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Level V · Eucharistic Presence · practice 2 of 3

The Holy Hour

One hour with the Lord in Eucharistic adoration, ideally on Thursday night, recalling His agony in the Garden.

Why this practice

"Could you not watch one hour with Me?" Christ asked the apostles in Gethsemane on Holy Thursday night. The Holy Hour is the answer to that question — an hour of company offered to a Heart that suffered abandonment for love of us.

St. Margaret Mary received this practice as a specific request: that between eleven o'clock and midnight on Thursday, the soul should keep watch with Christ in His agony. Many parishes now offer Eucharistic adoration on Thursday evenings precisely for this reason.

How to begin

1Find a parish nearby that offers Eucharistic adoration on Thursday evenings.
2If a full hour feels impossible, begin with fifteen minutes. Add five minutes each week until the hour comes naturally.
3Bring nothing if you wish — or bring the Gospels (especially the Passion narratives), the Litany, a rosary, or simply silence.
4Spend part of the hour in reparation for the indifference shown to the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
5End by entrusting a specific intention to His Heart — your own or someone else's.

The hours which our divine Saviour spent in the Garden of Olives were the most painful hours of His life. He desires that we accompany Him there, to console Him, and to share in some small way in His sorrow.

— After Fr. John Croiset, S.J.

A prayer for this practice

Most loving Jesus, in Thy Agony in the Garden Thou hast loved me. I come now to keep watch with Thee. Console Thy Heart, wounded by my sins and the sins of the world.

Amen.

When you're ready

The Gethsemane Meditation →