The First Sorrowful Mystery - the Agony of Jesus in the Garden

Can you visualize the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane? Can you feel his extreme pain as he contemplated what he must undergo?  There, in that forlorn garden, at the dead of night, Jesus wrestled with his fears and doubts over the task set out by his Father.  It was his human side that feared and grieved.  He had not gone blindly to his forthcoming crucifixion.  There in the Garden of Gethsemane  he knew exactly what he was about to face.

Then going out he went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. When he arrived at the place he said to them, "Pray that you may not undergo the test."

After withdrawing about a stone's throw from them and kneel­ing, he prayed, saying, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done."

And to strengthen him an angel from heaven appeared to him. He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground. When he rose from prayer and returned to his disciples, he found them sleeping from grief. He said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not undergo the test."

- The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 22, Verses 39-46

Oh, Jesus, we pray that we would be as brave as you were at Gethsemane.  Often we tremble at our fears and problems.  We become confused and angry when we face seemingly insurmountable odds.  We blame others, and we even blame you and your Father.  We pray that we would have the grace to surrender instead.

Yes, Lord, help us to surrender our whole being to the Father's will.  To simply say "Let your will be done."  To OBEY without question, as you did.

Only then will we know the utmost peace of God's love and protection.  And only then will we witness the exquisite unfolding of God's grand plan for all of us.

Prayer Beads:

Our Father
Hail Mary (10 times)
Glory Be
My Jesus

NOTE:  Pray the Sorrowful Mysteries on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Too Many Broken Hearts in the World

Father,

The world is a sad place most of the time. Everywhere I see people with deadened eyes. Despair, desolation, and depression are common. Why is this so, My Father? The world you made ought to be filled with happy, hopeful and vibrantly-living people.

I search my heart and find in my communion with You, a voice saying, that the lack of love is the answer. Without love, the artifice comes in. Without love, though people "speak in the tongues of men and of angels," they are but "a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal."

Without love, we find it hard to understand the command: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." And worse, we fail to comprehend the first and greatest of Your commandments: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."

No wonder then that despite all the material and tangible things that we can accumulate in this world, we still feel empty and prone to despair. We search for something to complete us, ever struggling onwards to learn more, gain more, be more. And yet we often fail to realize that that which we seek with all our might is just within our reach -- Your Love.

Let us understand more deeply the meaning of love, most especially Your Love. Let us long for it with all hearts and souls. I strongly believe, Father, that with your precious Love, there is nothing more that we need in this world.

Amen.

Faith in a Poem

What is faith to you?  We often ponder this very thing.  If we read the Holy Bible, does that mean we have faith?  If we read the news and find some horrific tale, how do we see it in the light of our faith?  If we are burdened, or victorious, where does our faith come in?  When faced with the prospects of death, how does our faith touch us?

It's not easy to define man's faith in God.  But man dwells on it anyway.  The Bible is filled with men's thoughts on his faith and his God. and one man in particular -- Job -- spoke so ardently of his faith.  His tangled thoughts, emotional fluctuations, deepest longings, ardent hopes and fears are voiced in a beautiful poem about his faith.

Read on, and be mesmerized by the beauty of Job's faith in his omnipotent God.


“Man, who is born of woman,
Is short-lived and full of turmoil.
Like a flower he comes forth and withers.
He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.

You also open Your eyes on him
And bring him into judgment with Yourself.
Who can make the clean out of the unclean?
No one!

Since his days are determined,
The number of his months is with You;
And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.

Turn Your gaze from him that he may rest,
Until he fulfills his day like a hired man.
For there is hope for a tree,
When it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And its shoots will not fail.
Though its roots grow old in the ground
And its stump dies in the dry soil,
At the scent of water it will flourish
And put forth sprigs like a plant.

But man dies and lies prostrate.
Man expires, and where is he?
As water evaporates from the sea,
And a river becomes parched and dried up,
So man lies down and does not rise.
Until the heavens are no longer,
He will not awake nor be aroused out of his sleep.

Oh that You would hide me in Sheol,
That You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You,
That You would set a limit for me and remember me!

If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my struggle I will wait
Until my change comes.
You will call, and I will answer You;
You will long for the work of Your hands.
For now You number my steps,
You do not observe my sin.
My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
And You wrap up my iniquity"

- Job 14:1-17