Agony in the Garden

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, Christ in Gethsemane

The Agony in the Garden is the name given to the time in the life of Jesus between the Last Supper and His arrest.

[edit] Scriptural depiction

According to all four Gospels, immediately after the Last Supper, Jesus took a walk to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, accompanied by St. Peter, St. John and St. James the Greater, whom He asked to stay awake and pray. He moved "a stone's throw away" from them, where he felt overwhelming sadness and anguish, and said "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it." Then, a little while later, He said, "If this cup cannot pass by, but I must drink it, your will be done!" (Gospel of Matthew 26:42). He said this prayer three times, checking on the three apostles, between each prayer and finding them asleep. He comments: "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak". An angel came from heaven to strengthen him.

During his agony, as he prayed, (according to Luke 22:44) "his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down upon the ground".

[edit] Tradition

It is the first Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary.

In Catholic tradition, Satan tempted Christ in order to dissuade him from redeeming the world as he prayed during the agony. This episode was picturised in The Passion of the Christ, but Satan is not specifically mentioned in the Biblical accounts of the scene, although Jesus does say to those sent to arrest him, `This is your time, the time of the power of darkness.` (Gospel of Luke 22:53) and Luke tells us earlier in the chapter: "Satan entered the heart of Judas Iscariot." (verse 3)

The Roman Catholic tradition includes specific prayers and devotions as acts of reparation for the sufferings of Jesus during His Agony and Passion. These Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ do not involve a petition for a living or deceased beneficiary, but aim to repair the sins against Jesus. Some such prayers are provided in the Raccolta Catholic prayer book (approved by a Decree of 1854, and published by the Holy See in 1898) which also includes prayers as Acts of Reparation to the Virgin Mary.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

In his encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor on reparations, Pope Pius XI called Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ a duty for Catholics and referred to them as "some sort of compensation to be rendered for the injury" with respect to the sufferings of Jesus.^[5]

Pope John Paul II referred to Acts of Reparation as the "unceasing effort to stand beside the endless crosses on which the Son of God continues to be crucified".^[6]

Christ promised St. Gertrude anything asked while meditating on the Agony in the Garden during the Holy Hour (3:00-4:00).