Two Holy Hours
Preached by Father Mateo in San Francisco
First Holy Hour – The Crucifix
Second Holy Hour – The Holy Eucharist
First Holy Hour – The Crucifix
With the Angels and Saints in paradise let us pray:
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost….
We love Thee Jesus, because Thou art Jesus!
We want Jesus to reign over us!
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom come! (5 times)
In union with Our Lady of Sorrows let us fix our eyes on the Crucified Master dying on Calvary.
With her let us adore and kiss Jesus’ Wounds as she did on Good Friday evening when His Sacred Body, torn to pieces, was laid in her arms.
She is now close, very close to us because the altar is really another Calvary.
Ah, never forget that Jesus, the King of glory keeps in Heaven and will keep for all eternity His Wounds shining as so many suns.
And in the tabernacle is the same risen, glorious, loving Jesus, still our Victim as on Calvary. Never forget that all of us, as well as the Jews, opened those wounds.
Let us fervently adore them in union with Our Lady.
And first Jesus’ adorable Head cruelly lacerated by the crown of thorns! Ah! That painful crown proves that He really is a King of love and mercy.
In reparation for this mockery of His Kingship:
King omnipotent, crowned with thorns, we bless Thee!
King of Truth, crowned with thorns, we adore Thee!
King of Justice, crowned with thorns, we praise Thee!
King of Wisdom, crowned with thorns, we glorify Thee!
King of Mercy, crowned with thorns, we trust Thee!
King of Love, crowned with thorns, we love Thee!
That diadem of shame and suffering atones for the most grievous sins of pride.
Yes, pride is the sacrilegious insult to the humility of His birth at Bethlehem and to His unspeakable annihilation in the Blessed Sacrament. In the Eucharist the glorious Son of God, Splendour of His Father, has not even the form, the appearance of a man.
Now, pride, insults and outrages all these wonders of His wisdom and love. How many so-called intellectuals pass scornfully by, despising Him as did the Sanhedrin and Pontiffs on Calvary!
Not long ago a statesman said, “We must not tolerate a Gospel that preaches the madness of adoring a so-called God who died shamefully on a cross!”
Oh, let us protest against this blasphemy with a strong faith and a burning love! Let us offer atonement for countless proud and haughty Christians who insult Him by their pride.
Receive this prayer, O Lord, and save the great number of souls who are on the brink of the abyss:
Convert them, Jesus, by thy divine Heart!
Convert the proud, the unbelievers who deny the existence of God, Creator of heaven and earth and of all things.
Convert them, Jesus, by thy divine Heart!
Convert those unfortunates who deny the marvel of Thine Incarnation and who do not wish to acknowledge Thee our Brother by Thy human nature.
Convert them, Jesus, by thy divine Heart!
Convert all those who, by spreading these denials, make them the password to combat Thy Gospel and Thy sovereign rights.
Convert them, Jesus, by thy divine Heart!
Convert the blind, who, seduced by these insidious doctrines, apostatise and deny Thy love.
Convert them, Jesus, by thy divine Heart!
Convert those who, with infernal rage, undermine Christian institutions; Those who have sworn Thy ruin in that of Thy Church.
Convert them, Jesus, by thy divine Heart!
Convert those who, out of hatred for Thine adorable Person, work to make Thy Cross vanish from the conscience of the child, from the soul of the people, and from the heart of the family.
Convert them, Jesus, by thy divine Heart!
Convert those who, under cloak of science, and with hypocritical delicacy, work to eliminate Thee without violence from every walk of life.
Convert them, Jesus, by thy divine Heart!
Convert those who, by deplorable ignorance, pay no heed to Thy words, and live in apparent tranquillity far from all faith and the inspiration of grace.
Convert them, Jesus, by thy divine Heart!
Finally, Jesus, convert those thousands of souls who, in far-off lands, live, act, and appear to rest peacefully in the shadow of paganism, heresy and death.
Convert them, Jesus, by thy divine Heart!
And now fix your eyes on Jesus’ Eyes veiled with a torrent of bloody tears!
Those adorable Eyes illuminate the eternal Jerusalem, and their beauty enraptures the Angels and the Saints!
Those Eyes are veiled with tears because they contemplate Christian life turned into a pagan and sacrilegious comedy.
How many baptised Catholics seem to forget altogether the Precious Blood shed to save them. Jesus in agony, saw them caught up in the whirlwind of vanity and worldliness. They are not always wretched and wicked but extremely weak. They live as if they had no soul – intoxicated with pleasure, and very often in a state of mortal sin, in grave imminent danger.
Jesus a God dies for them all, and they do not live for Him, nor with Him!
