbas, rejected by

the Jews, and unjustly sentenced to death:

ALL: Have mercy on us.

LEADER: O most loving Jesus, burdened with the weight of the cross and led

to the place of Your execution as a lamb to the slaughter:

ALL: Have mercy on us.

LEADER: O most loving Jesus, reputed with the wicked, blasphemed and

derided, given gall and vinegar to drink, from the sixth to the ninth hour the prey
of excruciating torments on the cross:

ALL: Have mercy on us.

LEADER: O most loving Jesus, who died upon the cross and in the presence of

Your most holy Mother was pierced with a lance, so that blood and water issued
from Your Sacred Side:

ALL: Have mercy on us.

LEADER: O most loving Jesus, taken down from the cross and bathed in the

tears of Your most sorrowful Mother:

ALL: Have mercy on us.

LEADER: O most loving Jesus, bruised and lacerated, marked with five

wounds, anointed with spices and laid in the tomb:
ALL: Have mercy on us.

Watch One Hour

A holy hour is spending time with God. Just as communication in marriage means listening, so the holy hour means listening; only in this case it means listening to God. "Could you not watch one hour with me?" (MT. 26:40)  The Lord speaks to the disciples when they are overcome by sleep while he is wrestling with the passion which he must undergo.  Are you often like them?  Do you often seem to be asleep spiritually in all the tensions and frustrations of daily life?  Do you try to find your remedies in drugs, alcohol, having the perfect family, the perfect job, the perfect life, the perfect children?  Do you always have to be right, beautiful, intelligent and successful, and hate every minute of it?  This is because you are blocking the love God has for you.
You are created to be so completely in love with God that each moment of every day has divine meaning.  You are created to know yourself, the world, and others from the divine point of view.  Christ is pouring out his love for you much as he did when he wrestled with the passion in the garden, and yet you are so preoccupied with other things that you do not notice.
The only remedy for this spiritual torpor is prayer.  This is not just vocal prayer, although vocal prayer is important.  But the prayer which alone can heal must involve a communion of hearts of a regular basis, just as a good marriage must involve more than just words.  A good marriage must also involve a communion of hearts on a regular basis.  If the spouses never speak alone, the communication suffers.
One time-honored practice of spiritual communication is the holy hour in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.  The origin of the holy hour is the question Christ asked his disciples in the Garden: "Could you not watch one hour  with me?"  If you are in the midst of spiritual torpor or just wish to grow in the spiritual life, you must spend time with God.

What is a holy hour?
A holy hour is spending time with God.  Just as communication in marriage means listening, so the holy hour means listening; only in this case it means listening to God.   Just as you must spend time with our spouse just pursuing the personal relationship of husband and wife, so you must spend time with God.  The holy hour places one in the presence of God to do just that.

Why should it be done in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament?
A holy hour can be done anywhere that you can bring your own self before the presence of God.  There are several reasons for  recommending that this be done in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.  The first is that this is an extension of the Eucharist in which Christ gives himself as our Living Bread for our spiritual life.   The second is because it is normally a place without distractions.  The third is that in Holy Communion your soul is permeated with God like wax melted into wax.   There can be no deeper presence of God here on earth than the one brought to us in transubstantiation.  This is why it called the "Real Presence."

What do I do during a holy Hour?
A holy hour is not a project to be accomplished but an exercise of love.  You can read a spiritual book, say the Rosary, perform some act of piety which means something in your life, or you can just DO nothing.  Just rest with the Lord.  The important thing is to realize that you need time — apart from the liturgical prayer of the Mass and even obligatory prayers like the Liturgy of the Hours for priests — where you experience God's personal care for you alone.
Many people think there is a plaster of Paris image to which they need to conform and they try to look like the statues they see in the church.  They do not want to talk about negative or hurtful things in God's presence because they think that this is unfitting.  You cannot be like that.  You must bring the REAL YOU before God.   This means yourself with all the hurts, the warts and the strengths.  You must ask God to heal you of your faults and help you to use your strength for his goodness.

