Devotion for today:abandonment of will: the agony in the garden

Today we continue our preparation to begin Lent by resuming our study of Pope Benedict’s address on the Agony in the Garden.

Scripture for meditation: Mark 14:36

“Abba! Father! All things are possible to thee; remove this chalice from me; yet not what I will, but what you will”.

Pope Benedict XVI continues his instruction on the Agony in the Garden: In this appeal, there are three revealing passages. At the beginning, we have the double use of the word that Jesus uses to address himself to God: “Abba! Father!” We are well aware that the Aramaic word Abba was used by a child to address his father, and that it therefore expresses Jesus’ relationship with God the Father, a relationship of tenderness, affection, trust and abandonment. In the central part of the appeal there is a second element: the awareness of the Father’s omnipotence -- “All things are possible to thee” -- that introduces a request in which the drama of Jesus’ human will in the face of death and evil again appears: “Remove this chalice from me.” But there is a third expression in Jesus’ prayer, and it is the decisive one in which his human will adheres fully to the divine will. Jesus, in fact, concludes by saying forcefully: “Yet not what I will, but what you will”. In the unity of the divine Person of the Son, the human will attains fulfillment in the total abandonment of the “I” to the “You” of the Father, who is called Abba. St. Maximus the Confessor affirms that, from the moment of the creation of man and woman, the human will was ordered to the divine will, and that it is precisely in its “yes” to God that the human will is made fully free and attains fulfillment. Unfortunately, due to sin, this “yes” to God was transformed into opposition: Adam and Eve thought that “no” to God was the pinnacle of freedom, their being fully themselves. On the Mount of Olives, Jesus draws the human will back to its full “yes” to God; in Him the natural will is fully integrated in the orientation the Divine Person gives to it. Jesus lives his life in accordance with the center of his Person: his being the Son of God. His human will is drawn into the “I” of the Son, who abandons Himself totally to the Father. Thus, Jesus tells us that it is only in conforming one’s own will to the divine will that the human being attains his true greatness, that he becomes “divine”; it is only by going out of himself -- only in his “yes” to God -- that the desire of Adam and of us all is fulfilled -- that of being completely free.

 (General Address, February 1, 2012, Translation by Diane Montagna)

Prayer: Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine.

 My thoughts: The three points of the prayer in the Garden help us to hand our souls to God this Lent. First, by seeing Him as Abba – Daddy – we allow ourselves to have a personal relationship with our Father. Secondly, Jesus makes it okay for us to ask God to relieve us of our suffering and pain. Lastly, and most importantly, Jesus’ prayer to our Father turns it all over to Him. If more good will come out of our suffering, either for our redemption or that  of others, then so be it. “Thy will be done” is the only prayer we ever really need.

Our prayer to God: Here is a wonderful prayer to add to our day during Lent. Try to say it during the Divine Mercy Hour, from 3 to 4pm, as requested by Our Lord to Saint Faustina:

You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world, and empty Yourself out upon us… O Blood and Water, which gush forth from the Heart of Jesus as a Fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You (Diary of St. Faustina, 1319, 187). (Consoling the Heart of Jesus, Fr. Gaitley, Marian Press, 2011)