The Difficult Hours of Our Adorable Jesus

Divine Appeal Reflection - 67

Today, consider in Divine Appeal 67: " ...watch and pray. These are My difficult hours."

When Our Adorable Jesus speaks of His difficult hours, He unveils a mystery deeper than visible suffering — the interior weight of divine love continually offered yet continually resisted. These hours unfold wherever grace approaches the human heart and encounters hesitation, distraction, or quiet refusal. They are the tension between God’s unceasing giving and humanity’s partial receiving. This tension fills salvation history. The Lord waits at the threshold of freedom, never withdrawing love, never forcing response (cf. Rev 3:20; Wis 11:23–26; 2 Pt 3:9).These difficult hours intensify not when humanity sins loudly, but when it delays quietly. A postponed conversion, a distracted prayer, a resisted act of charity — these create a subtle but real prolongation of divine longing. The Catechism (cf. CCC 309, 314, 2002) reveals that God permits time itself to become the space where mercy patiently seeks cooperation . Time is therefore not neutral — it is filled with divine waiting. This interior sorrow was already felt by Jeremiah, who carried the emotional burden of God’s wounded fidelity (cf. Jer 20:7–9). Likewise (cf. Hos 11:1–9), Hosea embodied divine love that continues even when rejected . These were shadows of Christ’s own Heart — loving without pause, hoping without rest. His difficult hour is the hour when love must remain open even while the beloved hesitates. It is the suffering of mercy stretched across time.

There are moments when Our Adorable Jesus allows the soul to experience interior silence — not abandonment, but purification. His difficult hours are not only endured for humanity; they are mystically shared within those who love Him. When consolation withdraws and prayer feels empty, love is invited to exist without emotional support. This reveals the hidden depth of Gethsemane . The Catechism teaches that dryness in prayer is not failure but a participation in Christ’s own surrender, where faith clings without sensory assurance (cf. CCC 2731–2732). In such moments, the soul touches the interior terrain where Jesus Himself loved the Father beyond all human feeling.This mystery is seen in Mary, who carried divine promise while walking through incomprehension and interior piercing (cf. Lk 2:19, 35). Her fidelity did not depend on clarity — it rested in trust. Likewise, Job remained before God when meaning disappeared (cf. Job 1–2; 19:25). The saints testify that these silent hours are where love becomes pure gift. John of the Cross teaches that divine absence often conceals deeper union. God removes felt sweetness so that love may rest in Him alone. Thus Christ’s difficult hour enters the soul when it continues loving without consolation. Silence becomes communion.

Another piercing dimension of Christ’s difficult hours is the sorrow of being misunderstood — not by strangers alone, but by those closest to His Heart. Even His disciples struggled to comprehend His mission, (cf. Mk 8:31–33; Jn 6:66–69) often interpreting divine love through human expectations . Love that gives itself completely is frequently misread, because it operates beyond ordinary logic.This difficult hour continues wherever fidelity is hidden beneath misinterpretation. A soul may act with purity of intention yet be judged harshly. Charity may appear weakness. Silence may appear indifference. The Catechism (cf. CCC 530, 618) teaches that disciples share in Christ’s rejection as part of redemptive participation . Consider Joseph, whose fidelity was obscured beneath false accusation (cf. Gen 39–41). Or David, (cf. 1 Sam 16–18) chosen by God yet misunderstood even within his own household . Their hidden suffering reflects the interior solitude of divine love unrecognized. Among the saints, Padre Pio endured suspicion while living in profound union with Christ, revealing that intimacy with God is often hidden beneath misunderstanding . Such is the mystery of divine love—recognized fully only by those who share its cost. In these silent hours, Jesus suffers not because He is unloved, but because love is not yet understood, not yet received in its transforming depth . The soul that remains faithful without being understood consoles His Heart deeply.

One of the most tender and prolonged difficult hours of Our Adorable Jesus is His waiting for conversion. Divine love does not withdraw when ignored — it remains present, inviting, remembering, hoping. This waiting is not passive delay but active mercy sustaining possibility (cf. Ez 18:23; Lk 15:11–32).The Catechism teaches that repentance itself is a grace already initiated by God’s merciful pursuit (cf. CCC 1427–1428, 1847). Every movement of return is preceded by divine longing. Thus Christ’s difficult hour is the time between His call and humanity’s response.This patient mercy shaped the restoration of Peter after failure (cf. Lk 22:31–32; Jn 21:15–19). It transformed Paul through unexpected encounter . God waits not because He is distant, but because love refuses to violate freedom. Divine patience is not absence—it is reverence for the human heart’s consent . Among the saints, Faustina Kowalska perceived mercy as the Heart of God tirelessly seeking the sinner, never forcing return, yet never ceasing to invite. Such waiting is love stretched to its furthest limit—steadfast, wounded, and always hoping . She saw that the greatest suffering of Christ is not human weakness, but humanity’s refusal to trust mercy.Every delayed repentance extends His difficult hour — yet every return brings profound consolation. Divine patience is love stretched across time for the sake of salvation.

The deepest mystery is this: Christ does not ask us merely to observe His difficult hours, but to enter them as companions. Christian life is participation in His interior offering to the Father (cf. Rom 8:17; Gal 2:20; CCC 521, 618). When a believer remains faithful amid dryness, continues loving when unseen, forgives when wounded, or hopes when change seems slow — the difficult hours of Jesus become mystically shared. This participation transforms ordinary existence into redemptive cooperation. A hidden sacrifice offered in love carries spiritual weight beyond visible measure. The Holy Hour—kept in the night or offered in the day for souls struggling in darkness—is love standing where evil moves most freely. When immorality is traded, revenge carried out, corruption sealed, and hearts quietly fall, one soul watching with Christ becomes a living resistance (cf. Mt 26:41). Divine grace does not remove the darkness; it enters it and transforms suffering into communion. This mystery shines in Maximilian Kolbe, whose self-offering revealed love strongest where sacrifice is deepest . The Catechism (cf. CCC 2745) teaches that intercession mysteriously participates in Christ’s saving work . Every Holy Hour becomes a hidden descent into humanity’s darkest moments—where love refuses to sleep, and darkness loses ground simply because someone remains with Him. The difficult hours are therefore not interruptions of grace but its most intense concentration. They are the furnace where human love is conformed to divine charity. To remain with Jesus in His difficult hours is to allow one’s entire life — every hidden act, every silent endurance, every persevering prayer — to become living consolation for His Heart and living participation in the redemption of the world.

Prayer

Our Adorable Jesus, in Your difficult hours let us remain awake with You. When love costs, when silence deepens, when waiting stretches our hearts, unite us to Your offering. May our hidden fidelity console You. Let every trial become communion, every endurance love, every moment a living “yes” beside You. Amen.

Sr. Anna Ali of the Most Holy Eucharist, intercede for us.