How can I pray?
Normally, the classic method of experiencing the loving God and his providence for you takes four forms.  The first is the recalling of some mystery of grace, which can either be found in Scripture, in the lives of the saints, or in a spiritual or theological book.  This is reading (lectio).  Once you place some mystery of grace before the eyes of your heart, then you apply it to your own life in some trouble or weakness, then you apply this mystery to some gift of God's goodness you have received either in yourself, from another, or from him.  This is meditation (meditatio).   You yourself respond to this desire for healing or knowledge of gifts received by a sighing of the heart, which may or may not be put into words.  This is prayer (oratio).   Finally, you rest in the goodness of God with the knowledge that God loves you so much to aid you in healing or shower you with his blessings.  This is contemplation (contemplatio).
"O God, you are my God; for you I long, for you my soul is thirsting; my body pines for you like a dry weary land without water.  So I will gaze on you in the sanctuary to see your strength and your glory.  My soul shall be filled as with a banquet."  (Psalm 63)
St. John Vianney is reputed to have asked a man who sat quietly for hours before the tabernacle what he was doing.  The man replied, "I do not know.  I look at him and he looks at me, and we are happy together."

The Hour That Makes My Day | Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

A selection from A Treasure in Clay, the autobiography of Archbishop Sheen.
On the day of my Ordination, I made two resolutions:

1. I would offer the Holy Eucharist every Saturday in honor of the Blessed Mother to solicit her protection on my priesthood. The Epistle to the Hebrews bids the priest offer sacrifices not only for others, but also for himself, since his sins are greater because of the dignity of the office.

2. I resolved also to spend a continuous Holy Hour every day in the presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

In the course of my priesthood I have kept both of these resolutions. The Holy Hour had its origin in a practice I developed a year before I was ordained. The big chapel in St. Paul's Seminary would be locked by six o'clock; there were still private chapels available for private devotions and evening prayers. This particular evening during recreation, I walked up and down outside the closed major chapel for almost an hour. The thought struck me - why not make a Holy Hour of adoration in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament? The next day I began, and the practice is now well over sixty years old.

Briefly, here are some reasons why I have kept up this practice, and why I have encouraged it in others:

First, the Holy Hour is not a devotion; it is a sharing in the work of redemption. Our Blessed Lord used the words "hour" and "day" in two totally different connotations in the Gospel of John. "Day" belongs to God; the "hour" belongs to evil. Seven times in the Gospel of John, the word "hour" is used, and in each instance it refers to the demonic, and to the moments when Christ is no longer in the Father's Hands, but in the hands of men. In the Garden, our Lord contrasted two "hours" - one was the evil hour "this is your hour" - with which Judas could turn out the lights of the world. In contrast, our Lord asked: "Could you not watch one hour with Me?". In other words, he asked for an hour of reparation to combat the hour of evil; an hour of victimal union with the Cross to overcome the anti-love of sin.

Secondly, the only time Our Lord asked the Apostles for anything was the night he went into his agony. Then he did not ask all of them ... perhaps because he knew he could not count on their fidelity. But at least he expected three to be faithful to him: Peter, James and John. As often in the history of the Church since that time, evil was awake, but the disciples were asleep. That is why there came out of His anguished and lonely Heart the sigh: "Could you not watch one hour with me?" Not for an hour of activity did He plead, but for an hour of companionship.

The third reason I keep up the Holy Hour is to grow more and more into his likeness. As Paul puts it: "We are transfigured into his likeness, from splendor to splendor." We become like that which we gaze upon. Looking into a sunset, the face takes on a golden glow. Looking at the Eucharistic Lord for an hour transforms the heart in a mysterious way as the face of Moses was transformed after his companionship with God on the mountain. Something happens to us similar to that which happened to the disciples at Emmaus. On Easter Sunday afternoon when the Lord met them, he asked why they were so gloomy. After spending some time in his presence, and hearing again the secret of spirituality - "The Son of Man must suffer to enter into his Glory" - their time with him ended and their "hearts were on fire."

