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Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Worth Repeating Wednesday: Suffering and Difficulty in Prayer

What I know::


God is with me.  He knows and He understands my pain.  When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane He asked His Father,

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.”  Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.”
Luke 2: 42-43

                       
Jesus suffered.  He felt the excruciating pain of separation from His Father during His agony.  In His anguish, as Jesus prayed, His sweat became  “great drops of blood.”  The Precious Blood of Jesus was spilled in the garden as the weight of sin grew heavy on His back.  His Precious Blood spilled, not in a small quantity, but in “great drops.”

Jesus knows my pain.


What I know::

This moment is a trial, a challenge, which God allows in my life to strengthen me.  Through this suffering I can grow closer to Him.  This is a time when  I must trust that God knows better than I, the suffering of His cup.  He knows what this suffering will accomplish in eternity. 

Jesus asked His Father to “remove the cup” from Him.  Jesus’ human nature recoiled at what  He must endure for love of us.  As God, Jesus knew the cost,  the great suffering He would endure when He submitted to His Father’s Will.   As our Brother, Jesus accepted the bittersweet cup of salvation for love of us.

His moment of acceptance, similar to His Mother’s fiat when Jesus was conceived, opened the Gates of Heaven to the graces of salvation.   Jesus accepted the Father's Will, and Jesus was at peace.  Jesus knew He, the Great High Priest, would be subject to the control of men.  He knew the cruelty, the wounds that would be inflicted on Him.  Jesus knew He would die for love of us.    Jesus knew that through His sufferings, we would be saved.   Jesus overcame sin through death.  When He resurrected, Jesus over came death.   Through Jesus’ submission to His Father’s Will, He was made weak.  Through the humility of Jesus, God was glorified and we were saved!

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