Rosaries

After this, Jesus left to go as usual to Mount Olive and the disciples followed him. When he came to the place, he told them, “Pray that you may not be put to the test.” Then he went a little farther, about a stone’s throw, and kneeling down he prayed, “Father, if it is your will, remove this cup from me; still not my will but yours be done.” And an angel from heaven appeared to give him strength.

As he was in agony, he prayed even more earnestly and great drops of blood formed like sweat and fell to the ground. When he rose from prayer, he went to his disciples but found them worn out with grief, and asleep. And he said to them, “Why do you sleep? Get up and pray, so that you may not be put to the test.”

Jesus was still speaking when a group appeared and the man named Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, and Jesus said to him, “Did you need this kiss to betray the Son of Man?”

Luke 22:39 – 48

Jesus, coming from the Last Supper, went as usual to the Mount of Olives. He was not alone; his disciples, though they didn’t understand, followed him. Twice, at the beginning and at the end of the event, he addressed to them the exhortation that we say in the Our Father: “Pray that you may not enter into temptation”. During the final trial of his life, Jesus prays in solitude. The content of the prayer is extended into Jesus’ inner agony to accept the will of the Father, faithful even in anguish for what is about to happen. He begins to suffer in a way that dramatically involves his whole person as he is sweating blood.

Jesus rises from his prayer, believing that his Father is still with him and will be with him to the very end. He looks with great sadness on his disciples, who will not be faithful and will desert him. Jesus is human and so enters into the pain and suffering of every human being. It is time to stand with Jesus and face the evil and sufferings of the world and to remain with him as he invites us to pray with him.