The Holy Hour. Is it difficult? Sometimes it seemed to be hard; it might mean having to forgo a social engagement, or rise an hour earlier, but on the whole it has never been a burden, only a joy. I do not mean to say that all the Holy Hours have been edifying, as for example, the one in the church of St. Roch in Paris. I entered the church about three o'clock in the afternoon, knowing that I had to catch a train for Lourdes two hours later. There are only about ten days a year in which I can sleep in the daytime; this was one. I knelt down and said a prayer of adoration, and then sat up to meditate and immediately went to sleep. I woke up exactly at the end of one hour. I said to the Good Lord: "Have I made a Holy Hour?" I thought his angel said: "Well, that's the way the Apostles made their first Holy Hour in the Garden, but don't do it again."

One difficult Holy Hour I remember occurred when I took a train from Jerusalem to Cairo. The train left at four o'clock in the morning; that meant very early rising. On another occasion in Chicago, I asked permission from a pastor to go into his church to make a Holy Hour about seven o'clock one evening, for the church was locked. He then forgot that he had let me in, and I was there for about two hours trying to find a way of escape. Finally I jumped out of a small window and landed in the coal bin. This frightened the housekeeper, who finally came to my aid.

At the beginning of my priesthood I would make the Holy Hour during the day or the evening. As the years mounted and I became busier, I made the Hour early in the morning, generally before Holy Mass. Priests, like everybody else, are divided into two classes: roosters and owls. Some work better in the morning, others at night. An Anglican bishop who was chided by a companion for his short night prayers explained: "I keep prayed up."

The purpose of the Holy Hour is to encourage deep personal encounter with Christ. The holy and glorious God is constantly inviting us to come to Him, to hold converse with Him, to ask for such things as we need and to experience what a blessing there is in fellowship with Him. When we are first ordained it is easy to give self entirely to Christ, for the Lord fills us then with sweetness, just as a mother gives candy to her baby to encourage her child to take the first step. This exhilaration, however, does not last long; we quickly learn the cost of discipleship, which means leaving nets and boats and counting tables. The honeymoon soon ends, and so does our self-importance at first hearing the stirring title of "Father."

Sensitive love or human love declines with time, but divine love does not. The first is concerned with the body which becomes less and less responsive to stimulation, but in the order of grace, the responsiveness of the divine to tiny, human acts of love intensifies.

Neither theological knowledge nor social action alone is enough to keep us in love with Christ unless both are preceded by a personal encounter with him. When Moses saw the burning bush in the desert, it did not feed on any fuel. The flame, unfed by anything visible, continued to exist without destroying the wood. So personal dedication to Christ does not deform any of our natural gifts, disposition, or character; it just renews without killing. As the wood becomes fire and the fire endures, so we become Christ and Christ endures.

I have found that it takes some time to catch fire in prayer. This has been one of the advantages of the daily Hour. It is not so brief as to prevent the soul from collecting itself and shaking off the multitudinous distractions of the world. Sitting before the Presence is like a body exposing itself before the sun to absorb its rays. Silence in the Hour is a tête-á-tête with the Lord. In those moments, one does not so much pour out written prayers, but listening takes its place. We do not say: "Listen, Lord, for Thy servant speaks," but "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth."

I have often sought some way to explain the fact that we priests are to know Christ, rather than know about Christ. Many translations of the Bible use the word "know" to indicate the unity of two-in-one flesh. For example: "Solomon knew her not," which meant that he had no carnal relations with her. The Blessed Mother said to the Angel at the Annunciation: "I know not man." St. Paul urges husbands to possess their wives in knowledge. The word "know" here indicates two-in-one flesh. The closeness of that identity is drawn from the closeness of the mind with any object it knows. No knife could ever separate my mind from the idea it has of an apple. The ecstatic union of a husband and wife described as "knowing" is to be the foundation of that love by which we priests love Christ.

Intimacy is openness which keeps back no secret and which reveals the heart open to Christ. Too often friends are just "two ships that pass in the night." Carnal love, despite its seeming intimacy, often can become an exchange of two egotisms. The ego is projected onto the other person and what is loved is not the other person, but the pleasure the other person gives. I have noticed throughout my life that whenever I shrank from the demands that the encounter made on me, I would become busier and more concerned with activities. This gave me an excuse for saying: "I don't have time," as a husband can become so absorbed in business as to forget the love of his wife.

