Monday, October 15, 2007

The Sorrowful Mysteries - The Agony in the Garden

The cup of the New Covenant, which Jesus anticipated when he offered himself at the Last Supper, is afterwards accepted by him from his Father's hands in his agony in the garden at Gethsemani, making himself "obedient unto death."

Jesus prays: "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me...."

Thus he expresses the horror that death represented for his human nature.

Like ours, his human nature is destined for eternal life, but unlike ours, it is perfectly exempt from sin, the cause of death.

Above all, his human nature has been assumed by the divine person of the "Author of life, the living One."

By accepting in his human will that the Father's will be done, he accepts his death as redemptive, for "he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree."