In the Garden of Gethsemane, the Son of God enters into the psychological and spiritual space of the sinner. Paul the Apostle says that Christ became sin. That’s his mission: to bring the light and forgiveness of God into the depths of godforsakenness.
He’s accompanied only by Peter, James and John, but even those three closest disciples he ultimately leaves behind. He’s “pressed down to the ground”—the great spiritual writers of our tradition interpret this as the sins of the world pressing down upon him—and he sweats blood. Jesus, the very Son of God, enters into the state of alienation from God. He feels the suffering of the lost.
In that state, he offers and anguished prayer: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.” The whole of Jesus’ life is a battle against the devil culminating in the cross—and in the garden, the temptation to avoid following God’s will is evident.
Yet struggling against every instinct in his body, he demonstrates fortitude, utterly aligning his will to that of the Father: “𝒀𝒆𝒕, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆.” 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐-𝒊𝒏𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔, 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆.
As we pray a decade of our Rosary, let us see the aching loneliness of Christ in the garden as his entry into the psychological and spiritual space of the sinner, and to see his great prayer in the garden as a guide for our own prayers and the key to lasting joy and peace: “Not my will but yours be done.”
-𝑨𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏, Bishop Robert Barron