It is impossible for me to explain how helpful the Holy Hour has been in preserving my vocation. Scripture gives considerable evidence to prove that a priest begins to fail his priesthood when he fails in his love of the Eucharist. Too often it is assumed that Judas fell because he loved money. Avarice is very rarely the beginning of the lapse and the fall of the ambassador. The history of the Church proves there are many with money who stayed in it. The beginning of the fall of Judas and the end of Judas both revolved around the Eucharist. The first mention that Our Lord knew who it was who would betray him is at the end of the sixth chapter of John, which is the announcement of the Eucharist. The fall of Judas came the night Our Lord gave the Eucharist, the night of the Last Supper.

The Eucharist is so essential to our one-ness with Christ that as soon as Our Lord announced It in the Gospel, It began to be the test of the fidelity of His followers. First, He lost the masses, for it was too hard a saying and they no longer followed Him. Secondly, He lost some of His disciples: "They walked with Him no more." Third, it split His apostolic band, for Judas is here announced as the betrayer.

So the Holy Hour, quite apart from all its positive spiritual benefits, kept my feet from wandering too far. Being tethered to a tabernacle, one's rope for finding other pastures is not so long. That dim tabernacle lamp, however pale and faint, had some mysterious luminosity to darken the brightness of "bright lights." The Holy Hour became like an oxygen tank to revive the breath of the Holy Spirit in the midst of the foul and fetid atmosphere of the world. Even when it seemed so unprofitable and lacking in spiritual intimacy, I still had the sensation of being at least like a dog at the master's door, ready in case he called me.

The Hour, too, became a magister and teacher, for although before we love anyone we must have a knowledge of that person, nevertheless, after we know, it is love that increases knowledge. Theological insights are gained not only from the two covers of a treatise, but from two knees on a prie-dieu before a tabernacle.

Finally, making a Holy Hour every day constituted for me one area of life in which I could preach what I practiced. I very seldom in my life preached fasting in a rigorous kind of way, for I always found fasting extremely difficult; but I could ask others to make the Hour, because I had made it.

Sometimes I wished that I had kept a record of the thousands of letters that I have received from priests and laity telling me how they have taken up the practice of the Holy Hour. Every retreat for priests that I ever gave had this as a practical resolution. Too often retreats are like health conferences. There is a general agreement on the need for health, but there is lacking a specific recommendation on how to be healthy. The Holy Hour became a challenge to priests on the retreat, and then when the tapes of my retreats became available to the laity, it was edifying to read of those who responded to grace by watching an hour daily before the Lord. A monsignor who, because of a weakness for alcohol and consequent scandal, was told to leave his parish went into another diocese on a trial basis, where he made my retreat. Responding to the grace of the Lord, he gave up alcohol, was restored to effectiveness in his priesthood, made the Holy Hour every day and died in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

As an indication of the very wide effect of the Holy Hour, I once received a letter from a priest in England who told me in his own language: "I left the priesthood and fell into a state of degradation." A priest friend invited him to hear a tape on the Holy Hour from a retreat I had given. Responsive to grace, he was restored again to the priesthood and entrusted with the care of a parish. Divine Mercy wrought a change in him, and I received this letter:

We had our annual Solemn Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament last week. I encouraged enough people to come and watch all day and every day, so that we would not have to take the Blessed Sacrament down because of a lack of a number of people to watch. On the final evening, I organized a procession with the First Communicants strewing rose petals in front of the Lord. The men of the parish formed a Guard of Honor. The result was staggering: there were over 250 people present for that final procession and Holy Hour. I am convinced that our people are searching for many of the old devotions which many of the parishes have done away with, and this is very often because we priests cannot be bothered putting ourselves out. Next year I hope that our Solemn Exposition will be even better attended because now the word is getting around. These last couple of weeks I have started a Bible study group; this is to encourage our people to read the Word of God. I start with reading of Scripture which we meditate on that evening; we then have a short Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and meditation on the text until the time of the Benediction.

