SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY #508
And going out, Jesus went, according to his custom, to the Mount of Olives. And his disciples also followed him. And when he was come to the place, he said to them: "Pray, lest ye enter into temptation." And he was withdrawn away from them a stone's cast. And kneeling down, he prayed. Saying: "Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: but yet not my will, but thine be done." And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground. And when he rose up from prayer and was come to the disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow. And he said to them: "Why sleep you? Arise: pray: lest you enter into temptation." (Luke 22:39-46)
OUR BLESSED LORD SUFFERED IN HIS HUMAN NATURE: Contemplate Jesus in the garden of Gethsemani, lying on His face under the olive-trees, in the darkness of night, sighing, praying and sweating blood! Behold Him who fills the earth with gladness, and heaven with wonder, in deepest anguish. He who but a short time before was consoling His apostles is now Himself full of sorrow. He who promised help to them is now weak Himself, and asks them to help Him. He who has dried the eyes of so many now sheds tears of blood. The mighty Wonder-worker is prostrate and trembling, and His Heart is well-nigh breaking for very woe. The Soul of Him who commanded the winds and the waves is now overwhelmed with trouble and anguish. How is this extraordinary change to be explained? In order to understand our Lord's Agony in the garden, and His sufferings which followed it, you must remember that the divine nature of our Lord Jesus Christ could not suffer, and that it was only His human nature which could suffer and die; and, moreover, that His human nature, being inseparably united to His divine nature, could only suffer as much, and for as long, as He willed it to suffer. He entered on His Passion of His own will, and did not allow torment and fear to take possession of His Heart till He had left His eight apostles at a distance, and had near Him only those three who had been prepared for th esight of Him in His hour of abasement, by the vision of His glory on Mount Tabor. But in order that the human nature might suffer, the Divinity abandoned it to itself and, as it were, withdrew from it, and deprived it of all inward consolation, as we see in the narrative. To such an extent did He abase Himself that He even sought consolation from creatures, the apostles and angels. At the very beginning of His Passion He wished to leave us no room for doubt that He as Man felt and suffered everything acutely, and that fear, pain and horror caused Him as much anguish as they could cause an ordinary man. He therefore testified to His heavenly Father that His human nature abhorred its fearful torments, and wished to be freed from them; the thrice repeated prayer: "Take this chalice from Me!" shows this to us.
OUR BLESSED LORD SUFFERED IN HIS HUMAN NATURE: Contemplate Jesus in the garden of Gethsemani, lying on His face under the olive-trees, in the darkness of night, sighing, praying and sweating blood! Behold Him who fills the earth with gladness, and heaven with wonder, in deepest anguish. He who but a short time before was consoling His apostles is now Himself full of sorrow. He who promised help to them is now weak Himself, and asks them to help Him. He who has dried the eyes of so many now sheds tears of blood. The mighty Wonder-worker is prostrate and trembling, and His Heart is well-nigh breaking for very woe. The Soul of Him who commanded the winds and the waves is now overwhelmed with trouble and anguish. How is this extraordinary change to be explained? In order to understand our Lord's Agony in the garden, and His sufferings which followed it, you must remember that the divine nature of our Lord Jesus Christ could not suffer, and that it was only His human nature which could suffer and die; and, moreover, that His human nature, being inseparably united to His divine nature, could only suffer as much, and for as long, as He willed it to suffer. He entered on His Passion of His own will, and did not allow torment and fear to take possession of His Heart till He had left His eight apostles at a distance, and had near Him only those three who had been prepared for th esight of Him in His hour of abasement, by the vision of His glory on Mount Tabor. But in order that the human nature might suffer, the Divinity abandoned it to itself and, as it were, withdrew from it, and deprived it of all inward consolation, as we see in the narrative. To such an extent did He abase Himself that He even sought consolation from creatures, the apostles and angels. At the very beginning of His Passion He wished to leave us no room for doubt that He as Man felt and suffered everything acutely, and that fear, pain and horror caused Him as much anguish as they could cause an ordinary man. He therefore testified to His heavenly Father that His human nature abhorred its fearful torments, and wished to be freed from them; the thrice repeated prayer: "Take this chalice from Me!" shows this to us.
[From 'A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture' by Bishop Knecht, D.D.]
(1899 Douay-Rheims Bible)
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