Holy Thursday is the feast which honors the Agony in the Garden. That is why after Holy Thursday Mass, the priest often brings the Eucharist to an Altar of Repose, to replicate Gethsemane. There, the faithful can spend some time “watching and praying” with Jesus as an answer to His call, “Could you not watch one hour with me?”
Jesus requests one hour of our focused love. Yet in Gethsemane, even Saints Peter, James, and John fall asleep three times. And all of us in our own lives have spiritually fallen asleep when Jesus called us to be awake.
In the Book of Samuel however, God’s servant, Samuel, shows how ready and eager he is to wake up at a moment’s notice… the moment God summons Him! Samuel eagerly responds, “Here I am. You called me... Speak, for Your servant is listening” (1 Sam 3: 8-10)
Make a brief examination of conscience. When have you been like the sleeping apostles and when have you been like Samuel? To choose to follow Christ’s request in Gethsemane, to stay awake watching and praying out of love for Him, is to be like Samuel. It is a way of saying to God, “Here I am.”
The Agony in the Garden is sometimes referred to as the Passion of the Sacred Heart. As the body of Jesus suffered outwardly the sorrowful Passion of Calvary, the heart of Jesus suffered interiorly in the Agony of Gethsemane. Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, the famous saint of the Sacred Heart devotion, was requested by Our Lord in the 17th century to remember Gethsemane in a special way on Thursday nights. Jesus told St. Margaret Mary, “Here (in Gethsemane) I suffered inwardly more than in the rest of my passion because I was totally alone, abandoned by heaven and earth, burdened with the sins of mankind … In order for you to be united with me, in the humble prayer that I presented to my Father in the midst of all that anguish, you will arise between eleven o’clock and midnight... for one hour with me.”
More than 200 years after Our Lord’s instructions to St. Margaret Mary’s visions, Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey began promoting what he referred to as the “Sacred Heart Holy Hour in the home.” Fr. Mateo taught that when you couldn’t get to church, you could do something really beautiful for Christ in your domestic church: the at-home Holy Hour. The at-home Holy Hour was practiced by faithful Catholics who wanted to respond to the sorrow of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane by answering Our Lord’s call to “watch and pray” for one hour with Him: to stay awake. The at-home holy hour does not require access to a church (only the domestic kind), and can bring a deep sense of purpose to any challenge or sorrow you are going through.
And though the at-home Holy Hour is a devotion that was once cherished … it became all but forgotten. That is changing at Catholic Holy Hour,a website founded in 2023 which already has over 5,000 active members across the English-speaking world, from all 50 United States and from Australia to Africa; from the United Kingdom to Canada. These diverse members are united in the holy purpose of responding to the call of Jesus from Gethsemane to watch and pray with Him, and to console His Sacred Heart.
How and when do I pray the at-home Holy Hour?
To receive a moving, guided Holy Hour for each First Thursday of the month (including one in honor of Holy Thursday!), you can sign up for free here.
Why not let this Holy Thursday be the catalyst for a deeply meaningful devotion for you, in which you accompany the abandoned Christ not just on Holy Thursday... but for many Thursdays throughout the year? When you sign up you'll not only be reminded each first Thursday of the month, but also guided through inspiring prayers. Best of all, as you console Christ in Gethsemane, you will be consoled.
For Catholics, every decision we make should be a beautiful answer to what Jesus clearly asks of us. He asks us to feed the hungry… to give drink to the thirsty. But let us not forget: He also asks us to “watch and pray” that we “might not be put to the test.” So what are we waiting for?
