Pray The Rosary – The First Sorrowful Mystery

First Sorrowful Mystery – The Agony in the Garden.

There are many who doubt Jesus’s humanity. The first sorrowful mystery of the Rosary and supporting scripture passages, emphasizes that Jesus was fully human who felt pain and agony.  It is when Jesus sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane when the time of his crucifixion was fast approaching.

³⁶Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
³⁹Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

(Mt.26:36-39)

Meditation

All of us at some point in time with experience great anguish, something that really caused us a great deal of pain and that we wished we never had to experience. Sometimes we may grope in self-pity, sometimes we may despair.  As we meditate on the First Sorrowful Mystery, we see that Jesus too had his period of agony when in prayer, he went before his Father praying that this cup would pass him by.  He took some of his companions with him hopefully to provide some support; but while he was in great anguish, they were fast asleep.  Jesus must have felt very disappointed and alone. But in spite of it all, Jesus did not despair.  In fact, he prayed, ‘Father not my will but let your will be done.’ Jesus recognized  a higher call in his suffering. He knew that his suffering would not be for nothing. It was going to be very painful but it would not be in vain.

Like Jesus, when our sufferings come, it is perfectly fine to cry out to God, to ask him to please take it away; but like Jesus, our prayer should not stop there. Regardless of how difficult it is or how painful it might be, our prayer should always be for God’s will to be done in us and through us – even through our suffering and pain.

Prayer

Mother Mary, you were a Woman of many sorrows.  Please pray for us that we may be given the grace to endure whatever sufferings life may send our way, always trusting that God our Heavenly Father will not give me more than we can bear. Pray for us O Mother of God, that no matter how difficult life may be, we would always seek to be a source of strength and comfort to others.