Our Garden of Gethsemane

Due to a generous benefactor, our own Garden of Gesthemane is complete, giving us another place of prayer to reflect on the mystery of Jesus. With our everyday distractions, it is difficult to remember that over 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ, our Savior, did walk the earth. He was subjected to the same sufferings and triumphs, and knows what it means to be human. In contemplating the accounts of His life, and more specifically focusing on His Passion, we recognize that He shares in our pain.

If we focus on the events which occurred in the Garden of Gethsemane we see Christ eliciting intercession from His father, our Father, seeking strength and solace in His final moments. In the second part of Pope Benedict XVI’s book, Jesus of Nazareth, he describes the Agony in the Garden as one of the “most dramatic moments in the history of our Savior: it was here that Jesus experienced that final loneliness, the whole anguish of the human condition. Here the abyss of sin and evil penetrated deep within his soul. Here he was to quake with foreboding of his imminent death. Here he was kissed by the betrayer. Here he was abandoned by all the disciples. Here he wrestled with his destiny for my sake.”

In our Garden of Gesthemane, the bronze statues, of Jesus, Peter, James and John, remind us that we are not alone in our times of struggle. Similarly, we all must wrestle in the abyss of sin and evil, looking to the Father for courage, strength and comfort. Here, we will have a place of prayer and meditation so that we, like Christ, have a place to go, knowing that He is with us, always understanding, always loving, always grieving with us in our pain.