I have also started going around the parish and saying a Mass in one house in every street each week, and inviting all people in that particular street to come and take part. The response has been quite good, especially since I am only starting. I do not wish to become an activist priest, so I rise early and make my Holy Hour. I still have my own personal problems to contend with, but I have taken courage from your words: "you will have to fight many battles, but do not worry because in the end you will win the war before the Blessed Sacrament."

Many of the laity who have read my books and heard my tapes are also making the Holy Hour.

A state trooper wrote that he had my tapes attached to his motorcycle and would listen to them as he was cruising the highways: "Imagine," he wrote, "the bewilderment of a speeder being stopped by me while from the tape recorder was coming one of your sermons about the Eucharist." He found it difficult at first to find a church that was open during the day at a time he could make his Hour. Later on, he found a pastor who was not only willing to open the church, but willing to make the Hour with him.

Most remarkable of all was the effect the preaching of the Holy Hour had on non-Catholic ministers. I preached three retreats to Protestant ministers - on two occasions to over three hundred in South Carolina and Florida, and on another occasion to a smaller group at Princeton University. I asked them to make a continuous Holy Hour of prayer in order to combat the forces of evil in the world, because that is what our Lord asked for the night of His Agony. I addressed them: "You are not blessed with the same Divine Presence in your churches that I believe we possess. But you do have another presence that we do also, and that is the Scripture. At the Vatican Council we had a solemn procession of the Scriptures into the Council every morning as a form of the Presence of God. You could make the Hour before the Scriptures." Many came to me later to inquire about the Eucharist, some even asked to join with me in a Holy Hour before the Eucharist.

Most remarkable of all was the telephone call I received early one morning in Los Angeles. The caller announced himself as Reverend Jack McAllister. He was most insistent that he see me. I told him that I was catching a plane for New York at midday and would be glad to see him at the airport before leaving.

A very distinguished Christian gentleman appeared, Mr. Jack McAllister, who told me that he was engaged in a work of world evangelization, sending tapes on the Gospel to all parts of the world, and also mailing millions of copies of sermons and scriptures to every quarter of the globe: "There is one thing missing from world evangelism, and that is a spiritual practice which will make it successful. What would you recommend?" I recounted how much I depended on a daily Holy Hour before the Eucharist, and then suggested that since he was not blessed with the Eucharist, he could ask all of his people to spend one continuous hour with the Scriptures, in prayer and reparation for the sins of the world.

One year later I received a pamphlet from him entitled: "Jack McAllister writes to ONE HOUR WATCHERS." A paragraph from that pamphlet reads:

Please ... if you are honestly concerned about making Christ known to literally every creature - give God one hour a day. You are needed in God's prayer-force to prepare for work in the totally unevangelized areas of the world. Do you love them enough to pray? Will you 'pay the price' of spiritual battle for one hour daily? Christ asked: 'What, could you not watch with Me one hour?'

At the end of the first year, he wrote and told me that seven hundred ministers had pledged one hour a day.

As I am now writing this book (about six years after our meeting in the airport) he sends this message: "We have now mobilized and trained over 100,000 One-Hour-Watchers. We are preparing to train an elite army to pray four to six to eight hours daily - 'pray ye therefore' - the only solution to the problems of World Evangelism."

One of the by-products of the Holy Hour was the sensitiveness to the Eucharistic Presence of our Divine Lord. I remember once reading in Lacordaire, the famous orator of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris: "Give me the young man who can treasure for days, weeks and years, the gift of a rose or the touch of a hand of a friend."

Seeing early in my priesthood that marriages break and friends depart when sensitiveness and delicacy are lost, I took various means to preserve that responsiveness. When first ordained and a student at the Catholic University in Washington, I would never go to class without climbing the few stairs to the chapel in Caldwell Hall to make a tiny act of love to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Later, at the University of Louvain in Belgium, I would make a visit to Our Lord in every single church I passed on the way to class. When I continued graduate work in Rome and attended the Angelicum and Gregorian, I would visit every church en route from the Trastevere section where I lived. This is not so easy in Rome, for there are churches on almost every corner so that you may pray to get across the street; the church on the other corner is to thank God that you made it.

