Thursdays in the Garden: Vigil Two: “Watch”

Welcome to our Vigil Two of a 7-Thursday Lenten Retreat of guided Holy Hours to console and spend time watching and praying with Our Lord in Gethsemane. Each vigil is unique and independent from the others. ( Please note: if you’re just joining us on the journey now, it’s fine to just pick up from this point on. But if you want to catch up on what you’ve missed, you can check out Vigil One here. ) Our time will make every Thursday of Lent special by going to Gethsemane in prayer. These Thursdays with Our Lord will make for a more beautiful Lent, very meaningful Triduum, and yet more joyous Easter.

You are in a place set apart where you can console and make reparation to Our Lord, where He was most alone and specifically asked for company! You are not here by accident. He is waiting for you. You’ve been invited… thank you for saying YES!

We invite you to bring your special intentions along with you as you pray, and please leave any prayer intentions below in comments.

O blessed Jesus, You who carried the immense burden of our sins that night, and atoned for them fully; grant me the most perfect gift of complete repentant love over my numerous sins, for which you did sweat blood.
O blessed Jesus, for the sake of your most bitter struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane, grant me final victory over all temptations, especially over those to which I am most subjected.

Amen”

Now we continue our journey in Gethsemane. We cultivate an awareness of the opportunity we’ve been given. It is, if we but notice, a privilege just to be there, awake with Him, ready to serve. Can you offer up whatever abandonment or agony you are facing as a gift to console Jesus of Gethsemane? He has offered His Agony for you.

An important part of the Holy Hour Devotion is taking time for contemplation. And so, as a Lectio Divina reflection:

Read, Meditate, Pray, and Contemplate the following passage of Scripture. Which word or phrase moves you the most spiritually, or speaks to you about something you are going through at this time? Which word calls to you to take new action in your life?

Then he said to them: My soul is sorrowful even unto death: stay you here, and watch with me.” (MT 26:38)

Watch is a summons to vigilance!

Ponder and pray: how do YOU “keep watch?“

Pope Benedict XVI was born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger on April 16, 1927 in Germany. When he was a little boy of five years old, he was in a group of children who greeted a visiting Cardinal with bouquets of flowers. When he met the Cardinal up close, and saw his attire, he was moved, and told his family that he wanted to be a Cardinal. Years later, in 1951, the very same Cardinal ordained Joseph Ratzinger and his brother, Georg, into the priesthood. He later told of the momentous day including this detail: “at the moment the elderly Archbishop laid his hands on me, a little bird – perhaps a lark – flew up from the altar in the high cathedral and trilled a little joyful song.”

After being ordained a priest, he enjoyed an illustrious career as a theologian. He was ordained a Bishop in 1977. He was a close confidante of Pope Saint John Paul II throughout that papacy.  Joseph Ratzinger become Pope Benedict XVI, from 2005 until 2013. On February 11th, 2013, he resigned the papacy, but promised to continue to serve the Church “through a life dedicated to prayer.”

In the remaining years of his life, Pope Benedict XVI experienced a kind of Gethsemane as Pope Emeritus, set apart from the world, still living in the Vatican, offering up all of his many sufferings–from physical distress and the pains of sickness and aging, to the worries of the world and the church that he still carried on his shoulders, now in isolation. He offered all of this agony up to Our Lord and so was truly close to Jesus of Gethsemane.

Reflection from “Jesus of Nazareth”
by Pope Benedict XVI

The summons to vigilance has already been a major theme of Jesus’ Jerusalem teaching, and now it emerges directly with great urgency. And yet, while it refers specifically to Gethsemane, it also points ahead to the later history of Christianity. Across the centuries, it is the drowsiness of the disciples that opens up possibilities for the power of the Evil One. Such drowsiness deadens the soul, so that it remains undisturbed by the power of the Evil One at work and by all the injustice and suffering ravaging the earth. In its state of numbness, the soul prefers not to see all this; it is easily persuaded that “things cannot be so bad,” so as to continue in the self-satisfaction of its own comfortable existence. Yet this deadening of souls, this lack of vigilance regarding both God’s closeness and the looming forces of darkness, is what gives the Evil One power in the world.

“On beholding the drowsy disciples, so disinclined to rouse themselves, the Lord says, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.’” This is a quotation from Psalm 43:5, and it calls to mind other verses from the Psalms.

In the Passion, too—on the Mount of Olives and on the Cross—Jesus uses passages from the Psalms to speak of himself and to address the Father. Yet these quotations have become fully personal; they have become the intimate words of Jesus Himself in His Agony. It is He who truly prays these psalms; He is their real subject. Jesus’ utterly personal prayer and his praying in the words of faithful, suffering Israel are here seamlessly united.”

Vindicate me, my God,
and plead my cause
against an unfaithful nation.
Rescue me from those who are
deceitful and wicked.
You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?
Send me your light and your faithful care,
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, who brings joy to my youth.
I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

Reflection: The School of Gethsemane: Keeping Watch for Each Other
by Annabelle Moseley

Gethsemane is a school. It teaches us how to be vigilant not only for Christ, but for those we love… as a way of loving Christ. Perhaps John the Beloved so well learned the lesson of what came from not keeping watch in Gethsemane (after all, he didn’t have the advantage of studying the Gospel ahead of time!) that he determined to now stay vigilant at the foot of the Cross. What the Master Teacher has given us in the School of Gethsemane is a model for how to face suffering, loneliness, and desolation… it’s by running into the Garden to be at his side. His loneliness has held a place for YOU to enter, so that you do not ever have to be really alone. His complete lack of human consolation in the Garden creates a space for YOU to offer Him some consolation HERE and NOW. We are prayerfully in Gethsemane, and if we now pause to offer even a simple “I love you” to Him, we can be part of the consolation the Angel brought Him.

