A Maundy Thursday Reflection and Introductions to Reflections for the Paschal Triduum and Easter Monday

The Last Supper that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ shared with His Apostles in the Upper Room on the first Maundy Thursday marked the beginning of the New and Eternal Testament of the New Moses Who is Himself, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The first Moses, a prefiguring of Our Lord, had led the Chosen People out of Egypt, where they had been enslaved for over four centuries. The new Moses, Our Lord, used the occasion of this Last Supper, in which He offers us His own Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, to lead us out of our enslavement to sin and eternal death, to make it possible for us to pass over from the desert journey of life to the eternal Canaan, Heaven.

The priesthood of heredity of the Old Dispensation is superseded by the Priesthood and Victimhood of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, which He entrusts to mere men until the end of the world to be the instruments through which the graces He won for us on Calvary are channeled into human souls by the working of the Third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, God the Holy Ghost, and through most loving hands of Our Lady, the Mediatrix of All Graces. This day truly marks the replacement of the old wineskins by the new wineskin of Faith in the Son of God made Man in Our Lady’s Virginal and Immaculate Womb, He Who came to earth precisely to undergo His Passion and Death for our salvation.

The sacerdotal, hierarchical priesthood of the New and Eternal Testament makes it possible for mere men to make Our Lord incarnate under theappearance of the mere elements of this earth, bread and wine. God calls men to serve Him in the priesthood to re-present in an unbloody manner at altars of sacrifice. Conscious of this fact, therefore, men who have been ordained to the priesthood must strive for the holiness of Our Lord Himself. They enter into the holy of holies every day as they walk in with their biretta to transcend time, to make present in time the one Sacrifice of the Cross that was offered by the God-Man Himself to His Co-Eternal Co-Equal God the Father in Spirit and in Truth on Good Friday. The sanctuary in which Holy Mass is offered is symbolic of many things, chief among them the distinction between eternity and time, and the distinction between the sacerdotal, hierarchical priesthood of the ordained priest and the common priesthood each of us by means of our baptism.

We must pray for our priests, especially in these troubling times of apostasy and betrayal when those priests who are good to their sheep while remaining faithful to the patrimony of Holy Mother Church, are as calumniated today as Our Lord was by the members of the Sanhedrin who plotted with Judas Iscariot to have Him arrested and put to death. However, the true bishops and priests of the Catholic catacombs understand that the priesthood instituted by Our Lord on the first Maundy Thursday involves the Cross. We must help our priests carry their crosses as they sacrifice themselves as other Christs for us and our sanctification and salvation no matter the persecutions and insults and calumnies that come their way.

Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., explained the events at the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday that led up to Our Divine Redeemer's institution of the sacerdotal, hierarchical priesthood of the New Dispensation:

The Church intends, on this day, to renew, in a most solemn manner, the mystery of the last Supper: for our Lord Himself, on this occasion, of the institution of the blessed Sacrament, said to His apostles: ‘Do this in commemoration of Me.’ Let us, therefore, resume the Gospel narrative.

Jesus is in the supper chamber, where the Paschal lamb is to be eaten. All the apostles are with Him; Judas is there, also, but his crime is not known to the rest. Jesus approaches the table, on which the lamb is served. His disciples stand around Him. The ceremonies prescribed by God to Moses are religiously observed. At the beginning of the repast, Jesus speaks these words to His apostles: ‘With desire I have desired to eat this Pasch with you, before I suffer.’ In saying this, He does not imply that the Pasch of this year is intrinsically better than those that have preceded it; but that it is dearer to Him, inasmuch, as it is to give to the institution of the new Pasch, which He has prepared for mankind, and which He is now going to give them as a last gift; for, as St. John says, having loved his own, who were in the world, he loved them unto the end.’

During the repast, Jesus, who reads the hearts of all men, utters these words, which cause great consternation among the disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you that one of you is about to betray Me—he that dippeth his hand with Me in the dish, he shall betray Me.’ The sadness with which He speaks is enough to soften any heart; and Judas, who knows his Master’s goodness, feels that they imply a merciful pardon, if he will but ask it. But no: the passion of avarice has enslaved his soul, and he, like the rest of the apostles, says to Jesus: ‘Is it I, Rabbi?’ Jesus answers him in a whisper, I order not to compromise him before his brethren: ‘Thou hast said it!’ But Judas yields not. He intends to remain with Jesus, until the hour comes for betraying Him. Thus, the august mystery, which is on the point of being celebrated, is to be insulted by his presence!

The legal repast is over. It is followed by a feat, which again brings the disciples around their divine Master. It was the custom in the eat, that guests should repose two and two on couches round the table: these have been provided by the disciple who had placed his house at Jesus’ service. John is on the same couch as Jesus, so that it is easy for him learn his hand on his Master’s breast. Peter is on the next couch, on the other side of Jesus, who is thus between the two disciples whom He had sent, in the morning, to prepare the Pasch, and who, as we have already observed, represent faith and love. The second repast is a sorrowful one, in consequence of Jesus having told the guests that one of them is a traitor. The innocent and affectionate Joh is overwhelmed with grief, and seeks consolation on the Heart of his dear Lord, whom some one is about to deliver to His enemies.

But the apostles little expect a third supper: Jesus has not told them of His intention; but He had made a promise, and He would fulfil it before His Passion. Speaking, one day, to the people, He had said: ‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever, and the bread that I will give, is My Flesh for the life of the world. . . My Flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My, Blood, abideth in Me, and I in Him.’ The time has come for the fulfillment of this His loving promise. But as it was both His Flesh and His Blood that He promised us, He waited till the time of His sacrifice. His Passion has begun; He is sold to His enemies; His life is already in their hands—He may at once, therefore, offer Himself in sacrifice, and give to His disciples the very Flesh and Blood of the Victim.

As soon as the second repast is over, Jesus suddenly rises, and, to the astonishment of His apostles, takes off His upper garment, girds Himself as a servant with a towel, pours water into a basin, and prepares to wash the feet of the guests. It was the custom, in the east, to wash one’s feet before taking part in a feast; it was considered as the very extreme of hospitality when the master of the house did this service to his guest. Jesus is about to regale His apostles with a divine banquet; he wishes to treat them with every possible mark of welcome and attention. But in this, as in every other action of His, there is a fund of instruction; He would teach us, by what He is now doing, how great is the purity wherewith we should approach the holy Table. ‘He that is washed,’ says He, ‘needeth not but to wash his feet;’ as though He would say: ‘The holiness of this Table is such, that those who come to it should not only be free from grievous sins, but they should, moreover, strive to cleanse their souls from those lesser faults, which come from contact with the world, and are like the dust that covers the foot of one that walk on the high-way.’ We will explain further on the teachings conveyed by this action of our Lord.

It is with Peter, the future head of His Church, that Jesus begins. The apostle protests; he declares that he will never permit his Master to humble Himself so low as this: but he is obliged to yield. The other apostles (who, as Peter himself, are reclining upon their couches) receive the same mark of love: Jesus comes to each of them in turn, and washes their feet. Judas Is not expected; he has just received a second warning from his merciful Master; for Jesus, addressing Himself to all the apostles, said to them: ‘You are clean, but not all’: but the reproach produced no effected on the hardened heart. Having finished washing the feet of the twelve, Jesus resumes His place, side by side with John.

Then taking a piece of unleavened bread, that had remained over from the feast, He raises His eyes to heaven, blesses the bread, breaks it, and distributes it to His disciples saying to them: ‘Take ye, and eat; this is My Body’. The apostles take the bread, which is now changed into the Body of their divine Master; they eat: and Jesus is now not only with them, but in them. But, as this sacred mystery is not only the most holy of the Sacraments, but moreover a true Sacrifice; and as a Sacrifice requires the shedding of blood; our Jesus takes the cup, and changing the wine into His own Blood, He passes it round to His disciples, saying to them: ‘Drink ye all, of this; for this is My Blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many, unto remission of sins’. The apostles drink from the sacred chalice thus proffered them! When it comes to Judas, he too partakes of it, but he drinks his own damnation, as he ate his own judgment when he received the Bread of life. Jesus, however, mercifully offers the traitor another grace, by saying, as he gives the cup to His disciples: ‘The hand of him that betrayeth Me is with Me on the table’.

Peter is struck by Jesus thus frequently alluding to the crime, which is to be committed by one of the twelve. He is determined to find out who the traitor is. Not daring to ask Jesus, at whose right hand he is sitting, he makes a sign to Joh, who is on the other side, and begs him to put the question: John leans on Jesus’ breast, and says to Him in a whisper: ‘Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answers him in a equally suppressed tone: ‘He to whom I shall reach bread dipped.’ And having taken one of the pieces of bread that remained over from the repast, He dipped it, and gave it to Judas. It was one more grace offered and refused, for the evangelist adds: ‘And after the morsel, satan entered into him.’ Jesus again addresses him saying: ‘That which thou dost, do quickly.’ The wretch then leaves the room, and sets about the perpetration of his crime.

