Commenting
on Christ’ suffering in Gethsemane, Basil Hume (1923-1999), the then-Cardinal
Archbishop of the Catholic Diocese of Westminster wrote the following which
many Latter-day Saints will appreciate:
The Garden of Gethsemane
In the Garden of Gethsemane Our Lord became
sad. He was plunged into the deepest distress and sorrow. He was lonely,
fearful. Whenever we hear of someone in distress we normally feel sorry for
them and want to go and help them, by sharing in some way their sorrow. Very
often the only possible thing is just to be with them. When people are
suffering terrible pain, it can be irritating to say too much. We just share it
with them, silently and lovingly. That is what we must do in our prayer,
contemplating Christ’s suffering, aware of the pain that still transfixes the
heart of the world.
“My soul is said, to the point of death”.
After they had finished the supper, Jesus went to the garden to pray. Sick at
heart, apprehensive, he did not want to be alone. “Would you, Peter, James and
John, watch with me?” They had been together on another very different
occasion, a triumphant one, when he had been transfigured before the very eyes.
Then he had seemed more than human. But now he was sick at heart. Judas had
gone to do his worst. The others? They would soon run away. The three companions
sought in sleep the peace they could not find awake.
It is easy enough to describe the inflicting
of physical pain. It is very difficult to describe what can go on in the depth
of another’s soul. The suffering which cannot be described is usually more
intense than the suffering which is apparent to all. That sadness of soul cost
Jesus so much in his agony in the garden that the sweat on his brow was like
blood (cf. Luke 22, 44). That is an image that has moved Christians down the
ages but the sadness in his soul cannot be described. There is a depth of
sadness here which can never be shared by another person, never eased. It can
only be glimpsed by one who loves deeply.
There is an added difficulty in appreciating
the suffering experienced by Christ. Christ is God. It is true to say that God,
in Our Lord, at that point, was troubled in spirit. It tells us something about
God. Is there in God wounded love? Is there in God this feeling of being
rejected, being turned down? We can only as the question. We are already
talking about something we could not possibly understand. But is there not
something important here that Our Lord wanted us to glimpse? We can reject God;
we can refuse His love; some of us can even treat God as Judas treated Our
Lord. That is a frightening thought, because Our Lord pined for the love of
Judas. God too pines for our love.
These are deep thoughts. We should think
about Our Lord’ suffering and what it means for us, and how his suffering can
tell us something about God. But it can also be a great help to us in another
way. We all suffer, sometimes in small ways, sometimes in great. Sometimes we
have to live with great worries and at others endure terrible tragedies.
Sometimes we are troubled in spirit, dismayed or full of sadness. In times of
suffering we remember what happened to Our Lord and we can reach out to him for
strength, understanding and sympathy. The Man of Sorrows has already offered to
the Father the pain we now experience. It helped to fill the chalice he
accepted in Gethsemane.
When we suffer are sad, we are sharing then
in Our Lord’s passion; we are close to him and he is close to us. He leads us
through his passion, to something much better and much greater, to a new life
with a fresh hope. That is the meaning of the Resurrection. (Basil Hume, To Be a Pilgrim: A Spiritual Notebook [London:
SPCK, 1984], 84-85
