The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ 

occur about the time of the new moon. When the moon is full, it is on the opposite side of the earth from the 

sun and cannot pass between the earth and the sun to cause a solar eclipse. 

    The three hours of darkness when Jesus was on the Cross was not an act of nature, it was a supernatural act 

of God. This event was foreshadowed by the three days of darkness which occurred when God, through 

Moses, freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. God gave the Egyptians three days of darkness as one of 

many afflictions which caused the Egyptians to let the Israelites go free (Ex 10:21 23). 

    The three days of darkness marked the end of the slavery of God's people in Egypt. The suffering and death 

of Jesus on the Cross frees us from the slavery of sin. The three hours of darkness, when Jesus was on the 

Cross, marked the end of our slavery to sin and the beginning of our freedom as the people of God. 

    After describing words exchanged between Jesus and the good thief (while they were both on their crosses), 

the Gospel of Luke tells us:  It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land 

until the ninth hour .  (Lk 23:44). God covered the whole land (and perhaps even the whole earth) in 

darkness to mark the time of Jesus' greatest suffering. And so, Jesus was on the Cross for about three hours. 

    Some commentators have suggested that the 3 hours of darkness was caused by a dust storm, not by a 

supernatural act of God. Which is more likely, that God brought about a natural event, such as a dust storm, 

to darken the sky when Jesus was on the Cross, or that God darkened the sun by a supernatural act, when 

Jesus was on the Cross as a sign to the whole world? 

    When God interacts with this world, He is not limited to guiding natural events, He can also act beyond the 

limits of nature. Some people argue for a natural explanation for nearly every event described in the Bible. 

God does guide natural events with His Providence, but God also intervenes more directly in human events, 

through miraculous acts. Every faithful Christian believes in such miraculous interventions, for example, in the 

Virgin Conception of Jesus Christ, His Resurrection from the dead, and His Ascension to Heaven. A natural 

explanation cannot be found for every event described in the Bible. So then, at the time of the very death of 

God's only Son Jesus Christ, God darkened the whole land, or the whole earth, by miraculous means, and not 

merely by guiding natural events. 

The Hour of Jesus Christ's Death 

     And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, `Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?' which means, `My 

God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' . And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last.  (Mk 

15:34.37). 

    The ninth hour is about 3:00 p.m. sun time.

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 The ninth hour is also the midpoint between the sixth hour, 

when the sun is at its highest point in the sky, and sunset. The ninth hour is the middle of the afternoon. 

    Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich tell us, based on visions she received from God,  It was about three 

o'clock when Jesus expired. 

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 And Saint Faustina Kowalska refers to the three o'clock hour as the hour of 

great Mercy, because it was at that hour that Jesus died for our salvation.

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 God has revealed the hour of Jesus' 

death, through Sacred Scripture and the saints, because God wants us to know at what time of day Jesus died. 

Through Saint Faustina Kowalska, Jesus asked us to remember His Passion and death at 3 o'clock every day.

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    The Gospel of Mark tells us that at the ninth hour Jesus cried out to God. Next, someone ran to get a 

sponge soaked with vinegar, placed it on a reed, and offered it to Jesus. Then Jesus cried out to God again and 

died (Mk 15:34 37). Sacred Scripture does not say that Jesus died at exactly the ninth hour, but rather, that at 

the ninth hour Jesus cried out to God, then a few more things happened, and then Jesus died. 

    We do not know the exact time to the minute of the death of Jesus Christ. However, Sacred Scripture 

indicates that Jesus died at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Jesus died about 3 p.m. (sun time) on a Friday, on 

the preparation day of Passover (the 14th of Nisan).

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The Length of the Passion of Jesus Christ 

    The Passion of Jesus Christ ended with His death on the Cross for our salvation at about 3 p.m. on Friday, 

Nisan 14. Perhaps we should mark the beginning of the Passion of Jesus Christ at His agony in the garden of 

Gethsemane on the previous evening. His suffering at that time was most intense, as shown by the words of 

Sacred Scripture.  And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and 

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