While meditating on the First Sorrowful Mystery, the Agony in the Garden, consider the intensity of Our Lord’s spiritual suffering–even His sweat became as drops of blood:
He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground (Luke 22:44).
We see the connection between the intensity of His prayer and the intensity of His suffering — Our Lord’s spiritual agony is so great that it becomes visible as drops of Precious Blood.
Our Lord’s spiritual agony precedes the physical agony He will endure the very next day, on the Cross.
How often in our own lives does a spiritual struggle both precede and prepare us for the next trial or tribulation coming our way?
This calls to mind Our Lord’s forty days of prayer in the desert, in preparation for His public ministry (Luke 4:2), and, as well, Genesis 32:24, when Jacob wrestled with an angel the entire night and received his new name, “Israel.”
Lord, as I pray the first sorrowful mystery, may I unite myself with Your Agony, and I beg of You the grace to pray fervently enough that You may prepare me for the trials and tribulations I am yet to face during this short life. May my prayer always be offered to the Father in union with Yours:
“Father, not my will be done, but yours.” (Luke 22:42)
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