From the Friars: Could You Not Watch With Me One Hour?
The night before Our Lord died, He prayed in agony to His Father as He freely embraced His Passion for the salvation of the world. He brought three of His closest friends to be with Him at this crucial moment. They fell asleep. “Could you not watch one hour with me?” He said in frustration. These words, along with the revelations to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, have led to the custom of the holy hour. This means to spend one hour in adoration of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
I remember reading about a Protestant who said that if he believed what Catholics believe about the Holy Eucharist, he would spend 24 hours a day in church to be close to Jesus. They say familiarity breeds contempt, if not contempt perhaps indifference, boredom and the blindness of ingratitude. In 1985 I spent a long night in the parking lot of a drug store in Freehold, NJ, waiting in line to buy tickets to a Bruce Springsteen concert. They sold out with about 20 people left in line in front of me. I never saw “the boss” in concert, but now I spend at least one hour every day in the Real Presence of the Real Boss.
Holy hour at Holy Rosary Shrine
One of the pains of Purgatory will be regret. We will see our lives in the light of the truth of God and realize clearly how selfish and foolish were many of our decisions. There will be suffering for what I have done and for what I did not do. Among the latter will be the regret for not spending more time with Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament. It will be clear that we chose trifles instead of the greatest Good, the source of all good.
This Friday begins the “24 Hours for the Lord,” a Jubilee Year event throughout the Archdiocese of Boston. Holy Rosary Shrine, a pilgrimage site, will actually have 30 hours of adoration beginning at 10am on Friday, March 28. Here is the schedule.
Can you spare an hour for the One Who gave His life for His friends? Sign-up sheets are available.
Let’s try not to fall asleep.
–Fr. Peter
