If Palm Sunday has set us on the path of following Christ, Holy Thursday realizes this in a very literal way as we process after Mass with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament to the “Altar of Repose.”

During the night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday, each Sister keeps prayerful vigil with Our Lord for at least one hour, chosen by lots. It is a chance to console His agonizing heart in the Garden of Gethsemani, in the betrayal by Judas, in the arrest and secret trial held the Jewish authorities, and in all the many other sufferings which He endured, recorded or unrecorded.

The time of the Lord’s Passion has arrived, and with all our hearts we respond to the call of His Heart: “Watch and pray!”