Meditation for Saturday

Meditation for Saturday

The Prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Olives

“And going a little further, He fell upon His face, praying, and saying: My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” (Matt. 26, 39).

First Prelude: Behold Jesus prostrate in prayer to His Eternal Father.

Second Prelude: Teach me, O my Divine Saviour, to imitate Thy reverence and Thy interior sentiments in prayer.

First Point

The Words of Jesus: “My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me.”

Jesus, in His intense sadness, falls prostrate on the ground and prays most ardently to His Eternal Father. He desires to be the Victim of propitiation for the sins of men, who ought to cast themselves in profound humility and annihilation before the Divine Majesty. “My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me,” is the prayer which Jesus in His agony thrice offers to His heavenly Father. Jesus here teaches us how to act in time of suffering. When consolations and human aid fail us, let us have immediate recourse to God in prayer. Nor let us cease, for prayer is the surest means of obtaining relief and consolation. Do not the lives of the Saints give testimony of this? And have not we, ourselves, experienced the wonderful effects of persevering prayer? Let us, therefore, not unburden our hearts to men, and in useless conversations seek human aid and consolation, but let us turn to God and confide in Him. Furthermore, the prayer of our Lord, “My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt,” gives evidence of Christ’s profound humility and reverence, and of His perfect conformity to the Divine Will. That our prayer may be acceptable to God, few words expressive of our love, our faith, our confidence, our abandonment, and compunction, and these often repeated, will suffice. The prayer of Jesus also teaches us that we may ask that the chalice of suffering be removed from us, for such a prayer far from displeasing God, honors Him. By it we humbly acknowledge our weakness, and place our trust in His infinite mercy. Do I have immediate recourse to God when sufferings come my way? Do I pray with exterior reverence, with interior recollection, humility, and perseverance?

Second Point

The Words of Our Lord: “Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”

After our Divine Saviour had thrice entreated the heavenly Father to remove from Him the chalice of suffering so painful to human nature, he adds: “Nevertheless not as I will but as Thou wilt.” What loving and complete abandonment to the heavenly Father! Jesus, being God, knows perfectly the extent and painfulness of His passion in its every detail; but despite the repugnance which His human nature experiences He submits to the Divine Will, and in perfect and loving self-surrender prays: “Father not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” Thus the Saviour teaches us to pray, for such a prayer ascends as an acceptable oblation to the throne of God. Nor shall it be unanswered, for although we do not always obtain that for which we petition, yet God in His infinite goodness will grant us what He knows to be for our advantage. God wills that in this life we be subject to misfortunes, temptations, cares, sickness, and anxieties, in order that, as His elect, we may participate in the sufferings and also in the glory of the Saviour. Why is it that man shrinks from suffering? Ah! it is because he fails to recognize in it the merciful designs of a loving and Divine Providence. Let us strive to recognize in our daily sufferings the loving designs of the good God, and take to heart the counsel of St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi: “When sufferings overtake you, beware, lest you separate them from their origin and source—the Divine Will—and they become an unbearable burden.”

Consider, O my soul, whether and to what extent you have been resigned to the Will of God in sufferings and tribulations, and you will know how far you have advanced in perfection.

Affections: O my Jesus, what dost Thou ask of me in return for the great and painful sacrifices Thou hast made to the Eternal Father for my salvation? Ah, Lord, Thou dost desire that I love Thee at all times with a generous and constant love. But do Thou grant me this love in virtue of that ardent prayer which Thou didst offer to Thy heavenly Father for me. I have but one desire, dear Lord, and that is to seek in this life only the accomplishment of Thy Divine Will, for this is the perfection of love. Strengthen me, O my dear Saviour, that I may do Thy holy Will not only in things easy and agreeable, but also in those painful and disagreeable.

Resolution: I will pray in union with my Divine Saviour, in order to obtain strength, lovingly to accomplish His holy Will in all difficulties.

Spiritual Bouquet: “Father not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”

Prayer: Our Father . . .