Such is the history of the last Supper, of which we celebrate the anniversary this day. Bu there is one circumstance of the deepest interest to us, to which we have, so far, made only an indirect allusion. The institution of the holy Eucharist, both as a Sacrament and a Sacrifice, is followed by another: the institution of a new priesthood. How could our Saviour have said: ‘Except that you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you,’ unless He had resolved to establish a ministry upon earth, whereby He would renew, even to the end of time, the great mystery He thus commands us to receive? He begins it to-day, in the cenacle. The twelve apostles are the first to partake of it; but observe what He says to them: ‘Do this in commemoration of Me.’ By these words, He gives them the power to change bread in His Body, and wine into His Blood; and this sublime power shall be perpetuated in the Church, by holy Ordination, even to the end of the world. Jesus will continue to operate, by the ministry of moral and sinful men, the mystery of the last Supper. By thus enriching His Church with the one and perpetual Sacrifice, he also gives us the means of abiding in Him, for He gives us, as He promised, the Bread of heaven. To-day, we keep the anniversary, not only of the institution of the holy Eucharist, but also of the equally wonderful institution of the Christian priesthood. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Volume 6—Passiontide and Holy Week, pp. 366-372.)

Although this is the day on which Our Lord entered into His Sacred Passion to pay back in His Sacred Humanity the debt of human sin that was owed to His Co-Equal, Co-Eternal God the Father, it is, at least until the evening hours, a day of moderate rejoicing, which is why the Gloria in excelsis Deo is sung at Holy Mass. This is the day that the Word Who became Flesh in His Most Blessed Mother's Virginal and Immaculate Womb by the power of God the Holy Ghost at the Annunciation the power to mere men to continue in an unbloody manner his one Bloody Sacrifice on the Cross until the end of time. Our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Priesthood this very day, and we must be ever mindful of these gifts and ever grateful for Our Lord's merciful and loving institution of them to effect our sanctification and salvation.

Pope Pius XI noted the following in Ad Catholici Sacerdotii, December 20, 1935, about the dignity of the priest, the one who channels the graces that the Divine Redeemer won on the wood of the Holy Cross on Good Friday into the souls of the faithful:

The human race has always felt the need of a priesthood: of men, that is, who have the official charge to be mediators between God and humanity, men who should consecrate themselves entirely to this mediation, as to the very purpose of their lives, men set aside to offer to God public prayers and sacrifices in the name of human society. For human society as such is bound to offer to God public and social worship. It is bound to acknowledge in Him its Supreme Lord and first beginning, and to strive toward Him as to its last end, to give Him thanks and offer Him propitiation. In fact, priests are to be found among all peoples whose customs are known, except those compelled by violence to act against the most sacred laws of human nature. They may, indeed, be in the service of false divinities; but wherever religion is professed, wherever altars are built, there also is a priesthood surrounded by particular marks of honor and veneration.

Yet in the splendor of Divine Revelation the priest is seen invested with a dignity far greater still. This dignity was foreshadowed of old by the venerable and mysterious figure of Melchisedech, Priest and King, whom St. Paul recalls as prefiguring the Person and Priesthood of Christ Our Lord Himself.

The priest, according to the magnificent definition given by St. Paul is indeed a man Ex hominibus assumptus, “taken from amongst men,” yet pro hominibus constituitur in his quae sunt ad Deum, “ordained for men in the things that appertain to God”: his office is not for human things, and things that pass away, however lofty and valuable these may seem; but for things divine and enduring. These eternal things may, perhaps, through ignorance, be scorned and contemned, or even attacked with diabolical fury and malice, as sad experience has often proved, and proves even today; but they always continue to hold the first place in the aspirations, individual and social, of humanity, because the human heart feels irresistibly it is made for God and is restless till it rests in Him.

The Old Law, inspired by God and promulgated by Moses, set up a priesthood, which was, in this manner, of divine institution; and determined for it every detail of its duty, residence and rite. It would seem that God, in His great care for them, wished to impress upon the still primitive mind of the Jewish people one great central idea. This idea throughout the history of the chosen people, was to shed its light over all events, laws, ranks and offices: the idea of sacrifice and priesthood. These were to become, through faith in the future Messias, a source of hope, glory, power and spiritual liberation. The temple of Solomon, astonishing in richness and splendor, was still more wonderful in its rites and ordinances. Erected to the one true God as a tabernacle of the divine Majesty upon earth, it was also a sublime poem sung to that sacrifice and that priesthood, which, though type and symbol, was still so august, that the sacred figure of its High Priest moved the conqueror Alexander the Great, to bow in reverence; and God Himself visited His wrath upon the impious king Balthasar because he made revel with the sacred vessels of the temple. Yet that ancient priesthood derived its greatest majesty and glory from being a foretype of the Christian priesthood; the priesthood of the New and eternal Covenant sealed with the Blood of the Redeemer of the world, Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.

