How To Pray A Holy Hour

Happy summer! Following is a great plan for spending a holy hour. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton has Eucharistic Adoration from 9 am Friday to 8 am Saturday each week, and St. Andrew has Adoration the first Wednesday of each month from 8 am to Noon. If you have spent time with Jesus in Adoration, you know the benefits. If you don't, try it! Following is a suggestion for how to spend that hour with our Lord from Faith & Family magazine.

All you need is a tabernacle with a lit sanctuary lamp, a Bible (or Magnificat ), and a Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (available online or through Amazon or any Catholic bookseller).

Three Rules
1. Be attentive: Don't rattle prayers or silently review stresses. Be silent exteriorly and interiorly.
2. Be alert: It's not a reading hour — readings should be brief intervals to jump-start your prayer.
3. Be awake: Sit, stand, or kneel respectfully.

Minute by Minute
00-:05 (5 Minutes)
Pray to the Holy Spirit to help you (perhaps the "Come Holy Spirit" in the Compendium's prayers section).
Make acts of faith, hope and charity. Tell God how much and why you believe in him, trust in him and love him. Or meditatively use the Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity in the Compendium's prayers section.
Ask for more faith, hope and charity.

05-:15 (10 minutes)
Adore God (imagine sitting with Christ)
Pray: "Oh my God, I adore your divine greatness from the depths of my littleness, you are so great, and I am so small." or "Glory Be ..." Repeat as long as necessary.
Or use the Te Deum (in the Compendium prayers)
Or read Scripture (try John 1:1-18; Colossians 1:15-20; Philippians 2:6-11)

15-:25 (10 minutes)
Contrition (imagine embracing Christ on the cross)
Pray: "Oh my Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner."
Examine your conscience using 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Colossians 3:5-10, or any examination of conscience.
Or pray one of the Penitential Psalms: 6, 32, 38, 51, 102

25-:40 (15 minutes)
Meditate.
Pray: The Rosary or the Stations of the Cross.
Or read the Gospel of the day in your Magnificat, or a brief passage from Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.
Or meditate on a doctrine in the compendium (Perhaps: Sun., Resurrection; Mon., Incarnation; Tues., Mercy/confession; Wed., Holy Spirit; Thurs, Eucharist; Fri., Passion; Sat., Mary).
Or meditate on one of the Formulas of Christian Doctrine (or one of the prayers) in the Compendium.

40-:50 (10 minutes)
Give Thanks
Pray: "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his mercy endures forever."
Thank him for (be specific): food, shelter, clothing, health, family, friends, coworkers, your job, car, material things, and most of all your spiritual gifts -- faith, hope, love, this time of prayer, the Catholic faith, and the "apostles" who reached you.
Thank God for answers to prayer and favorable circumstances. Thank him for crosses. Thank him for creating you and caring so much for you.

50-:55 (5 minutes)
Pray: "Our Father ..."
Ask him for: the Church, the pope's intentions, for those who are suffering, for priests and bishops, for religious, for vocations, for your country, your family, for what you need most in the spiritual life.
Pray for peace and the protection of the institution of the family.
Pray for those who have asked for prayers.

55-1:00 (5 minutes)
Make a resolution to act on a light of the Holy Spirit you received. Be specific and concrete.
Ask the Blessed Mother to help you, perhaps with Marian prayers from the Compendium.

Novena to the Holy Spirit

Join us each day from June 2 (Feast of the Ascension) through June 11 (Pentecost is June 12) and pray this prayer to the Holy Spirit.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray: O God, who has taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit; Grant that by the gift of this same Spirit, we may truly be wise and ever rejoice in his consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.