Jesus in the Garden of Olives

Meditation for the First Wednesday in Lent.

Jesus in the Garden of Olives.

1st Point. Jesus is sorrowful even unto death. What is the cause of his sadness? Is it the foreknowledge of all that he is to suffer? Alas, no! it is the sight of my sins, my ingratitude, my misery! I laugh at those things which should cause me to weep! I take pleasure in that which ought to render me miserable! He has compassion on me, and I have none on him.

2nd Point. He is seized with fear to prove that he is man, that he is human and infirm like myself. He has divested himself of his strength, and clothed himself with my weakness; he has given me his courage, and taken my timidity; he trembles to assure me, fears to encourage me, falls to raise me! Oh, what goodness! what charity! Where can we find a physician who is willing to give his health and strength to his patients in exchange for their maladies and feebleness? Oh! surely, he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows.

3rd Point. Pleasure and grief constitute the causes of the sins of men; desire and fear their passions. Jesus has vanquished these two enemies, and imparted to us his strength, that we also may vanquish them. He has abstained from all pleasure, suffered all griefs, renounced all the desires of nature, triumphed over all fears; sweat blood and water from all his veins, and contended even unto death.