‘Through the tough times’

Whatever demands Jesus may make on our following of Him, He wants to be at all times truly a source of comfort, of consolation and of forgiveness and reconciliation for others.

Whatever demands life may be making on us, He is there too to be called on. When we are in difficulties and pain, we can ask Him to take them away. He may not always do so, but we can expect Him to restore our peace. For we need to remember that Jesus is not to be seen as an escape from our problems. Sometimes He will give us peace not from our pain but within our pain. There can be the danger that we expect Jesus, or His Mother, or some other saint, or the Church to be there to wave a magic wand that wipes away all our problems, all difficulties, all obstacles. Jesus’ own life is an excellent example.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, faced with imminent arrest, torture and execution, He did not want to have to go through it. This is a perfectly normal human reaction to the threat of death. Anything else would be very strange (yet one sometimes hears people speak as if Jesus actually wanted to go through all those terrible experiences). Jesus begged his Father to spare Him going through this appalling ordeal. “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me,” he prayed but then, at the end of his prayer, said: “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matt 26:39) The Father was silent and His Will was clear. Jesus should face what is coming. And, when sometime later, Jesus rises from his prayer, He is a very different person. From that moment on and for the rest of his Passion experience He reveals nothing but quiet dignity & strength in the face of all kinds of abuse and humiliations.

He is full of an inner peace, which had come once He had said that total ‘Yes’ to His Father. His prayer in the garden had been answered, although not in the way he originally requested.

Here we might say we have the two sides of the Gospel coming together. On the one hand, Jesus makes that absolute and total surrender of Himself into God’s hands but, at the same time, experiences the “rest” that comes to those who “labour and are overburdened”.

Adapted from The Living Word, Redemptorist Publications