Lenten Meditation Three - The Garden

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed Him. When He came to the place, He told them, “Pray that you will not enter into temptation.” And He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, where He knelt down and prayed, “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.” Then an angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him. And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground. Lk. 22:39 As we go with Jesus and enter into contemplation of this Mystery that is taking place before us in this garden, Satan follows as well. He does not want to loose any of the souls he has entrapped. The ferocity of the struggle that is about unfolding before us is utterly terrifying. We too, will need a comforting angel.   Satan, through pride, has lost the Beatific Vision, his sharing in the divine glory of God. We are created without the experience of the Beatific Vision, but with an instinct, a craving desire, a desperate need burning deep within our souls, to attain it. At birth, our first act is to cry out from the depths of a primordial instinct for this Beatific Vision to be given. But at first, it is only known as food and comforting.    My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you. Psm. 139 Satan knows well God's good plan for me is to have this fulfilled after my time of purification has been completed. He must work quickly and with masterful manipulation to deceive me into seeking false glories, that lead only to death. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Gn. 3:6 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. James 1:13 It is through our senses and our experiences that we come to distinguish what is worth having and what is not - what tastes  good and what leaves a bitter taste in our mouth. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psm. 119:103 No one's experience of the glory of God can match that of Jesus. For after all, he is the son of God. Jesus brings the knowledge of this intimate experience of God's glory with him into his incarnation. But as fully human, Jesus also experiences the poverty of spirit, which God has designed into every human, as a defensive remedy to the sin of pride, the sin that caused Satan's fall. Jesus can both know what it is to share God's glory, while at the same time, what a catastrophe it would be to fail to attain it. Jesus enters the garden, sinless, and so, has not lost his communion in his Father's glory. But he comes to take upon himself the human experience of all those who have lost it because of sin. He comes to rescue these souls who now, or will, exist in the death of Godforsakeness. Going a little farther, He fell to the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour would pass from Him. “Abba, Father,” He said, “all things are possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.” Mk. 14:35 If a person is trapped in flames and is about to be consumed by fire, and you discover their situation, to save them, you must suffer these same blazing flames and enter their condition of certain death, if you are to rescue them out of a fiery death. Jesus, in his passion, is about to enter into hell and assume the condition of the condemned, to embrace each one personally, with arms of mercy, and bring them out of this hell-fire of death, into the glory of God.  The terrifying cries of Godforsakeness and eternal despair coming forth from these souls, that are now in his arms, pierces to the depths of Jesus own heart. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Lk. 22:44 One of these souls is yours. Many who are saved have yet to experience the terror and pain of these flames of death. In this contemplation, we ask for the grace to taste, even in part, what Jesus is suffering to save us.   Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement  that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. (First Reading Good Friday)

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