Day 5: The Healed Man of Bethesda

Welcome to Day #5 of our Heart-to-Heart Mini-Retreat!
If you missed any earlier days of this Retreat, you can find them here.

For our most recent full Holy Hour, you can find it here.

We at Catholic Holy Hour are offering eight days of prayer to the Sacred Heart honoring the apparitions of Jesus during the Octave of Corpus Christi (June 13-20, 1675… exactly 350 years ago!) in which He gave the Sacred Heart devotions to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.

Sonnet Five from The Golden Chapel of the Sacred Heart [VIDEO – click on the play icon to start]

The Golden Chapel of the Sacred Heart

A Sonnet Crown to the Sacred Heart as Healer
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It’s He who drags the dawn into our night,
opens what has been closed. There was a poor,
deaf man with speech impediments, whose plight
moved Christ. Like He was opening a door,
He brought back sound and clear words to the man
with His command, “Ephphatha! Be opened!”
The man asked for Christ’s touch: a prayerful plan
that we should emulate, not just cope, and
settle for what is broken. So we ask
for what is closed within us to swing wide,
our ears and tongue to be healed, to unmask
our pretenses, and stop trying to hide.
Ephphatha! That comes back to me in prayer—
thinking of His Heart, golden as a flare.

—Annabelle Moseley, from Our House of the Sacred Heart

Ponder and Pray Questions:

  1. Read Mark 7:32-36 (see below)
  2. What is closed in you or in someone for whom you are praying; which you ask Christ for to be opened?
  3. What word or phrase moves you the most in the reading?

And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”) And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. —Mk 7:32-36

Together we pray: Sacred Heart of Jesus, we place all our trust in Thee.

Let us contemplate as we listen to the song: “Open.” As you listen, imagine opening your heart to God.

Open [VIDEO – click on the play icon to start]

Together we pray: Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto Thine.

Please support our exciting and brand-new not-for-profit initiative: The Gethsemane Institute. This Institute will be a charitable foundation and support all the work we do at Catholic Holy Hour… and also empower important new initiatives! For more about what we’re building click here: All donations are 100 % tax-deductible. We are running a pledge drive called Heart to Heart and ask you to prayerfully consider donating as much as you are able to.

Can you please give at least $27 (in honor of the 27th of June …June 27th is the Feast of the Sacred Heart!) to help support our new Institute and Foundation? If you are able to give more we will be forever grateful, and we even have gifts for various donor levels!  You can enter a custom amount if you’d like, and we welcome and are deeply grateful for every dollar, which makes such a difference.  We cannot do this without you!!! Please help us in our efforts to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart in Gethsemane and to realize powerful goals we have set out to achieve, which you can read more about here.

Donations and Membership Levels

  • $27-$100 Guardian: All Guardian Donors will receive the 33-Day Consecration to the Sacred Heart podcast.
  • $101-$200 Consoler: All Consolers will receive the 33-Day Consecration to the Sacred Heart and the 9-Day Novena to saints Martha & Mary podcast.
  • $201-$300 Angel: All Angels will receive the 33-Day Consecration to the Sacred Heart podcast and the 9-Day Novena to saints Martha & Mary podcast. Angels will also receive a personalized author-signed copy of Awake with Christ.
  • $301-$499: Seraphim: All Seraphim will receive the 33-Day Consecration to the Sacred Heart podcast and the 9-Day Novena to saints Martha & Mary podcast, a personalized author-signed copy of Awake with Christ, as well as a personally author-signed copy of Sacred Braille: The Rosary as Masterpiece.
  • $500-$999: Awake Apostle of Gethsemane: Your gift of $500 or more makes you a Member of the Awake Apostles of Gethsemane Guild. All members at this level receive all of the above privileges plus a personalized author-signed copy of The Host of Gethsemane. Guild members will be listed as a Founding Member on our Awake Apostles of Gethsemane Guild page.
  • $1000: Cornerstone Guild: Members at this level receive all of the above privileges plus a personalized author-signed copy of Our House of the Sacred Heart. Guild members will be listed as a Founding Member on our Cornerstone Guild page. As a Cornerstone Guild member, you will receive discounts and early access on all classes, courses, retreats, and events sponsored by the Gethsemane Institute.

If you missed any of these Heart to Heart Mini Retreats?
Find them all here
Miss the latest Guided Holy Hour?
You can find the latest Holy Hour here.