How to Pray for a Whole Hour and Why.
First step tp a Holy Hour is to be committed to it! There is something to a prolonged moment of prayer. There is nothing magical about 60 minutes, but there is wisdom in dedicating so much time to prayer. The idea for a holy hour comes from the Lord's Agony in the Garden when he says to his Apostles, "So, could you not watch with me one hour"Mt 26:40. Jesus wants us to stay with him.
Let's back up for a moment though, what is a Holy Hour? People have all kinds of different understandings of what would qualify. Simply put, a Holy Hour is an hour of your day dedicated to sitting in the presence of God.
We now have new Open Church Hours, so please take advantage of these times to go sit with Jesus! When you are unable to go to the Church for Prayer, set up a place in your home for prayer, get a crucifix, an, open bible, an image of some kind of the Lord, put your phone away, and be in the Lord's presence. Light a candle, blessed candles are available periodically by the front door of the Church, or bring me one to bless.
When you ender into these times of dedicated prayer, here is some advice for what you should do:
Get rid of your phone,
Pray some sort of formal prayer, I always start with a portion of the Liturgy of the Hours, such as Morning Prayer.
Move from formal prayer into meditative prayer, pray the Rosary, pray the Jesus Prayer, or do some Lectio Divina with the Gospel for that day or the coming Sunday.
(There are word among us books in the Church where you can find those readings, or click here.)
Then speak to the Lord about those you promised to pray for or for whom you now feel called to pray for.
Maybe then go through what you have coming that day or in the near future, and invite the Lord into your life, ask Him what He wants you to do.
Keep a prayer journal and write down everything that you felt moved to think on during that time of prayer.
Do this every day and watch God transform your life.
