“Arriving at the Garden the Divine Master withdrew apart from His disciples, taking along only three of them, Peter, James and John, to have them as witnesses of His sufferings… Entering the Garden He told them: “Remain here, watch and pray that you enter not into temptation!” Be on your guard, He seems to say to them, because the enemy is not asleep. Arm yourself against him beforehand, with the weapon of prayer, so that you may not become involved and led into sin. Having thus admonished them he separates Himself from them and prostrates Himself on the ground. He is extremely sad; His soul is a prey of indescribable bitterness. The night is advanced and bright. The moon shines in the sky, leaving shadows in the Garden. It seems to throw a sinister brightness, a foreboding of the grave and dreadful events to come, which make the blood tremble and freeze in the veins… He sees Himself bound and dragged by His enemies through the streets of Jerusalem, through those very streets through which only a few days before He passed triumphantly acclaimed as the Messiah…He sees Himself before the High Priest beaten, declared guilty of death. He, the author of life also sees Himself led from one tribunal to another, into the presence of judges who condemn Him. He sees His own people, so loved by Him, the recipients of so many of His benefits, who now maltreat Him with infernal howls and hissing, and with a great shout demand His death–the death on the Cross…He sees Himself, arrived on Calvary, despoiled of His garments, stretched out on the Cross, pitilessly crucified, raised up on it in the sight of all. He hangs on the nails which cause excruciating torture… Jesus, in agony cries to His Father: “If is possible, take this chalice from Me!” It is the cry of nature weighted down…but the love to satisfy divine justice and give us back to God makes Thee cry out: “Not Mine, by Thy Will be done!” To this prayer Divine Justice exacts the sacrifice necessary to repair the injury to God… I seem to hear all the laments of the Saviour: Oh if at least man, for whom I am in anguish and for whom I am ready to embrace all, could only be grateful, would respond to the graces I obtain for him by My great suffering for him! If he would only esteem the value of the price I pay to ransom him from the death of sin, to bestow on him the true life of the sons of God. Ah, that love which grieves My Heart more cruelly than the executioners will tear my flesh!”
From the Booklet, The Agony of Jesus, A Meditation on Our Lord’s Agony in the Garden,
by St. Padre Pio, TAN BOOKS
Book can be ordered here:
The Agony of Jesus, A Meditation on Our Lord’s Agony in the Garden
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