Later as a teacher at the Catholic University in Washington, I arranged to put a chapel immediately at the entrance of the front door of my home. This was in order that I might never come in or go out without seeing the sanctuary lamp as a summons to adore the Heart of Christ at least for a few seconds. I tried to be faithful to this practice all during my life, and even now in the apartment in New York where I live, the chapel is between my study and my bedroom. This means that I can never move from one area of my small apartment to another without at least a genuflection and a small ejaculation to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Even at night, when I am awakened and arise, I always make it a point to drop into the chapel for a few seconds, recalling the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord, offering a prayer for the priests and religious of the world, and for all who are in spiritual need. Even this autobiography is written in his Presence, that he might inspire others when I am gone to make the Hour that makes Life.

Up to this point a reader may form a very incorrect judgment of the author. While it is true that this practice of sensitiveness to the Eucharistic Presence has been a powerful means of keeping my head above water, it by no means argues to the integrity of my priesthood.

Respect for the Eucharist is not the whole of the priesthood; it is just one of the facets. It is true that many may have seen me in the front of the church, but this is no more guarantee of my love of God than was the presence of the Pharisee in the front of the temple. The Publican in the back, who would not even dare life his head, was far more acceptable to God. At the Last Supper, Peter boasted to the Lord that though all others denied him, he would not; and yet in the cold courtyard of Caiaphas, he said to the maid who asked him if he had been with the Master: "I know him not."

I know thousands of priests who have not had the practice of making frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament, but I am absolutely sure that, in the sight of God, they are a thousand times more worthy than I. In any case, this is the story of the means I chose in my priesthood to be able to keep step with my brother priests in the service of the Lord

HOLY HOUR ON REAL PRESENCE

Why a HOLY HOUR before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament?

PERHAPS MANY still ask that question. To it there is basically only one answer: Jesus Christ, the God-Man, is present....
He is present in that special Eucharistic manner of transubstantiation in which the very substance of the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. St. Thomas taught that the Eucharist is the greatest of miracles ever worked by Christ, to perpetuate his Passion and Sacrifice with us and to be specially present to each individual. Christ is present there for us, to manifest his great love for us. St. Thomas says, "He cares for us and is there." If we care for him, we would also be there for a Holy Hour or some other form of Eucharistic adoration. Christ had asked this of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque as he had asked the apostles in the Garden of Olives: "Can you not watch one hour with me?" Vatican II insists that the Christian life is incomplete if it is not Eucharistic. In the Decree on Priests (No. 5) the Council wrote: "Every ministry of the Church and every work of the apostolate are linked with the Holy Eucharist and are directed to it." Of course, this refers primarily to the Eucharistic sacrifice and the Council said so in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (No. 11): "Taking part in the Eucharistic sacrifice, which is the apex and fount of the whole Christian life, the faithful offer the Divine Victim to God and offer themselves with it." However, it is in the Eucharist that Christians will find unity in Christ: "In the Sacrament of the Eucharistic Bread, the unity of all believers, who form one body in Christ (1 Cor. 10,17) is both expressed and brought about." (Consti. on the Church No. 3) To stress that this did not refer only to the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the reception of Holy Communion but also to Eucharistic adoration, Pope John XXIII, who called the Council, arranged for the canonization of Blessed Julian Eymard, the apostle of Eucharistic adoration, for the solemnities of the closing of the first session of the Council, that he was to be an example and model of true Catholic renewal. This leaflet attempts to offer some aids to making a Holy Hour.

