By Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Our Blessed Lord spent 10 times as much time in silence as He did in action: 30 years obeying, 3 years teaching, and 3 hours redeeming.

One of the most salutary of all silent ways is the Holy Hour.

There was only one request Our Blessed Lord ever made directly to His apostles. In a general way He asked for drink when He was on the cross. But to His own disciples He said explicitly: "Can you not watch one hour with Me?"

Now why did Our Lord use the word hour? He did not ask them to go into the Garden to share His agony. They did not have to suffer a bloody sweat. He merely asked: "Can you not watch one hour with Me?"

Every time the word 'hour' is used in Scripture in the New Testament in connection with Our Lord, it is always in relationship to His passion and death, and to the evil forces in the world. When the people attempted to stone Him, Scripture says His hour was not yet come; when they attempted to throw Him over the brow of His own home town, His hour was not yet come; when the Blessed Mother asked for His first miracle, He asked Her if she was sending Him on His hour: "My hour is not yet come"; in other words, "that hour when I come to My death to face the forces of evil."

We are living in that hour today, for the devil is loose. Our hour is related to the evil and crucifying forces of our modern world.

Two Great Spiritual Benefits

There are two great spiritual benefits in making the hour. It trains the eyes, and it trains the ears. I am not speaking of physical eyesight; I'm speaking of spiritual light and faith. Notice how very often Our Blessed Lord used the word 'see'.

When the woman came in to break a little alabaster vase that she had about her neck and poured the perfume at His feet, she was ridiculed by Simon the Pharisee. Our Lord turned on him and said: "Do you see that woman? No, what you see is a tag, a name, a label. To Me, she is a ruined image of My Father!"

And when the priest and the Levite were on their way to liturgical services and passed a wounded man, they turned aside so that they would not see him. On the last day the Lord will say to us: "I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat. I was thirsty and you gave Me not drink." And those who are lost will say: "When?" The rich man never saw Lazarus, the poor beggar at His door. So seeing is something Our Lord associates with faith.

Today there is a movement in the Church toward the world, and it is good. We must be interested in the poor, the socially disinherited, no not only our neighbours, but all the people of the world. But where do we learn to see them?

Looking at the Host!

The best place in the world for social workers and all those who would serve mankind is to come before the Sacred Host, tear away the bread as they tear away flesh and see Christ. This is the condition of all social-mindness.

Keep your eyes on Christ

One of the reasons why all of us in the Church are growing cold in faith is because we are doing what Peter did. When Our Lord came to His struggling apostles in the boat, who had been rowing against the storm, Peter said to Him: "Lord, bid me come to You on the water." And Peter began to walk on the water. Then he sank! And this is strange: he sank! Now Peter was a swimmer, and if you read the Gospel closely, you will discover the reason why he sank. The Gospel says: "He took account of the winds."

And we begin to take account of the currents of public opinion, the surveys, the modern moods, and we begin to sink. Why? Like Peter we have taken our eyes off Christ.

Spirituality is a unit. It is an hour. It is an hour that we spend with Christ. May I plead with all good people to make the hour every day. It means sometimes getting up early. It may be hard, but after a while it seems so easy.

Do it, and your life will change. Your character will change. This is the Lord we want. It can be done.

Permit me to conclude with a personal note. I have not missed a Holy Hour in 51 years, every day. So it can be done.