Oh, let us have pity on them lest they perish!
For our sins, for those of our relatives and friends,
Pardon, divine Heart!
For infidelity and profanation of holy days,
Pardon, divine Heart!
For impurity and public scandals,
Pardon, divine Heart!
For those who corrupt childhood and mislead youth,
Pardon, divine Heart!
For deliberate disobedience to Holy Church,
Pardon, divine Heart!
For crimes in homes and for the faults of parents and children,
Pardon, divine Heart!
For attacks committed against the Roman Pontiff,
Pardon, divine Heart!
For disturbers of peace in Christian society,
Pardon, divine Heart!
For abuse of the Sacraments and outrages to Thy Holy Eucharist,
Pardon, divine Heart!
For vile attacks by the press and for the machinations of secret societies,
Pardon, divine Heart!
Finally, Jesus, for the good who falter and for the sinners who resist grace,
Pardon, divine Heart!
The unfortunate criminals who died crucified suffered the torture of an unbearable, feverish thirst.
Jesus’ Lips are burnt with that thirst. “Sitio” “I thirst” cries He. He dies athirst of love, athirst of souls.
“My little ones, quench my thirst. Come, give me your hearts. Oh, love Me!”
Alas! As response the pagan soldier applies gall and vinegar to Jesus’ Lips.
But still worse many ungrateful children offer Jesus the gall of religious indifference! For one loving soul there are 10 000, nay, 100 000 for whom Jesus counts for nothing in their lives.
“Why did He die for men who didn’t want Him; who needed Him not? That’s foolish!”
Let us repair this rank ingratitude:
We love thee, Jesus, for your ungrateful children.
Forgive them, Jesus, for your Father’s glory!
Convert them, Jesus, for your Mother’s honour!
And what sorrow for the dying Saviour athirst of souls to contemplate the army of selfish Christians who could, and who ought to help in the work of the Catholic apostolate, who have certain qualities and means to be apostles in one way or another. But no! They have time and devotedness and enthusiasm for business, for friends, for family, but not for Jesus, or for souls. And look around you at the immense crowd, the many ignorant, sickly souls, abandoned, adrift, at the mercy of a wicked propaganda!
How the wicked are zealous to set satanic fires, to organise the apostolate of irreligion, to foment and kindle hatred.
Alas! Catholic apostles, men and women, boys and girls, are badly lacking everywhere. Let us be like the apostle Thomas, who cried out in an hour of danger, “let us go and die with Jesus and for Jesus!”
To obtain a generous love and zeal, let us pray:
We love Thee, O Jesus; grant us the grace to deem it an honour to be rejected by the world for the sake of Thine ignored Heart.
We love Thee, O Jesus; grant us the grace to deem it a happiness to be humiliated for the sake of Thy despised Heart!
We love Thee, O Jesus; grant us the grace to deem it a privilege to be disregarded for the sake of Thy outraged Heart.
We love Thee, O Jesus; grant us the grace to deem it an honour to be scoffed at for the sake of Thine afflicted Heart.
We love Thee, O Jesus; grant us the grace to deem it an honour to be despised for the glory of Thy Divine Heart.
We love Thee, O Jesus; grant us the grace to deem it a favour to be insulted for the triumph of Thy bruised Heart.
We love Thee, O Jesus; grant us the grace to deem it a favour to be forgotten in order to console Thy sacred Heart.
We love Thee, O Jesus; grant us the grace to deem it a favour to be one day persecuted for the sake of Thy wounded Heart.
We love Thee, O Jesus; grant us the grace to regard it a deliciously bitterness to be calumniated for the reign of Thy Sacred Heart.
We love Thee, O Jesus; grant us the grace to consider it a glory to be betrayed in a holocaust of reparation close to Thine immolated Heart.
We love Thee, O Jesus; grant us the grace to consider it a favour to be hated in union with Thine agonising Heart!
We love Thee, O Jesus; grant us the grace of choosing as a real privileged to be condemned by the world as a homage of reparation to Thine ignored Sacred Heart!
Oh! We entreat Thee to grant that we may receive lovingly out rightful share of the outrages and agony of Thy Eucharistic Heart.
Now look at those adorable Hands that showered blessings; That cured the sick; those adorable Hands kissed by the happy mothers and their little ones; those adorable Hands that Our Lady pressed upon Her heart at Nazareth, with love and adoration; those adorable Hands that took the bread and the chalice, that distributed the first Communion to the Apostles at the Last Supper.
