The Holy Hour
“COULD YOU NOT WATCH ONE HOUR WITH ME?”
(MATT. XXVI, 40)
The Holy Hour is a pious exercise of mental or vocal prayer in union with the prayer of our Lord in the Garden of Olives on Maundy Thursday night. It was taught to St. Margaret Mary by our Lord Himself, and its purpose is to sweeten in some way our Lord’s abandonment in Gethsemane and to implore God’s mercy for sinners.
No special form of prayer is prescribed for the Holy Hour; but if it is performed in private, the time is restricted to an hour between 2 P.M. of every Thursday and about 6 A.M. on Friday.
FIRST TWENTY MINUTES
Reflection
HAVING left the supper room where He had just instituted the Blessed Eucharist, Jesus went out with the disciples, crossed the brook Cedron and, as was His wont, ascended the Mount of Olives. They entered a garden called Gethsemane. Jesus said to the disciples: “Sit you here while I go yonder and pray.” And taking with Him Peter, James, and John, He began to