The Master Teacher also teaches us how to help others avoid suffering alone by showing us how to be watchful of the needs of others, watching for ways we can console them.

Our call is to learn from the model of Gethsemane how to be that one friend that doesn’t fall asleep… to WATCH because drowsiness is pervasive… and contagious. A gift that comes from watching in Gethsemane is watching out for others for the sake of God to avoid what Pope Benedict XVI calls “the drowsiness of disciples.”

Here’s a real-life example of a man I knew who had the gift of a Gethsemane type of watchfulness. He was my grandfather. You may recall I told a story about him in Vigil One.

When I was nine, Grandpapa used to drive me to school everyday. I would be dropped off at his house a couple hours before school began, and our time together was pure joy. We were kindred spirits.

I didn’t like school much back then (but I kept that to myself). Each day I dreaded the parking lot as we’d approach the school and our fun would be over. Grandpapa would get out of his car each time and walk me in, and stand by my side and hold my hand until the first bell rang.

After I hugged him and walked down the hall to my classroom, I’d look back and see him still standing there… waving at me with his special wave. He didn’t have to be there. All the other parents and guardians were long gone by then. How did he know to stay that little bit longer? How did he know it was just what I needed? It was always that last wave that got me through the school day.

So when Grandpapa was diagnosed with only months to live… one of the hardest parts was that the face I always looked for down that hallway was now absent, and at home suffering. I couldn’t get him out of my mind. I was consumed with worry for him. My feelings found little comfort among childhood companions and the rabble of the playground. On rainy days, I sought and obtained permission to spend my recess watering the plants in the school atrium, pausing before each to remove the dead brown leaves and water the roots.

On fair days, I spent my time under a special tree set apart on the playground. It was a tree with low limbs that I could actually sit in and there I would pray for my grandfather. It brought me peace. In this lonely but beautiful garden, the seeds were planted that would connect me to Gethsemane… a way to keep watch with my grandfather during his travail, a way to still be with him by watching and praying, even during the school day when we were apart.

A Crown for Jesus in the Garden

Sonnet II of a Crown of Sonnets
from Awake with Christ, by Annabelle Moseley

All we’d been asked to do was stay awake.
And so I offer You my open eyes—
surrendered sleep submitted for the sake
of this, Your agonizing sacrifice.
I know too many times I’ve been the one
to drowse and doze when You would have me
see the way I could bring comfort, or have done
Your will instead of mine. Gethsemane—
Gethsemane, Place of the Olive Press:
Among your trees, press me, there at His side.
O Lord, may I approach, with faithfulness,
and sit with you upon this mountainside?
The night is dark, it’s cold, the leaves move slow.
The stars are crying eyes that burn and glow.

Out of the depths I have cried unto Thee, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice.
Let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.
If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark our iniquities: O Lord, who can abide it?
For with Thee there is mercy: and by reason of Thy law I have waited on Thee, O Lord.
My soul hath waited on His word: my soul hath hoped in the Lord.
From the morning watch even unto night: let Israel hope in the Lord.
For with the Lord there is mercy: and with Him is plenteous redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

It is said that Lectio Divina teaches us to “hear with the ear of our heart.” In a similar way, spending time in Gethsemane through the at-home Holy Hour with Christ prepares and teaches us to see with the eyes of our heart… remaining vigilant and keeping watch. Let’s not fall asleep when those we love need us. Let’s not rest until we find a way to console them. Let’s stay awake with Christ.

The watchful vigilance of Gethsemane also trains us to pay close attention to the choices we make each day, to serving God with the time we have, that He might always find us alert and ready to serve Him in whatever ways the Master requires of us. The theme of WATCHING is of extreme importance to Our Lord. We pause now for a second Lectio Divina. Read, Meditate, Pray and Contemplate the following passage of Scripture. Which word or phrase moves you the most spiritually or speaks to you about something you are going through at this time? Which word calls you to take new action in your life? As we consider these questions, let us be on the lookout for how heavily the word WATCH is emphasized. And what is Lent if not a reminder to WATCH more closely in our spiritual lives?

Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
Therefore, keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back… If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!'” Mk 13:33-37

Spending time in Gethsemane really is a strong spiritual training ground, isn’t it? Learning to Watch with the Master here helps prepare each of our souls, as one day… we will meet Him face to face.

How to do this:

• Outwardly be aware of your surroundings. Inwardly, observe the “signs of the times.”
• Be aware of current trends that counter Christ’s Truth and teachings. Be cautious of their lure.
• This week, try lightening or abstaining from TV viewing and social media.
• Avoid cursing and harsh language, gossip and needless critical words.
• Surround yourself in beauty. Look more closely to see those who need you. Yet practice custody of the eyes, avoiding gazing at what is not true, good, or beautiful.
• Be aware of the challenges of those we love. Stay awake with them in their gardens of Gethsemane. Think of how you might reach out to someone who is suffering.

Praise for Awake with Christ

…this book, truly a spiritual work of genius, helps place one on the narrow road to Heaven, a place of supernatural joy in both pleasant and painful times. You will be happy to stay awake with Jesus in this garden!” —Keith Berube, author of Mary the Beloved, Mary: The Rosary, the Relationship, and Dragons, and A Love Letter to Mary