Look, oh, look at them, pierced, streaming with Blood, streaming mercy and salvation, even then, especially then, tender, beautiful! Ah, those two awful wounds repair the abuse of grace! Those bleeding Hands weep over many privileged but unfaithful souls. Yes, souls privileged in their Catholic education; souls who hear many a merciful call; who, during a retreat, during a mission felt that Jesus loved them very dearly, but who also realised that Jesus was expecting a generous gift of their hearts in return. And like the rich young man in the Gospel, they sadly turned away.
In the name of those who abuse Divine Mercy, to spare them a rigorous justice – to make up for that dangerous sin, let us pray:
By Thy Hands pierced because they blessed and pardoned us,
Convert all sinners, O Sacred Heart!
By Thy divine Feet pierced through and through because they left on earth imprints of peace and mercy,
Convert all sinners, O Sacred Heart!
By Thy Lips which spoke the language of mercy and felt a burning thirst for our sickly soul,
Convert all sinners, O Sacred Heart!
By Thy divine Eyes, illuminated with the light of Paradise, which shed so many tears to wash away our faults and obliterate them forever,
Convert all sinners, O Sacred Heart!
By Thy Sacred Body which became one living wound to give to a world transgressing Thy divine Law,
Convert all sinners, O Sacred Heart!
By Thy pierced Side in Which we wish to take refuge during life, at the hour of death, and for all eternity,
Convert all sinners, O Sacred Heart!
If you feel remorse of conscience, if those Hands wounded by your half-heartedness touch you, yield to His loving call.
In a spirit of penitent love kiss with fervent love the Saviour’s Feet!
With that cruel nail Jesus rooted and nailed Himself to our land of exile where He was born. With these wounds He repairs the awful abuse of Christian liberty, for the prodigals of His fold, and most especially for those slipping fast into the abyss of sensuality and impurity.
Yes, He repairs for the frightful neo-paganism of modern families, for the incredible relaxation of morals, and in a special way for the social, dreadful plague of birth control and the ruinous scandal of divorce.
Like Mary-Magdalen, tearfully kissing those adorable Feet, let us implore mercy:
For those who traffic in public sins, in the depravity of morals and the perversion of consciences, my Jesus, mercy!
For perverters, who through the press and bad literature, enrich themselves while leading souls to eternal damnation, my Jesus, mercy!
For those who make a real sacrilegious profession of exciting evil passion through corrupt theatres, licentious shows, and the profanation of art, my Jesus, mercy!
For those weak souls who, in defiance of Thy Law and the remorse of conscience, cooperate in the social scandal of luxury, of immoral fashions and the indecent stage, my Jesus, mercy!
For the great number of those who falsifying their conscience and their Christian sense, see no grave danger in the social revolt against Thy Holy Commandments, my Jesus, mercy!
For those who by their position, Jesus, should spare Thee the bitterness of these insults and who are not opposed to them through timidity or because they wish selfish transactions with the world, my Jesus, mercy!
The thirst for His Father’s glory and for souls has exhausted Jesus’ Precious Blood.
“Father, into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit” He cries out. And Jesus breathed His last!
One hour later the soldier Longinus approaches and thrusts the lance into Jesus’ side! His Sacred Heart is pierced through!
Listen: that lance is the sin of ingratitude.
In that solemn hour Our Lady could have said the same words that Jesus, centuries after, will pronounce before the bewildered eyes of St. Margaret Mary, “Behold the Heart that has loved men so much!”
Alas! The Lover Jesus is not loved in return. “They repay me,” He said to St. Margaret Mary, “with coldness, indifference and ingratitude, especially in the Sacrament of My Love.” This is indeed very sad but unhappily, it is only too true!
For instance, the gift of God, The Holy sacrifice of the Mass is not thoroughly appreciated. We would sacrifice everything and rush to see an extraordinary being coming from outer space and landing on our earth; and the Creator of the stars and the Son of God is daily immolating Himself at the altar, and we remain cold, indifferent. Even Holy Communion itself is not always fruitful because we are lacking due generous dispositions.
The forsaken Tabernacle is very often a lonely prison. Jesus is left alone with angels. But the Eucharist was not created for Angels but for His children. “What else could I have done? What else could I give to win your hearts, to melt the ice of indifference, to kindle the fire of love in your soul?
Oh, adorable Master, my beloved Saviour, my God and my all, allow me to give you answer in the name of this loving “little flock.”
