The Hour of Testing: Spiritual Depth and Insight in a Time of Ecclesial Uncertainty

In every century of Christianity, lives of serious discipleship have been lived in response to—not in isolation from—the state of the Church and the world. The inherent link between history and Catholic spirituality, between holiness and the dark forces at work in a given era, is as real and pertinent today as ever. In this powerful work that may very well prove prophetic, renowned spiritual writer Fr. Donald Haggerty plumbs the depths of this connection, offering a profound reflection on the signs of the times, both inside and outside the Church, and unfolding their implications for believers today.

Echoing Raïssa Maritain’s remark that “Jesus will be in agony till the end of the world,” this book posits that the Church may live out, within history, a trial mirroring the Passion of her Lord—and that union with Jesus’ suffering must be central in the spiritual lives of her individual members. Against a darkening historical backdrop, the would-be saints of today must be ready to accept and embrace—in love, through prayer, and for the sake of the Church—a mysterious replication of Jesus’ last week in their own lives.

With keen spiritual insight and characteristic eloquence, Fr. Haggerty explores what it means to pursue holiness seriously in the 21st century, being sanctified in and through the Church’s present—or perhaps still impending—“hour of testing”.

Fr. Donald Haggerty, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, has been a Professor of Moral Theology at St. Joseph's Seminary in New York and Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Maryland. He has a long association as a spiritual director for Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. He is the author of the books Contemplative Hunger and Contemplative Provocations.