Communal Holy Hour at the Seminary Demonstrates
‘ Total Dependence on Jesus ’
Karla Dorweiler
Every Thursday , seminarians at Sacred Heart Major Seminary gather in the main chapel for a Holy Hour . While this community time of prayer is built into the weekly schedule , it ’ s anything but routine . For many of the men in priestly formation , it ’ s the most important part of their week outside of Mass .
Ryan Ferrigan is a first-year theology seminarian from the Diocese of Lansing . He had begun going to daily Mass in 2018 as a sophomore at Michigan State University . That year , the campus ministry added 90 minutes of adoration and confession prior to Masses . Ferrigan often went early for confession and soon found himself arriving even earlier to spend more time with Jesus . In hindsight , he could see that God was using his desire for reconciliation to develop a devotion to eucharistic adoration .
“ It was the quietest time of my whole day , and yet it was also the time I could hear the Lord the loudest . It made me want to be with him even more ,” said Ferrigan .
Less than a year later , Ferrigan attended a discernment retreat at Sacred Heart . He arrived on a Thursday evening just as the community Holy Hour was about to begin . Ferrigan was taken aback upon seeing the men gathered in prayer .
26 Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Spring / Summer 2023