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Among the many devotions that Pope Francis recommends in his latest encyclical, Dilexit nos, he highlights one that has deep biblical roots.
In particular, he suggests making a Eucharistic holy hour every Thursday:
While no one should feel obliged to spend an hour in adoration each Thursday, the practice ought surely to be recommended. When we carry it out with devotion, in union with many of our brothers and sisters and discover in the Eucharist the immense love of the heart of Christ, we “adore, together with the Church, the sign and manifestation of the divine love that went so far as to love, through the heart of the incarnate Word, the human race.”
Why Thursdays?
Each year on Holy Thursday, the night before Good Friday, the Church maintains a tradition of transferring the Blessed Sacrament to a special place where the faithful can stay and adore Jesus.
This tradition of adoring Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament on Holy Thursday is often called the “Night Watch” or “Gethsemane Watch” and recalls how Jesus invited his apostles to stay with him while he prayed.
And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch.”
Furthermore, Jesus challenged his disciples to spend time with him for at least one hour on Holy Thursday.
And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour?”
Thursdays are also a day each week when the Church recalls the Last Supper, when Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist and celebrated the first Mass.
Thursdays, then, are a fitting day to spend a Eucharistic holy hour, adoring Jesus and his Most Sacred Heart.
