HOLY HOUR AND OUR FAITHFULNESS TO GOD:
REASON WHY WE SHOULD CONTINUE THIS PRACTICE.
The famous Venerable Archbishop
Fulton J. Sheen, famous tele-radio-evangelist, prolific writer, Head of the
Missionary Society of the Church, world-renowned preacher and friend and
confidant to many Popes, loved by millions attributed his success to one thing:
a deep relationship to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The love of this great
man of God was particularly manifested in His faithfulness to daily prayer,
what He called His Holy Hour or HOUR OF POWER.
At the end of his life he made a
decision to give retreats, after he retired as Archbishop of Rochester, New
York. However, his audience was very
select and specific—to priests and Bishops. He challenged them! He said that when they would speak the
listeners would not always pay attention. However, when he spoke people would
listen. The key Sheen emphasized was union with God through the Holy Hour—THE HOUR
OF POWER.
We honestly believe in the truth of
the words and habit of Sheen. The only way to convert the world is in the
forming of an army of saints. Saints are those who are madly in love with Jesus
Christ, head over heels! This fire of love can only be ignited through deep
prayer and deep prayer becomes a reality specifically through the practice of
the daily Holy Hour.
The following are ten reasons why we
invite our readers to be generous and courageous enough to undertake the
practice of the daily Holy Hour. Incorporate the HOUR OF POWER in the fabric of
your daily routine and you will never regret having undertaken this
life-changing practice. Sheen believed that the conversion of the priesthood
and the Episcopacy should start by prolonged and fervent prayer—the Holy Hour
the HOUR OF POWER! All of us should find the time to give the Lord time. We can
easily spend more than an hour in front of t.v. or on the computer or talking
with a friend or simply wasting time. Why not give the Lord and Creator of
heaven and earth one hour day?
1.
AVOID SIN. There is a direct relationship between sin
and lack or prayer—Example: The Apostles in the Garden. For us to avoid sin we need the grace of God
and it come especially through prayer and the Sacraments.
2.
LEARN THE ART OF PRAYER. St. Alphonsus says that the art of all arts
is that of prayer. In any profession or enterprise perfection comes after hard
work. “No pain, no gain.” A little girl was known to get up and
sacrifice hour practicing figure-skating. Olympic athletes train years before
their performances. Should not we give the Lord our time, efforts and good will
and learn how to pray more and better?
3.
IMPROVE THE RECEPTION OF THE
EUCHARIST. Indeed the Sacramental life
improves when the personal prayer life is improved. Jesus becomes more real in
Holy Communion. Instead of a cold reception; Jesus is receive with fire,
passion and love!
4.
AVOID MEDIOCRITY-- We live in a world
with religious indifference (The message of Pope Francis for Lent (2015)—the
globalization of indifference.) God hates this is! We hear this in the Book of
Rev. 3—“You are neither hot nor cold but lukewarm, I will spit you out of my
mouth…”The Church of Laodicea.)
5.
START FIRES. Prayer sets our hearts on fire, like the
disciples on the Road to Emmaus—“Did not our hearts burn within us as He
explained the Word of God to us and tin the breaking of the bread… (Luke 24)
6.
OVERCOME BAD HABITS. The saying is so true: “Tell me with whom you associate and I will
tell you who you are.” If we spend this
quality time with Jesus then we will start to imitate Him. Hopefully we will be
able to say with St. Paul: “It is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives
in me.”
7.
BLESS YOUR FAMILY. We all have many family problems that we
would like to resolve, and we have probably tried to resolve without much
success. We should first talk to God a
long time and then we can talk to others about God. It was said of Saint Dominic that he would
first talk to God and then talk about God to others.
8.
INTERIOR PEACE OF SOUL. We live in a hectic world of ACTIVISM. Like Martha, many of us prefer to work more
than prayer and fall into activism or horizontalism. Consequently we live stressed-out
as well as stressing others out. We are lacking in deep prayer. Deep prayer
gives us deep peace. Our God is called Emmanuel—God with us. He is the Prince
of peace.
9.
SALVATION OF OUR SOULS AND
OTHERS. Saint Alphonsus says: “There is
no such thing as weak or strong people but rather people that know how to pray
and those who do not know how to pray.”
Fervent prayer with penance are keys to opening up the heart of God for
the conversion of sinners. First, the
Cure of Ars prayed long hours and shed profuse tears and practiced severe
penance and then his Parish was converted.
If we really knew the value of one immortal soul, we would spend much
more time on our knees begging for the conversion of sinners and their immortal
souls. Our souls have been redeemed by the Precious Blood of the Lamb of God
who takes away the sins of the world.
10. JESUS AND MARY
REJOICE. The fact that you have made the
decision to give the Lord an Hour—the Holy Hour—is already a sign of good will
and this causes the Heart of Jesus to rejoice. When someone comes to visit us
with good will we rejoice at this token of good will and friendship. Jesus is
even more grateful. By spending an Hour in the presence of Jesus He will become
your Best Friend in time and for all eternity!
