Dear Friends,

Early on in my walk with the Lord, I was strongly encouraged to make a holy hour each day.
By the grace of God, I have been able to do this most days.

During these days of concern and care with this coronavirus pandemic I have been even more zealous about this prayer.

Recently I have been learning a lot about intercession. I have always understood intercession to be about praying not for me, but for others. Now I also see it as entering into the Lord's own prayer before the Father. In the Letter to the Hebrews we read "He [Christ Jesus] holds His priesthood permanently ... He always lives to make intercession for them." [Heb 7:24-25]

Jesus, our Great High Priest ever lives before the Father, interceding for us. So, I will be dedicating my holy hour each day to join in Jesus' intercession on your behalf before the Father.

Scripture teaches us "that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all ... this is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." [I Tim 2:1,3-4]


Each one of us can do this by setting aside some time each day to pray. With the increased amount of free time that most of us have, I encourage that we take some time to be just focused on the Lord in prayer; that is, not while we also are doing something else. We can pray through the daily Mass readings (Magnificat is now online for free, see earlier posting), meditate on the Rosary and/or the Divine Mercy Chaplet. There are several places where the Mass is live streamed. (This Sunday the Cardinal will again offer Mass at 12 noon and it will be live streamed through the Archdiocese of Newark's You Tube channel.) The opportunities here are endless.


At the same time; let us not lose sight of our Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Let us be especially attentive to the poor and the frightened. I suspect they are not far from each one of us. Remember, "fear is useless, what is needed is trust." (Luke 8:50)

He knows all our/your needs. It is my privilege to share in Christ's priesthood by offering this prayer for you.

Let us pray for one another.

Fr. John Gordon
Coordinator, Office for Evangelization
Acting Vicar, Vicariate for Pastoral Life