Holy Hour

Wednesdays at 11:00 AM in the Lady Chapel

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The practice of keeping a Holy Hour (hora sancta) grows from Jesus’ question to his disciples in Gethsemane: “Could you not watch one hour?” (Mark 14.37) Inspired by that vision, catholic Christians over the centuries have made it an act of personal devotion to spend an hour in personal prayer and adoration with our Lord, most commonly in a chapel in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, although Holy Hour can really be made anywhere you find yourself—in your apartment, in the park, even on the subway (if you have a really long way to go). Mother Teresa required the practice of all the Sisters of Mercy:

I make a Holy Hour each day in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. All my sisters of the Missionaries of Charity make a daily Holy Hour as well, because we find that through our daily Holy Hour our love for Jesus becomes more intimate, our love for each other more understanding, and our love for the poor more compassionate. 

Here at Saint Mary’s, each Wednesday at 11:00 AM in the Lady Chapel, we offer a Holy Hour of Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament exposed in a monstrance. But the church is open every day, and others choose different times to make their Holy Hours in the presence of Jesus in the Sacrament reserved in the tabernacle at the high altar. Having entered the space where we meet Jesus in his Eucharistic Presence, we then enter our hearts and find Jesus present there as well. We find that this time with our Lord is actually more about his desire to be with us than our desire to be with him!

Holy Hour can be a time of silence, structured prayer, sacred reading, Bible reflection, or meditation on some favorite collect. On some Wednesdays we put out sheets with suggested prayers; on others, we simply sit together in quiet adoration. As a wizened old spiritual director once said when asked what he does at Holy Hour: “I look at him, he looks at me, and we’re happy together.”

God our Father, whose Son our Lord Jesus Christ in a wonderful sacrament has left us a memorial of his Passion: Grant us so to venerate the sacred mysteries of his Body and Blood, that we may ever perceive within ourselves the fruit of his redemption; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.