Gardens behold a breath-taking beauty that cannot be described by words. They elicit a response not from the mouth, but a reaction from the soul. The delicacy of flowers with the surrounding colors of nature create a mural that is pure glory. But even though one person can experience the garden’s language piercing the soul, it is not meant for a person to witness alone. The heart yearns for this experience to be shared.
A garden’s magnificence parallels so purely it’s Divine symbolism within scripture: gardens are the place where lovers go, where one finds “He whom my soul loves” (Song of Solomon 3:4). The epitome of God’s creation, man, takes place in the Garden of Eden, but even then the Lord says, “It is not good for man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18). And thus, the Lord creates not only animals, but woman and brings her to the man. It is in a garden, too, that St. Mary Magdalene finds the One whom her soul loves, the risen Lord. It is here that she meets Christ, shares in the glory of His resurrection and runs to tell and invite others to the truth of this miracle.
But in order to meet a person, we first must enter into the place where this person in present. Adam and Eve had to enter the garden before they met each other; Mary Magdalene has to travel to the tomb and enter the garden before she met the risen Christ. So too does our Lord call us on this Holy Thursday to step into the Garden of Gethsemane and meet Him as the enters into His agony and Passion. Here we are called to encounter a different spectacle in which this garden encompasses a beauty that focuses not on the exterior, but beauty in the form of sacrifice, suffering and love. Here Jesus calls us to watch, pray and be with Him.
The Lord’s agony was not just about the physical pain He was to endure, but also from knowing He would be alone in these moments of intense suffering. However, the Lord still invited Peter, James and John to come with Him and instructs the three to remain with Him, watch and pray as He entered into deep prayer. But what does the Lord want us to learn from meeting Him in the garden? In order to enter, we must be willing to say yes to three things:
1. Do I trust God?
“Father, if you are willing, remove this chalice from me; nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42)
Above all else, Jesus loved His Father, and thus trusted in His will no matter the difficulty of God’s plans. We are called to imitate Christ’s love for the Father by placing our faith into His hands. We are called to accept that God’s plans for our lives are greater than we can ever imagine because we cannot see through His eyes. It is an act of the will and of humility to kneel down before the Father and say, “God I want this to happen out of my own desire, but it is You who see all and know all. And though Your desire is not in accordance with my own, I choose, above all, to do Your will.” In choosing to renounce our will, we not only imitate Christ’s abandonment of self, but we also echo the words of His mother at the Annunciation from Gabriel, when our Lady said, “Be it done unto me according to thy word.” (Luke 1:38). By trusting in God, we say yes to faith, love and abandonment.
2. Am I willing to suffer?
“Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down upon the ground.” (Luke 22:44)
The Agony in the Garden is not called an agony because the words Christ spoke were hard; it is called an agony because of what His prayers elicited. Following and doing the will of God is not easy, but when we choose to let go of want we want we also choose to abandon our comfortability – physically, mentally and emotionally. Jesus willing gave up His comfort of the flesh, mind and heart so much that His soul was sorrowful even to death. And He remained in this suffering through prayer.
The three apostles on the other hand fell asleep out of grief. “When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow.” (Luke 22:45). So often in our lives when we are going through a rough time or are encountering suffering, our tendency is to hide and escape the pain that dwells within us instead of enduring it until the end. Peter, James and John fell victim to this same tactic. For instead of praying with the Lord, the apostles were so overcome with grief from what they were beholding and what was to come that they escaped into the temptation of sleep.
Suffering, in fact, is a gift from God. He allows us to enter into and share in the agony of His son, so we can learn to unite our suffering with Jesus and offer our suffering on behalf of those we love. Not only can we enter into the suffering of our Lord, but we can be united with the sorrows of our Lady and those who remained at the foot of the cross – St. John and St. Mary Magdalene. The Lord calls us to “remain here, and watch.” (Matthew 26:38) He calls us to remain in our suffering and keep our eyes fixed on Him amidst the pain, for in humanity’s limitations we must rely solely on God for our strength and perseverance. By denouncing our comfortability, we say yes to enduring trials for the glory of the Kingdom.
3. Will I do what the Lord asks of me?
“So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:40)
Before the Lord enter into His agony, He not only asks his Apostles to watch and pray, but He informs them why they need to do so. Because of our fallen nature, we are subject to temptation. Every day the Lord call us to listen to Him, and we are called to obey. Our hearts may desire to respond to His call, but our humanity is weak and we sin. The Lord, however, in His mercy, tells us how we can respond better: prayer. We are to pray to do better, pray to recognize our faults, pray for His mercy and forgiveness, pray so we may not undergo the test of Satan. It is in and through prayer that the Lord gives us the graces to say “yes” to whatever He asks of us.
Mary was able to do everything the Lord asked of her because she prayed continuously and kept the troubles of her life in her heart with God. Christ Himself prayed in His agony for the will of the Father to be done. It is only by living a life of daily prayer, in imitation of Christ and His Mother, that we can yes to what the Lord asks of us.
“Stay here with me, remain here with me. Watch and pray.”
The lyrics of this song echo the painful cry from our Lord’s heart. The Garden of Gethsemane is about Jesus asking if we are willing to walk with Him, if we are willing to endure the trials of this life in order to be with Him for eternity. Christ does not need us there with Him, but nonetheless He asks us to enter. Are we willing to walk into the garden, stand by Him in the moment of excruciating pain and say, “No matter how hard it is to remain here, I am going to stay. I will not leave you. Jesus, I am here.”
To be in the garden is a choice, a decision of choosing to love Christ. Just as He is there holding us in the midst of our darkest hour, He asks us to enter into the beginning of His suffering. On Holy Thursday, we have the opportunity to step into the garden. The Mass closes with a solemn procession to the Altar of Repose, where Jesus will remain until the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday. Here we can adore the Blessed Sacrament in the late hours of the night by remembering Christ’s walk to the Mount of Olives and His entrance into His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. I challenge you to stay with Jesus, remain there with Him, watch over His Precious Body and pray with our Lord.
And so I will ask: Will you enter? Will you walk into the Garden of Gethsemane?
St. Gemma Galgani, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Peter, St. James, St. John . . . Pray for us.
Immaculate Heart of Mary . . . Pray for us.
O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus . . . Have mercy on us.
*A common practice among Catholics is praying the “Gethsemane Hour.” St. Gemma Galgani prayed this holy hour every Thursday. If you wish you pray the Gethsemane Hour, click here to learn how it is prayed.*
