Fruit of the First Sorrowful Mystery

“Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” (Matthew 26: 42)

Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane teaches us one of the most important lessons in the Bible.  When we are ready to submit our fears, pains and future to the will of God without conditions, we win.  When we say the Rosary, we reflect on this truth in the First Sorrowful Mystery.  Our Enemy holds us in captivity through fears.  The biggest fear for everybody is the fear of death.  Christ conquered this fear for us by dying.  But before He was crucified, the first step He took towards Calvary was to submit His will unconditionally to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane.   The same spirit of submission was exemplified by Daniel when he brushed aside the fear of death by answering Nebuchadnezzar in similar words:  If we live we live; if we perish, we perish.  We also see this when the Prophet Habakkuk writes:  Harvest or no harvest, food or no food, we shall praise the Lord.

Why do we dread the will of God?  I foolishly imagine that God is not for me but against me.  Even as adults, we still think of the lamp and the light that God provides for us in His Ten Commandments as constraint to our liberty.  “Thou shall keep holy the Lord’s Day” is one commandment that changed my perspective on all the other 9 commandments.  My appreciation for the Lord’s Day keeps growing.  Then one day, I asked, “Could this commandment be typical of the other nine?”   Of course, I answered after a brief reflection. 

When we are confronted by the unthinkable, it is not only safe but prudent to pray with Christ, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” (Matthew 26: 42)