Third Week

The Agony in the Garden

Jesus’ sorrow unto death and his prayer to the Father in Gethsemane.

Preparatory prayer

Ask God our Lord for the grace that all my intentions, actions and works may be directed purely to the service and praise of his Divine Majesty.

See the road from Mount Zion to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the Garden of Olives, and Jesus praying apart.

Sorrow with Christ in sorrow, anguish with Christ in anguish, tears and inner grief at the great grief Christ suffered for me.

Consider what the most holy humanity of Christ suffers: sadness, dread and anguish unto death.
See how he sweats blood from the intensity of his anguish and inner struggle.
Listen to his prayer: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not my will but yours be done.”
Notice the disciples asleep while he suffers, and how gently he wakes them.

Ask the Lord to let me keep watch with him and console him, accepting the Father’s will in my own life.

Adapted from the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola (1548).