The 24 Hours of the Passion: Can They Spare Your City?

Aug 02, 2022
The 24 Hours of the Passion: Can They Spare Your City?

"Oh, how I would love that even one single soul for each town did these Hours of My Passion! I would hear Myself in every town, and My Justice, greatly indignant during these times, would remain partly appeased." –Jesus to Luisa Piccarreta, October 1914

The 24 Hours of the Passion are a series of meditations given by Jesus to Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta (1865–1947), and they are accompanied by incredible promises for those who use them. In fact, the soul who meditates on these Hours makes Jesus so happy that, even if only ONE soul in each town were to pray them, then the chastisements due to scourge humanity would be mitigated.

"The delight that blessed Jesus would receive if people meditated on these Hours would be so great, that He is hoping there might be at least one copy of this work in each city or town. If this were to happen, it would be as if Jesus, during the reparations, were repeating his own words and prayers that He offered to the Father during the 24 hours of his sorrowful Passion. Also–according to what Jesus seemed to imply–if this will be done at least by one soul in each town or city, the Divine Justice would be partly placated, and the scourges would be eliminated or less severe in these sad times of torments and bloodshed." –Lusia Piccarreta in a letter to St. Annibale Di Francia

Luisa's understanding of the promise seems to indicate that a single soul can mitigate scourges (war, famine, storms, pestilence, etc.) on their entire town simply by meditating on these Hours. What a great promise indeed!

That Catholics should have faith in this sort of promise is not without precedent. After all, don't we do Rosary processions in order to make reparation for the sins committed in our town? And don't we have faith that God will take our Rosaries to purify the ground over which we tread?

So since St. Annibale Di Francia has published Luisa Piccarreta's meditations, and the process for her own canonization has begun, and the meditations have received multiple imprimaturs, it is quite reasonable to hope that God will take the merits we gain from these meditations and apply them to gain graces for our town or city.

What are the 24 Hours of the Passion?

The Hours for meditation are as follows:

5-6PM: Jesus takes leave of his Most Holy Mother. 

6-7PM: Jesus departs from his Most Holy Mother and sets out for the Cenacle. 

7-8PM: The Legal Supper. 

8-9PM: The Eucharistic Supper. 

9-10PM: First Hour of Agony in the Garden of Gethsemani. 

10-11PM: Second Hour of Agony in the Garden of Gethsemani. 

11PM-Midnight: Third Hour of Agony in the Garden of Gethsemani. 

Midnight-1AM: Jesus is arrested. 

1-2AM: Thrown from a ledge, Jesus falls into the Cedron stream. 

2-3AM: Jesus is presented to Annas. 

3-4AM: Jesus in the house of Caiphas. 

4-5AM: Jesus at the mercy of the soldiers. 

5-6AM: Jesus in prison. 

6-7AM: Jesus before Caiphas again, who confirms his condemnation to death and sends Him to Pilate. 

7-8AM: Jesus before Pilate. Pilate sends Him to Herod. 

8-9AM: Jesus is brought back to Pilate and placed after Barabbas. Jesus is scourged. 

9-10AM: Jesus is crowned with thorns. Presented to the people: “Ecce Homo!” Jesus is condemned to death. 

10-11AM: Jesus takes up His Cross and walks toward Calvary, where He is stripped. 

11AM-Noon: Jesus is crucified. 

Noon-1PM: First Hour of Agony on the Cross. The first word of Jesus. 

1-2PM: Second Hour of Agony on the Cross. Second third and fourth word of Jesus. 

2-3PM: Third Hour of Agony on the Cross. Fifth, sixth and seventh word of Jesus. The death of Jesus. 

3-4PM: Jesus, dead, is pierced by the thrust of a lance. The deposition from the Cross. 

4-5PM: The burial of Jesus. Most Holy Desolate Mary.

For each hour, Luisa has a meditation, so that you can simply read along (or listen along). It is really very easy to do!

Do I have to do each meditation on the hour in my time zone?

It is really neat to follow along with the Hours of the Passion at the same hour as it is where you are. However, Jesus did not specify this as a requirement. He simply said that whoever meditates on these Hours will receive the promises.

I've done it in various ways. By myself, I'll just read one of the hours at a time whenever it's convenient. I've also done it with a group for a set period of days (such as one week). To share the load, each person will choose one hour that they will do each day, and if you have 24 people then you have all of the hours covered.

Or, we've also done it in a group where we switch the hour we do each day. So for instance, if your assignment was the 4 AM hour on Day 1, then on Day 2 you would switch to the 5 AM hour, Day 3 you would do 6 AM, and so on. That way, each person gets to meditate on a different hour each day, while still sharing the load between the group. In these cases, we definitely don't worry about doing the hour at that specific time of day– we simply do it whenever it can be fit into our schedules.

You can find the meditations for each hour in the book published by St. Annibale Di Francia, or you can find an abridged version in my eBook version here.

Do I have to meditate for a full hour (60 minutes) each time?

Some of Luisa's meditations take 15 minutes, others take 30 minutes, it depends on the particular hour. However, "doing an hour" does not mean spending 60 minutes in meditation. Doing an hour simply means that you are going to spend some amount of time meditating on what Jesus suffered during that hour of his Passion. If you only have five minutes, do five minutes! It's not an "all or nothing" proposition.

This is supported by the fact that Jesus said each individual person will merit graces according to the degree of their conformity to the Divine Will:

"And just as my Passion made my Humanity acquire merits according to the desire of my Will to save all–even if not all men have been saved–the same shall be true for you: you shall acquire merits according to the degree of adhesion of your will to my Will in wanting to do good to everyone. In fact, even though not all men are saved, my Will's intention was to save everyone; and so, I received merits only according to what I wanted, not according to the benefits that men should draw from my Passion."

So, Jesus values ALL of our efforts, even if they seem small. The only difference is that we will merit more graces if we are more conformed to God's Will (and as we will see below, the more times that you meditate on the Passion, the richer you will become in graces).

What are the graces of praying the Hours of the Passion?

Jesus says "the soul who always meditates on my Passion forms a spring within her heart; and the more she meditates, the larger this spring becomes. And just as the waters that spring up in the wild are public waters, in the same way, the spring of the Passion formed in her heart will benefit everyone: both the soul and all the other creatures–giving Me great glory and honor."

Jesus says that for every word that you pray of the Hours He will give you a soul. (I believe this means that a soul will be saved from damnation.) He also said that the Hours give relief to the souls in Purgatory, reviving them by pouring down on them like a continuous dew. Even Heaven, he says, is "revived" by the prayers of the Hours.

Jesus says the Hours are "the most precious of all pious exercises, because they are nothing less than the reenactment of what I did during my mortal life, and of what I continue to do in the Most Holy Sacrament." Whenever someone prays the Hours, He says that soul becomes a co-redeemer. That sounds crazy and hard to believe, but the reason this is so is because, by doing the Hours, a soul takes Christ's thoughts and even his "most intimate fibers" and makes them her own. This way, the soul participates in Christ's mission: making reparation for all, being responsible for all, and interceding for all.

This is especially important today because, as Jesus says, the world has "lost its balance...It behaves like a child who no longer wants to recognize his mother." The reason the world has lost its balance is because it has lost sight of the Passion of Our Lord. Whenever one prays the Hours, that soul is restoring the order of the Universe, bringing Heaven and earth into harmony, intensifying God's desire to save the world.

Praying the Hours "directs the flow of Divine Life towards all creatures," and every creature will receive benefits according to their particular needs: "those who are weak will feel strength, those who are obstinate in sin will receive light, those who suffer will receive comfort, and so on with all the rest."

For the soul who prays them, Jesus says:

"Every thought that a person has about my Passion, and every act of compassion or reparation that she makes, has the sublime effect of drawing light out of my Humanity, which will totally envelope that soul, transforming her entire being into my very likeness. So, each additional thought about my Passion will become a new beam of light, bringing upon her much beauty and eternal joy."

The Hours will also cut the bitterness of your sufferings in half:

"My daughter, crosses, mortification, and any other kind of suffering, when dipped in the thought of my Passion, lose half their bitterness and weight."

And another time, Jesus said:

"My daughter, every time a soul thinks about my Passion, or remembers what I suffered, or sympathizes with Me, she renews the application of my pains on her behalf. My Blood rises to pour over her. If she is sick, my pains will heal her; if she is healthy, my Wounds will make her beautiful; and if she is poor, my merits will make her rich.

"The profits that a soul can produce by meditating on my Passion are huge–it's like placing money in a bank, and receiving a hundred-fold return in interest. In fact, the goods I earned when I suffered on earth are continually flowing, even now, towards man–just as the sun's light and heat are continually flowing towards the earth. The fruits of my work will never be depleted. If a soul is willing to receive, she can get all the benefits of Redemption as many times as she wishes. So, if she remembers my Passion twenty, a hundred, or a thousand times a day, she will always receive a hundred-fold return, based on her spiritual investments."

So with so many benefits and such little cost of doing this exercise, what are you waiting for?

Don't Wait–

Era of Divine Will Starts NOW!

In the year 1919, Jesus announced:

Every 2,000 years, God has renewed the world. We are now at the cusp of the third and final renewal.

The gift of living in the Divine Will, revealed to Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, offers an unparalleled opportunity for true happiness and sanctity while yet on earth.

Ready to join history's most thrilling adventure?

YES, I'M READY!