I

The first suggestion is: divide the Holy Hour into four 15 minute periods. It is essential to take sufficient time to really visualize the purpose in each period. Do not proceed till you have made that particular purpose clear and definite. The second suggestion is for that first 15 minute period: dedicate it to a realization of who is present in the Holy Eucharist. Of course you know the answer to that, but think of it until there is in your soul a response of wonder ("is it possible?" "how can that be?" and yet "it is true") and admiration (how wonderful: Jesus is really, truly present here!). Think of the marvel of this great reality: Christ, the God-Man, is truly present in his divinity as well as his humanity, body and soul. Even: substantially present—the substance of the bread and wine changed into the body and blood of Christ. Try to realize also how different this presence of Christ is from the presence of God in the whole world, or in us by grace, or in the Church, or in the words of the Holy Scriptures. This is a unique substance, substantially special and different from his presence anywhere else. It is the mystery of his total presence in the great mystery of his love: the incarnation now transubstantiated. This is not just the presence of God but the presence of God as the God-Man via the substance of bread and wine changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. Consider who he is as God: the Creator; as God-Man: our Redeemer, our Savior-Brother, our Lord and King. Push your thoughts to search out the meaning of these truths and let your soul rest in the wonder of his loving presence here—for you. Be quiet and listen, too, because God wants to speak to your heart. If perhaps words of admiration and wonder do not come to you, use the words of some familiar prayers and songs of adoration and praise that you can usually find in any missalette available in most churches. For example: "Down in Adoration Falling," "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name," the "Holy, Holy, Holy" of the Mass, "Now Praise We All Our God," or any Benediction hymn. However, rely on yourself—do not move too quickly to these texts. These words should be read slowly, with great, deep understanding and always in relation to Christ present before you in the tabernacle: you directing your praise to him who is truly present there! Do not hurry, thinking that you have to finish all or any of these hymns and prayers. Remember that Christ himself said, "Do not prattle on . . . in sheer multiplication of words . . ." (Mt. 6, 8). Make sure that they express the thoughts and desires in your own heart.

II

A suggestion for the second 15 minutes: devote the time to thoughts and prayers of thanksgiving to God as you grasp the wonder of who is present Really: God is with us! the Emmanuel of Christmas. Momentarily give some fresh thought to the fact: God is with us in this special, most remarkable way. Now let words of thanksgiving rise up in your soul, or just simply give thanks to God for his presence here in such a remarkable way. Thank God for the great Sacrament of the Priesthood and for vocations by which he perpetuates his presence in the Holy Eucharist. In a parallel situation think of our Blessed Mother's joy when she realized that Christ, the great Messiah, was present within her, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. Make her words of the Magnificat your own as you realize that Jesus is equally present here. There hidden in a human body; here hidden under the form of bread. Or with Simeon break out in that beautiful exclamation of delight and contentment when he realized whom he was holding in his arms: "Now, Lord, you may dismiss your servant in peace . . ." or read the words of the joy of Zachary when he could again speak to proclaim the wonder of the presence of the one who would prepare the way of the Lord. Or use the text of Ps. 148. You might also take some time to recall and thank God for other special blessings and wonders of God: your family, vocation, gift life, opportunity to be in his Presence, special friends, etc. Thank him for his love for you, for his unfailing help in trials and difficulties. Do you really believe that? Think about it till you can really say that in sincerity and heartfelt conviction: that God does love you!

III

A suggestion for the next 15 minutes. Dedicate this to petition. First of all, ask Jesus here present in the Holy Eucharist for the grace that is dearest to him, the grace he wants most for you: the great blessing of redemption and eternal salvation. Just think, for some time what that means . . . for you, for each member of your family, your friends, people of you neighborhood and parish, for all mankind. Think of how marvelous that would be if all would be so blessed: to be in heaven for all eternity! Pray for that! Beg for it: the fulfillment of Christ's greatest intention, the fulfillment of his greatest hope and desire and the main reason for his coming, for which he is preset here. "Come to me all you who labor and al burdened and I will refresh you." For this he was in agony. Pray for conversions. Pray for particular people, those who are away from the Church and the Sacraments. Pray for the sick and lonely, the discouraged, our youth, the unborn, our country, its leaders. Pray for our Holy Father, and for all priests and religious that they may be so influenced by grace that they will be effective instruments doing the work of God. Pray for vocations to complete the work of Christ. Pray for the grace to know the will of God always in your own life. Pray for peace, God's peace in the hearts of all.

