Fourteenth Day
And now, after the Last Supper, the Lord goes forth with His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemani, where He is so overcome with fear and sorrow, that He seems to cling to the society of the apostles for consolation. Falling down on His face, He prays that the chalice might pass, yet not as He would, but as the Father willed it. The disciples slept as if they had lost all sympathy for the Lord. But why is Our Saviour so distressed? Why is He so downcast? The sins and the consequences of sin appear before Him so vividly, and He is so overwhelmed with them, that He feels His soul oppressed unto death. He sees all the misery of humanity, all the cruelty practised by man, all the ignorance and degradation of the world; and for this He must suffer, to bring God’s mercy again to man. He is to take upon Himself all the sins of mankind. He is to be degraded to the level of a slave, to die the same death, and all for us.
Prayer.
Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc.