Stay Awake and Pray
By Fr. John Roderick, F.S.C.B.
April, 2023
It is a tradition to have a procession with the Blessed Sacrament throughout the Church to a beautifully decorated altar of repose following the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. This procession is a visible sign of Jesus leaving the Upper Room and going to the Garden of Gethsemane where he would spend the night in prayer. Through this tradition, the Church invites us as Jesus’ friends to actively respond to his invitation: “Stay awake and pray for strength against temptation. Your spirit wants to do what is right, but your body is weak” (Mat 26:41).
Since the time of my conversion to the Catholic faith in college, I have always tried to spend some time in quiet adoration after Mass on Holy Thursday to reflect on the great mystery of everything that took place in Jesus’ passion. I also ponder my own personal sin and betrayals of Christ and his Church, as well as the wars, conflicts, suffering, illnesses, and confusion that dominates our contemporary world. It can seem very overwhelming. On this night, the Church invites me to not turn away from these terrible events of Jesus’ life, or those in my own life and in the world, but to stay with Him, to place myself in the company of the pious men and women who accompanied Jesus during his trial and death on the Cross. The Church invites me to lift my heart which is aware of my sin and that of the world to Jesus Christ present in the consecrated host in the tabernacle surrounded by beautiful plants and flowers. It is good to stay awake and pray on this night.
This year a group of friends from the parish proposed a Seven Church pilgrimage on the night of Holy Thursday to live together Jesus’ invitation to stay awake and pray. This ancient Holy Week tradition originated in Rome and was revived in the sixteenth century by St. Philip Neri.
The custom is to visit nearby parishes to pray before the Blessed Sacrament after the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Each of the seven stations have a specific meditation:
Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22: 39-46)
Jesus bound and taken before Annas (John 18: 19-22)
Jesus taken before the High Priest, Caiaphas (Matthew 26: 63-65)
Jesus taken before Pilate (John 18: 35-37)
Jesus taken before Herod (Luke 23: 8-9; 11)
Jesus taken before Pilate again (Matthew 27: 22-26)
Jesus given the crown of thorns and led to his crucifixion (Matthew 27: 27-31)
Before departing from Nativity, we entrusted our pilgrimage and our desire to accompany Jesus during the night to the Blessed Mother. We then piled into a few cars to visit six parishes in the general area: St. Louis, Sacred Heart of Mary, St. Martin de Porres, St. Thomas Aquinas, Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Conception, and finishing at Nativity of our Lord.
Arriving at each parish, we would read the reflection, pray a decade of the rosary and spend about ten minutes in quiet adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. We were greeted by both big and small numbers of faithful parishioners keeping watch and praying with Jesus. We prayed alongside people of all ages, families with their little children, as well as many university students at St. Thomas Aquinas. It was special to see how much attention went into the preparation of the beautiful altars of repose and the effort to stay open late to welcome pilgrims who wanted to come in and visit with Jesus. One of my friends shared that he was deeply moved by seeing so many people in various communities all on their knees accompanying Jesus through the night. It was evident to him that we were all part of the Body of Christ in northern Denver keeping vigil with Jesus. Another friend remarked how amazing it was to see so many people accompanying Jesus in his terrible moment of suffering. “When a friend or loved one is suffering,” she said, “it is only natural to want to spend time together with them.”
I was reminded of her insight the following week when I was called to the home of a couple to whom I regularly bring Holy Communion. Their family called informing me that my elderly friend had taken a turn for the worse and was now dying. Upon arrival it was beautiful to see many family members praying and keeping vigil around the bed of their loved one who was greatly suffering. I invited everyone to gather around our beloved friend to pray together the Divine Mercy chaplet. During this time of prayer, I had the grace to recognize that we were actively responding to Jesus’ invitation to keep vigil and pray for and with our friend who was suffering and nearing death. We were living the same experience as those who accompanied and walked with Jesus towards his death on the Cross.
Through these events I am reminded of my great need to have friends to accompany and walk with me, that lead me to prayer before Christ. We are on this pilgrim journey together as friends and disciples of the Resurrected Lord. During this Easter season, I would like to invite everyone to take time with their friends and families, or by yourselves, to be still, to stay awake and keep vigil before the great mystery of our Lord’s Death and Resurrection. These are the great events that bring light and hope to all of our personal difficulties and struggles and to those of the whole world.
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Image featured in the banner: Agony in the Garden in Gethsemane, Jerusalem. Photo by Fallaner. License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International. Source.