IV

Dedicate the last 15 minutes of the Holy Hour to atonement. Why atonement? A look into one's own conscience and the conscience of the world gives the answer. A mere glance at headlines and you see insults, blasphemies, defiance thrown by man into the face of God. These will make you shudder unless your heart is cold and uncaring. The injuries of man to man when Christ commanded: "Love one another." The ignoring and deliberate pushing aside (for sophisticated, selfish reasons) God's commandments of respect for life. Think of the sins of injustice that cry to heaven for vengeance, the sins of the modern Sodom and Gomorrah that defy the wrath of God. There are also the slurs and insults against the virginity and Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Mother. There is much need for atonement for the sins of disregard, of refusal to recognize and obey the Holy Father, Christ's own spokesman and Vicar on earth. Think and you will know many, many more reasons for atonement and for begging God's pardon and mercy. You might wish to express your thoughts of sorrow for all these evils ("sins" expresses it more accurately) by any traditional act of contrition or in the liturgical words of the "Lord, have mercy," the "Lamb of God" or the hymn "O Lord, I am not worthy." In the Litany of the Sacred Heart and the Litany of the Holy Name we find powerful and inspirational motives for praying for pardon and mercy in a great spirit of atonernent. The Litany of our Blessed Mother is very appropriate, asking her under all her titles of honor and power to "pray for all of us." The Litany of the Saints and the Prayer to St. Michael could be expressive of the hopes in your heart. A slow, thoughtful saying of the Rosary would be very helpful during any phase of a Holy Hour. With our Blessed Mother and with Christ present there before you in the Holy Eucharist, recall and consider those events in his life. Ponder all those things in your heart as you ask our Blessed Mother to pray for us.

Other Suggestions for Holy Hours

Holy Hours can also be made at home, either alone or with one's family. Unite yourself with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in the nearest tabernacle or in all the tabernacles of the world. Keep in mind that perspective of being in the presence of our Lord in the Holy Eucharist—perhaps even in some Communist country. Pray for the special problems or topics described above or others you are concerned about. You will find much motivation and inspiration for prayer. Feel free to break from any of these suggestions, ("structures") though at times you will find them helpful. Perhaps even your own inability or reluctance to pray can be a reason for prayer. The aged, sick and handicapped are urged to make such a Holy Hour of prayer right there in their bed, chair, or home or hospital or wherever. They should unite their sufferings with Jesus crucified and with him atone for the sins of the world. So much suffering could be converted into blessings by such prayer.

Questions Frequently Asked Concerning Eucharistic Adoration

1. What kinds of Eucharistic Adoration are there?

a) a simple, devout, very brief visit to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
b) a private or public (group) Holy Hour either in church or in the home
c) a traditional Thirteen or Forty Hours of Adoration in a parish.
d) a 3 or 4 or 5 hour Eucharistic Vigil, usually by a larger group with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, perhaps with procession and other devotions.
e) the all-night Eucharistic Vigil (watch) by a similar group, starting in the evening (8 or 9 p.m.) and ending with Mass in the morning (6 or 7 a.m.).
f) perpetual adoration. Some parishes have an organized program of continual adoration with one or several present in church each hour, day and night. Individuals would take the same hour each month, each week, or more frequently.
g) partial adoration. Same method as in "f" except that it would be only one day a week or month or perhaps only from morning (7 or 8 a.m.) to evening (6 or 7 p.m.).

2. What is Eucharistic Adoration?

Eucharistic adoration is the recognition of and honoring this special presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

3. How can a Eucharistic Adoration program be started in a parish?

a) discuss this idea with your pastor, seek his advice, permission and support.
b) try to find support and help from other interested people.
c) arrange for pulpit and bulletin explanations and announcements; make mimeographed explanations available at the door or send them to the homes via the school children, with the support of the faculty.
d) publicize each Eucharistic Adoration that is going to be held, inviting others to come.
e) make it easy for individuals to sign up for particular hours for adoration if you are having any kind of a perpetual or partial adoration.
f) obtain capable and reliable speakers if a homily or meditation is on your program.

This "little aid" has been written to show you that a Holy Hour is not so difficult. Further explanations can be had by writing to: