Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/700

 much anguish  as  they  could  cause  an  ordinary  man. He therefore testified to  His  heavenly  Father  that  His  human  nature  abhorred  its fearful torments,  and  wished  to  be  freed  from  them; the  thrice  repeated prayer: “Take  this  chalice  from  Me!”  shows  this  to  us.

The causes  of  our  Lord’s  profound  sadness  and  terrible  agony  of mind  were  as  follows:

1. He  saw  before  Him  the  many  and  inhuman  torments  which awaited Him. He pictured  all  these  terrible  sufferings,  enduring  them in anticipation. How would  you  feel  at  this  moment  if  you  were  told that you  were  to  be  slowly  tortured  to  death  tomorrow? Human nature shrinks  from  death,  and  especially  from  a violent  death. The most painful  as  well  as  the  most  ignominious  of  deaths  awaited  our Lord, the  prospect  of  which  filled  His  Soul  with  horror,  for  He  was truly man,  like  to  us  in  all  things,  sin  only  excepted. As Man, He prayed  to  His  Father:  “Let  this  chalice  pass”;  but  there  being  no sinful  rebelliousness  in  His  human  will,  it  remained  in  full  submission to the  divine  will,  and  He  added:  “Nevertheless,  not  as  I will,  but  as Thou  wilt”.

2. Our  Blessed  Lord  took  the  sins  of  men  on  Himself,  so  as  to offer  satisfaction  to  the  divine  justice  in  their  stead. Now that  He  was on the  point  of  completing  His  work  of  Redemption,  the  horrible  mass of evil,  abomination  and  guilt  came  before  His  holy  Soul  and  filled  it with  abhorrence  and  aversion. “Him, that  knew  no  sin,  for  us  God hath made  sin,  that  we  might  be  made  the  justice  of  God  in  Him” (2 Cor.  5,  21). What a horror  it  must  have  been  to  the  Most  Holy, the Most  Pure  One,  to  feel  Himself  laden  with  the  sins  of  the  whole world, the  sins  of  pride,  lust,  avarice  &amp;c.! If sorrow  for  the  shameful ingratitude of  sin  could  make  Magdalen  and  Peter  weep  bitter  tears, what a detestation  of  sin  must  He  have  felt  who  alone  knew  its  malice to the  full! “Jesus saw  all  our  individual  sins,  and  grieved  over  them as if  He  Himself  had  committed  them,  for  He  had  taken  on  Himself the burden  of  them  all. Truly, the  grief  of  this  alone  would  have  killed Him, if  He  had  not  held  back  His  soul,  in  order  that  He  might  endure still more,  and  drink  the  chalice  of  suffering  to  the  very  dregs. He would not  die  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  because  His  life  was  to  be  sacrificed on  Calvary;  but  He  shed  His  Blood,  the  bloody  sweat  of  His agony in  order  to  show  us  that  sin  alone,  without  the  help  of  any executioner, was  sufficient  to  strike  His  death-blow”  (Bossuet). Many indeed are  the  tears  which  have  been  caused,  since  the  Fall  of  our first parents,  by  sin  and  the  consequences  of  sin,  but  never  such  tears as these; for  “His  sweat  became  as  drops  of  blood  trickling  down upon the ground”. No one  can  understand,  as  did  our  Blessed  Lord,  the utter malice,  baseness,  and  ingratitude  of  sin. Oh, would  that  the  sweat of blood,  forced  from  our  dear  Lord’s  veins  by  His  sorrow  for  the  sins of men,  could  serve  to  make  us  more  sorry  for  having  sinned,  and more determined  to  hate  and  avoid  sin  for  the  future!