The Agony in the Garden

Frequently, in these short reflections, I have looked to the Litany of Loreto for themes. Today, I am drawing on the Mysteries of the Rosary commencing with the first Sorrowful Mystery - the Agony in the Garden - when Jesus began to be disturbed and troubled -"My soul is sorrowful - even to death." Few of us succeed in living our lives without experiencing moments of deep hurt and sorrow at having been let down. This sense of abandonment can come when friends, for unknown reasons, cease to be friends. It can happen when a relationship or marriage breaks up. It happens when members of a family leave home and parents are left alone. And it happens when sickness and death enter into our lives. Our reaction to these situations can be philosophic or they can be rebellious and condemnatory.

Counsellors tell us that we need to be positive in such times. Religious thinking has always provided a sound basis for such positive thinking to cope with these desperate situations. More than any other source, religion provides motivation to deal with life; and, for the Christian in particular, it provides exemplars to serve as models in dealing with any given situation.

Let us look at today's theme - Christ with no one to give Him support - His companions were asleep when He needed them, despite the fact that He had pleaded with them to stay with Him -[Mark 14:33] He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And He said to them, "I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake." Here Christ is expressing the need that we all have, namely, the need for companionship in times of distress and sorrow.

And Mary, too, had her own moments of hardship brought on my separation. We have no details of Joseph's death and the emptiness that event would have brought into her life. But we do know that this emptiness would only have been compounded when, in due course, Jesus left the home at Nazareth. [Mat 4:13] He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. Of course, he returned from time to time, until, finally, he was driven from the home of His youth. [Luke 4:29] They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. Thirty years is a long time to share a home and a life. And during the brief three years of His public ministry, she would be alternately comforted as she heard of His successes, and distressed, as she heard of the growing conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of the day. Finally, unable to leave Him to be alone in those last days of abandonment, she would join Him to lend support and comfort.

We cannot comprehend how Jesus felt in His agony, but we can appreciate how Mary felt at being left alone. We understand this in terms of our own experiences. And for us, our faith in the Communion of Saints tells us that there is a bond existing between the Church Triumphant and the Living Church, whether it be the Church Struggling with life's situations or the Church Suffering in expectation of final relief. And that is why we come together to pray that Mary's presence will be there for us as it was for Jesus. It is not easy being alone and abandoned. We think of other people enjoying themselves with a caring family and understanding friends, and we see ourselves alone, just as Mary was when Jesus left home. However, there is a difference! We are not entirely alone! We have the example of Jesus and Mary to draw upon and to be strengthened by.