8 October, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

The First Sorrowful Mystery

The Agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane

1. The life of Mary, like that of her divine Son, was a life of suffering and of sacrifice.

When Simeon held the divine Child in his arms, he had prophesied: “This child is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be contradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce.” (Cf. Luke 2:35) There was suffering from the very beginning – in the arduous journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem to fulfil the obligation of the census; in the refusal of the people of Bethlehem to give shelter to the Holy Family; in the birth of Jesus in a cold cave; in the flight into Egypt to escape from the cruelty of Herod; in the loss of Jesus when He was twelve years old; in the hard life of a humble artisan in Nazareth; in the difficulties of the public life of Jesus; and in the final tragedy which brought Jesus from Gethsemane to Calvary, and from Calvary to the sepulchre.

When faced with this spectacle of the Man-God and of His Mother Mary suffering for love of us, how can we complain that our own cross is too heavy? How can we rebel against the merciful God Who afflicts us for our own good, purifies us with suffering, and demands that we should be detached from worldly things so that we may give more thought to Heaven, for which our souls are destined? To meditate on all that Jesus and Mary suffered for us should be enough to make us embrace our cross generously and resign ourselves to the physical or moral afflictions which God sends us.

2. Let us pay particular attention to the scene in Gethsemane. Jesus is  lying prostrate on the ground. He has given everything for sinful humanity. He has given His heavenly teaching, His miracles, and His  mercy. Even more, He has given Himself in the Blessed Eucharist, which He has instituted in the form of food and drink to sustain men on their earthly journey.

Now He lies prostrate in prayer. Near Him are His Apostles who, already forgetful of the immense favours which they have received, are asleep.

Not far away there is another Apostle, Judas, who has sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver as a slave would be sold, and is about to deliver Him to His executioners. But Jesus can see across the centuries many other Judases, so many traitors who will be indifferent and sleep, never thinking of Him, and neglecting to make any return for His infinite love. His passion is beginning now, and will be protracted throughout the centuries. Before His crucifixion, He drinks the bitter chalice of human ingratitude, and in His tremendous agony He perspires drops of blood.

3. To which group do you belong, you who claim to be a Christian? Are you among the traitors who by their sins crucify Jesus anew? Weep for your faults and ask your merciful Redeemer for forgiveness and for the strength never to fall again.

Perhaps you are ungrateful and asleep? Awake from your torpor. Pray to the Sorrowing Virgin to obtain for you the love of her divine Son and the ardent desire of following Him in the path of sacrifice and of virtue.