PRAYING TOGETHER
Father Len is encouraging Holy Apostles to pray together 3 times each day in solidarity with our Parish and the rest of the world. You'll hear the Church bells if you live close by; otherwise set an alert on your phone.
MEANING OF THE HOURS
9:00am: Christ accepts the cross: Pray for the infected and the ill.
The law of the TAMID was the name given to the sacrifices that were offered every day in the temple. So each day the offering would begin the sacrifice of the morning lamb and finish with that of the evening lamb. All the other sacrifices would come between these two times. The morning lamb would be offered up third hour of the day with its death, the temple trumpets with sound and the Temple gates will be open. Then at about the ninth hour, the evening sacrifice would be slain and offered on the altar, at which time all the sacrifices would be finished. What is the third hour? 9:00 am. When did Christ accept the cross? 9:00 am. The same hour as the morning lamb was laying on the altar. As the trumpet sound to announce the sacrifice the temple gates were opened.
NOON: Darkness covered the area: Pray for first responders, doctors, nurses
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The bible says that at noon, while Jesus was on the cross, total darkness surrounded the area.
There are many extra-biblical sources outside of the Bible that describe a period of darkness over the earth during the time that the gospels detail Jesus’ crucifixion. A chronicle of Thallus stated that during the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, many people who were present believed that a “solar eclipse” had occurred.
During the reign of Tiberius Caesar, a record from Phlegon of Tralles describes a complete solar eclipse that happened during the time of the full moon, exactly as the gospels record: “from the sixth to the ninth hour.”
3:00pm: Christ dies on the Cross: Pray for those who have died of the virus.
When was the evening lamb sacrificed? 3:00 pm. The same hour of the Messiah died on the cross.
So the sacrifice the Messiah began with an offering of the morning lamb and ended with the offering of the evening lamb. And all sacrifices took place in between those hours. The Lamb of God covers every moment, every need, every second, every problem, and every answer.
In the book of Genesis, God would come to walk with humanity at the breezy time of day. 3:00pm. When did Adam and Eve sin? 3:00.
Another symbolism of the 3:00 is that when Christ dies for us, it is through the Cross that God and humanity walk together again.