Jesus, you reproached your Apostle Thomas for his lack of faith; to cure him and conquer him You said: “Come and put your hand into the wounds of My feet and hands. Come and put your hands in the wound of My side!” Jesus, adorable Master, You transformed your Apostle Thomas when you allowed him to enter into that sanctuary to feel the beatings of Your Heart. Jesus, Jesus, do the same with us. With the lance we have opened wide and deep the wound of your side. We, not the lance, have pierced your Sacred Heart. Permit us the, give us the right to put not only our hands but our very souls, our hearts into that precious, delightful, saving Wound. But, oh, beloved Master, please, close that wound behind us, and keep us captive in that heavenly prison with all those we love. For your glory keep us there in time and for eternity!
Final Prayer
Remember Thy Promises, O Divine Heart!
Have pity, sweet Jesus! Remember Thou hast promised victory to the armies which fight under the standard of Thy Sacred Heart!
Remember Thy Promises, O Divine Heart!
Have pity sweet Jesus! Remember Thou hast promised peace to the homes which lovingly enthrone the image of Thy Sacred Heart.
Remember Thy Promises, O Divine Heart!
Have pity, sweet Jesus! Remember Thou hast promised to sooth the pains of afflicted souls who seek consolation in Thy Sacred Heart.
Remember Thy Promises, O Divine Heart!
Have pity, sweet Jesus! Remember Thou hast promised to melt the ice of indifference by firing the world with the burning love of Thy Sacred Heart.
Remember Thy Promises, O Divine Heart!
Say one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be for the intentions of our Holy Father, to gain the indulgence attached to this devotion.
Second Holy Hour – The Holy Eucharist
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost…
We love Thee Jesus because Thou art Jesus!
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom come!
We want Jesus to reign over us!
Close to St. John the beloved apostle, like him leaning our hearts on the Sacred Heart, let us in spirit assist at the Lat Supper. In the Tabernacle He is the same living, loving Master, Jesus Son of God, Jesus Son of Mary, gentle, sad, as appealing as He was on Holy Thursday. “Take,” He says, “eat…and drink…for this Eucharistic Banquet is the greatest gift of my Sacred Heart. Take and keep in this Eucharistic Sacrifice and Sacrament the treasure of My own Sacred Heart – yours forever!”
Ah! Is this not what St Paul calls the stultitia…” the foolishness” of Christ, of Jesus’ love?
Yes, “foolishness” because the Lord knew in advance what Calvary and the altar would mean for Him.
Yes, while celebrating His first Mass on Holy Thursday He saw throughout the centuries the army of ungrateful children. He saw the army of His mortal enemies, but He saw you too, the little flock of His friends, making reparation this evening, offering Him the Chalice of your consolation.
Overwhelmed by such a miracle of love, let us say together:
Blessed be Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament of the altar! (5 times)
(Here make a personal intimate consecration to the Sacred Heart. This is His own request. Include in it the members of your family)
Oh, wonder of wonders! In order to perpetuate the startling miracle of the Eucharist, during the Last Supper Thou hast created, Oh Jesus, another Christ.
Yes, Thou didst create that marvel the priesthood. Since then, we Catholic priests reproduce at the Altar the prodigy of the Last Supper. Invested with Thy power we offer to the Blessed Trinity the Oblation of Holy Thursday, we renew the Sacrifice of Calvary.
Dear friends, always remember the priest is far greater, more richly blessed than the angels. The priesthood is the greatest honour bestowed upon mankind. We belong to Christ’s royal dynasty!
Here let us ask for priestly vocations in your Catholic families:
Multiply Thy apostles, oh Sacred Heart! (3 times)
Bless our Christian homes with vocations, of Sacred Heart! (3 times)
Give us saintly priests, oh Sacred Heart! (3 times)
We praise Thee, Jesus, for the grace of the priesthood! (3 times)
Say three Hail Mary’s for the Pope and for the clergy
Now let us follow the Lord from the Cenacle to Gethsemane.
Oh! The awful vision of horror and crime that like a hurricane struck Jesus’ soul in the Garden of Olives.
So cruel is His agony that veins burst asunder…He is sweating blood.
One of the most deadly arrows piercing His Sacred Heart was the vision of the unfaithful and ungrateful friends.
“Didst Thou see us amongst that crowd, Lord?”
Oh! The countless multitude of false friends, of traitors who for money and for creatures, for a brilliant position, for pleasure, or for ambition, betray Thee, Jesus! They belong to the dynasty of Judas!
Forgive them, Jesus, we’ll pay the ransom. (5 times)
(Two promises here in the name of the Sacred Heart to pay the ransom of your loved ones:)
One more Mass, one more Communion during the week for sinners, for those who never go. Don’t refuse that joy, that glory to the Sacred Heart. And once a month one hour of Night Adoration in your home! If you actually saw Jesus covered with wounds, bathed in His Blood, in agony, would you dare refuse Him this consolation?
