Devotion for today: consoling Jesus in Gethsemane

Scripture for today: Psalm 69:21
Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak, I looked for sympathy, but there was none; for comforters, and I found none.

Christ tells us: John 16:31-32

Jesus answered them: “Do you really believe? An hour is coming – has indeed already come – when you will be scattered and each will go his way, leaving me quite alone. (Yet I can never be alone; the Father is with me.”

Louis Vereheylezoon, SJ, tells us:  Theologians hold for certain that by the infused prescience with which God invested His soul, Jesus knew all that was in any way connected with the work of Redemption. He foresaw, then, all the good and evil which would occur in the course of time, and hence whatever would be done for or against Him. He knew then, in particular, how men would repay His love. One may even say that this prevision was one of the causes of His deathly sorrow at Gethsemane. But at the same time He foresaw the tokens of love which He would receive from His faithful followers, and particularly the reparation they would make to Him for the ingratitude of others…This prospect consoled, encouraged, and fortified Him, and helped Him to give Himself up to suffering and death in spite of His prevision of the ingratitude of so many. Whenever, then, we pay to Jesus some homage of reparation, we may cherish the gratifying conviction that, especially during His agony in the Garden, He saw us in the far off distance of time, that He gratefully looked upon us, and that our reparation really soothed His sorrow to some extent, and comforted and strengthened Him in His agony (Devotion to the Sacred Heart, Rockford, IL: TAN Books, 1978).

Prayer: This is a meditation prayer taken from the book “Consoling the Heart of Jesus” by Fr. Michael Gaitley (Marian Press, Stockbridge, MA, 2011):
Lord, Jesus, even though my sins are many, I know the mercy of your Heart. I’m sorry I was afraid to go to you. I’m sorry I left you alone. But look, here I am. Please forgive my sins. I’m going to try to do better. Please forgive their sins, too. Lord, if only they knew you, they’d love you.  Lord, I can’t offer much right now except for my weak trust and love. Jesus, I do trust in you, and I love you. Praise you, Jesus, and thank you for everything, especially for what you’re suffering right now out of love for me. I’ve come to be with you, my friend. Don’t be sad. I love you, and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than right here, praising you, thanking you, and consoling your broken Heart.

 My thoughts:  Now that Lent has begun, we need to find ways to add prayer to our daily lives during these forty days. One way to do this is to meditate on aspects of Christ’s passion. This week we have been looking at the first sorrowful mystery, the Agony in the Garden. We have been shown by Pope Benedict XVI how we can follow Christ’s example and exchange our will for God’s will. We see that, just as Christ was not abandoned in the garden, God will send angels to us as well in our time of need. Now let us spend time in the garden with Christ. We learn today that His anguish was created by his foreknowledge of all the people who would reject the love and sacrifice He offered them. We also learn that our comfort and prayer, our time with Him, was also foreseen, and that He knew we would love and console Him, and that brought Him comfort. It is time to enter the Garden.

Our prayer to God:  Enter a quiet place in your heart and picture the Garden of Olives. The apostles are asleep. Jesus is praying in anguish to His father, and He is so alone. Go up to Him, place your hand on His shoulder, and recite the above prayer. Stay with Him in silence, comfort and love.

 

Jesus praying to God the Father in Gethsemane, Heinrich Hofmann, 1890
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Christ_in_Gethsemane.jpg