This past year, we made sure to schedule a Holy Hour each week for those seeking to adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament:

· Tuesdays following Mass at Holy Ghost
· Fridays after Mass at St. Mary of the Rosary

But folks who do not make a Holy Hour (and maybe even some folks who do) might wonder why it is good for us to pray a Holy Hour. The great American Catholic bishop (and possibly the first televangelist ever, of any denomination), Archbishop Fulton Sheen, says much on why we should make a Holy Hour. For him, it begins with Scripture. Jesus was in agony in Gethsemane, and He told Peter, James, and John to “keep watch,” but they kept falling asleep. He wakes them and rebukes them: “So you could not keep watch with Me for one hour?” (Mt 26:40). Archbishop Sheen took this personally: if it was good enough for the Apostles, it was good enough for him, and he asked himself, “Why not make a Holy Hour of adoration in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament?” And he gives reasons why he encourages the Holy Hour for others.

First, “the Holy Hour is not a devotion; it is a sharing in the work of redemption.” Jesus asks “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.”

Second, “the only time our Lord asked the Apostles for anything was the night He went into His agony . . . Not for an hour of activity did He plead, but for an hour of companionship.”

Third, the Holy Hour empowers us “to grow more and more into His likeness.”
For these reasons and for so much more, we invite everyone at least to try the Holy Hour, and we promise that only good things will happen as a result. Next week’s bulletin will teach us a bit about how to make a Holy Hour. Stay tuned.