The Holy Hour in Gethsemane
Author: Francis Donnelly
Publisher:
Published: 2014-11-21
Total Pages: 222
ISBN-13: 9781503325296
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In the present work, containing thoughts and prayers for the same devotion, the Passion is kept prominent throughout. The Holy Hour began with being a commemoration of Christ's Agony in the Garden and then, as the devotion was always practised before the Blessed Sacrament, thoughts and practices became Eucharistic. Finally the League of the Sacred Heart adopted and spread the devotion and in this way thoughts and prayers concerning our Lord's Sacred Heart became prominent in it. All three ways of practising the devotion have been indulgenced by the Church as will be seen in the short sketch given hereafter.In reality what the devotion aims at is to stir up within the faithful compassion with Christ, hatred of sin, a spirit of reparation and kindred feelings and resolves.The devout faithful will reach this holy end by any of the ways just mentioned or even by others. The suffering of Jesus in the Passion, His wonderful life in the Tabernacle, His ardent love which is symbolized and adored in His Sacred Heart, will no doubt all prove to be teeming sources of ardent repentance and sympathetic reparation.The present book, it is hoped, may help to spread further this consoling devotion which appeals so touchingly to the faithful in these days when the Sacrament of the Altar is coming to occupy so prominent a place in Catholic life. To facilitate remembrance in meditations and to encourage directors to speak rather than to read the thoughts, the divisions in the meditations and the headings have been made far more numerous than usual. Prayers are given in litany form and litanies and other prayers are added in an appendix to encourage the faithful to take an active part in the devotion, a feature to be warmly encouraged and extended.The "Anima Christi" was chosen as a text by request and it lent itself to the purpose so admirably that it is not strange so wonderful a prayer should have been found on the lips of Catholics, warming their hearts and uplifting their souls in earnest devotion for six centuries or more.