May He say to you this evening, “I looked for consolation and I found it. I bless you because you have been generous enough to watch one hour with Me!”
I know you are generous and responsive, then let us ask without delay the reward promised to loving friends:
“Jesus, Jesus, when we are in agony give us your promised consolation, Oh Sacred Heart!”
“Jesus, Jesus, when we are in agony give us your promised peace, Oh Sacred Heart!”
“Jesus, Jesus, when we are in agony give us your promised mercy, Oh Sacred Heart!”
Judas approaches, and with a perfidious kiss betrays his Master, his Saviour, his Lord, his God!
Jesus surrenders. Look at Him stretching out His adorable hands to be tightly bound – and that to give us Christians freedom!
From one in the morning until 5… He remains a King of shame, King of a sacrilegious comedy, crowned with thorns, covered with the mantle of ignominy; He the Son of God; He the splendour of the Father; He the Judge of the living and the dead.
With loving indignation let us make reparation for that crime:
“King of sorrows crowned with thorns, have mercy on us!”
“King of justice crowned with thorns, have mercy on us!”
“King of wisdom crowned with thorns, have mercy on us!”
“King of truth crowned with thorns, have mercy on us!”
“King of love crowned with thorns, have mercy on us!”
Now listen with deep emotion: what I’ve quoted from the Gospel was the crime of Holy Thursday night twenty-one centuries ago. But unhappily it is also the crime of our own days.
The anti-Christian forces are waging a world-wide war of hatred against God.
To make up for those who try to dethrone the Beloved Master, let us say:
“We adore Thee, Crucified Master!”
“We glorify Thee, Crucified Saviour!”
“We love Thee, Crucified King!”
Still better than your prayer of love and reparation is your apostolate. Catholic actionists, legionaries of Mary, sodalists, promise to crown Jesus with souls; promise to be apostles of the Sacred Heart.
“We’ll be Thy faithful friends, oh Sacred Heart!” (3 times)
“We’ll be Thy soldiers, oh Christ the King!” (3 times)
Contemplate now the King of Kings before the tribunal of the wicked…the sentence is an iniquitous “Tolle!” away with Him! We don’t want Him to reign over us.
His crime? He has loved us as only God can love! Away with Him!” Away with Him!”
Once again that sentence was pronounced by Pilate and ratified by the mob, over twenty centuries ago.
Alas, that sentence of death against Christ and His Church is a storm of satanic fury constantly dashing against Calvary; constantly storming Christ’s Kingship on earth today worse than on Good Friday.
A few years ago, the whole world, and the Pope first, protested vigorously against a cruel persecution of the Jewish people. But tell me, dear friends, where have you heard of such a unanimous and strong protest against the awful and long persecution of Catholics in Ireland? Against the satanic persecution of Catholics by the Communists? Against the shameful persecution of Catholics in Mexico?
A worldwide plot of silence and sometimes abominable approval covered up these countless attempts against the rights of Jesus Christ. That is to say: pity and tears and help for all the victims excepting the divine Victim.
No pity, no tears for Jesus Christ; no protesting against the official Neros in history who everywhere have crucified Him. Jesus Christ is not allowed to appear in public. He is tolerated to reign in Churches but not in public institutions:
- Not at home: godless families, crime of birth control and divorce;
- Not in the school: godless neutral schools;
- Not in society: when sin is pleasure it is no longer sin, say the worldly;
- Not in national life: godless nations and godless states.
You easily understand now why the world seems a tremendous volcano in eruption belching forth fire and hatred.
Does this mean that we are lost, without any hope? No, a thousand times no!
Jesus solemnly affirmed: “I promised I will reign through My Heart,” and He added explicitly, “in spite of My enemies!”
Leo XIII said officially: “The modern banner leading the Church to victory is the Sacred Heart.”
And Pius XI has affirmed: “The hour of the Sacred Heart has come and that hour is the greatest hope of the Church and Society!”
In a spirit of loving reparation, while the anti-Christian army cries out with fury as on Good Friday, “Away with Him. We want Him not,” we, the friends of the Sacred Heart, we His soldiers and apostles, will answer that blasphemy with a prayer of atonement:
Come, reign over us, King of souls! (3 times)
Come, reign over us, King of families! (3 times)
Come, reign over us, King of society! (3 times)
Come, reign over us, King of nations! (3 times)
And through Thy reign, oh Christ the King, give to this topsy-turvy world true Christian, social justice and Thy peace-divine, unshakable!
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom come!
Say one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be for the intentions of our Holy Father, to gain the indulgence attached to this devotion.
