From the Garden to the Cross

 As Catholics, we’ve all heard the passion narrative so many times.  If we sincerely try to focus on it and allow ourselves to enter into a deep reflection as it is being read, we will hopefully be moved by it every time.  There is so much that happened in a short amount of time and every single moment demonstrates Christ’s love for us.  Everything he went through was for each and every single one of us.  

One line that stood out to me as the passion was read on Palm Sunday is from when Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane.  “He was in such agony and prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground” (Luke 22:44).  To think of Jesus in this much agony and distress that His sweat would become drops of blood, it brings one thought to mind.  The thought of just how much he loves us.

When Jesus was nailed to the cross, we reflect on this ultimate sacrifice He made for us.  However, His suffering, all for us, starts much before He is on the cross.  When Jesus was praying in the Garden, he knew what he was about to endure.  Knowing that He was very soon going to be bearing the weight of all the sins of the world brought out so many emotions, which is revealed by His sweat becoming drops of blood.  His grief and anguish and all of the feelings He experienced shows us His humanity.  His prayer to the Father was so deep and intense and it is evident that He was praying from the heart, asking for the Father’s will to be done.

Reflecting on Christ’s agony in the Garden can help us with our own prayer lives and our surrender to God’s will.  While we will never face anything close to what Jesus went through and will not experience our sweat turning into blood, we all have our own times of distress and suffering.  We can look to Christ as the perfect example of how to respond in these times.  When we are struggling or going through something hard, are we on our knees, praying intensely and asking for the Father’s will to be done?
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As we journey through this Holy Week, let Christ’s agony in the Garden and each moment after leading up to His death on the cross, be a reminder of just how much you are loved.  Everything He did was for you and me.  Allow yourself to fully enter into the events of this week.  This week changed the world.  Will you let it change your world?