The Apostle of the Gentiles thus perfectly sums up what may be said of the greatness, the dignity and the duty of the Christian priesthood: Sic nos existimet homo Ut ministros Christi et dispensatores mysteriorum Dei — “Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and the dispensers of the mysteries of God.” The priest is the minister of Christ, an instrument, that is to say, in the hands of the Divine Redeemer. He continues the work of the redemption in all its world-embracing universality and divine efficacy, that work that wrought so marvelous a transformation in the world. Thus the priest, as is said with good reason, is indeed “another Christ”; for, in some way, he is himself a continuation of Christ. “As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you,” is spoken to the priest, and hence the priest, like Christ, continues to give “glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will.”

For, in the first place, as the Council of Trent teaches, Jesus Christ at the Last Supper instituted the sacrifice and the priesthood of the New Covenant: “our Lord and God, although once and for all, by means of His death on the altar of the cross, He was to offer Himself to God the Father, that thereon He might accomplish eternal Redemption; yet because death was not to put an end to his priesthood, at the Last Supper, the same night in which He was betrayed in order to leave to His beloved spouse the Church, a sacrifice which should be visible (as the nature of man requires), which should represent that bloody sacrifice, once and for all to be completed on the cross, which should perpetuate His memory to the end of time, and which should apply its saving power unto the remission of sins we daily commit, showing Himself made a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech, offered to God the Father, under the appearance of bread and wine, His Body and Blood, giving them to the apostles (whom He was then making priests of the New Covenant) to be consumed under the signs of these same things, and commanded the Apostles and their successors in the priesthood to offer them, by the words ‘Do this in commemoration of Me.’ “

And thenceforth, the Apostles, and their successors in the priesthood, began to lift to heaven that “clean oblation” foretold by Malachy, through which the name of God is great among the gentiles. And now, that same oblation in every part of the world and at every hour of the day and night, is offered and will continue to be offered without interruption till the end of time: a true sacrificial act, not merely symbolical, which has a real efficacy unto the reconciliation of sinners with the Divine Majesty.

“Appeased by this oblation, the Lord grants grace and the gift of repentance, and forgives iniquities and sins, however great.” The reason of this is given by the same Council in these words: “For there is one and the same Victim, there is present the same Christ who once offered Himself upon the Cross, who now offers Himself by the ministry of priests, only the manner of the offering being different.” (Pope Pius XI, Ad Catholici Sacerdotii, December 20, 1935.) 

Our priests make it possible for us to to be fed with the true Manna Who came from Heaven to redeem us. The Chosen People ate the manna in the desert to feed their bodies. We, however, have the true Bread came down from Heaven to feed us, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. By virtue of the events of the Easter Triduum which we enter into on Maundy Thursday, He left us with all of the supernatural helps necessary to follow Him on a daily basis, to resist temptation, to grow in holiness–and by doing so to provide an example to the world of fidelity to His Holy Cross. The Mass, the perfect prayer, which was consummated on the wood of the Holy Cross on Good Friday, provides us with an opportunity every day of the year except on Good Friday to be present as His one Sacrifice to the Father in Spirit and in Truth as it is offered in an unbloody manner at the hands of an alter Christus. We are truly present at Calvary during each Mass we are privileged to hear.

Our love of the Sacrament of the Eucharist instituted at the Last Supper is not confined to the Mass, however.

Just as Our Lord spent nine months as the prisoner of the tabernacle of Our Lady’s Virginal and Immaculate womb, so does He remain the prisoner of each tabernacle in every true Catholic Church until the end of time by His Real Presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament. We have the opportunity immediately after the procession today, Maundy Thursday, to worship Our Lord in the repository, calling to mind the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane He underwent this night prior to His arrest, trial, imprisonment, scourging at the pillar, and crowning with thorns.

Yes, that opportunity is available to us every day, with the exception of the time after the morning of Good Friday until after the Mass on Holy Saturday. But today, Maundy Thursday, is the day above all over days to keep company with Our Lord in His Real Presence as He waits us to adore Him in the Tabernacle (the Repository) on the Altar of Reposition. We shall be keeping Our Lord company not only with those who happen to be with us in a particular church today. We shall be keeping Him company with Saints Peter, James and John, each of whom fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, and with Our Lady, Saint Joseph and all of the angels and the saints.

Which one of us would not make the time to keep one of our loved ones company as he or she was about to undergo some terrible ordeal? Haven’t we made time in our lives to comfort those we loved who were about to undergo surgery, as well as those in our families who were on the verge of dying? Does it not make sense for us to keep company with Our Lord on the actual date of the first Maundy Thursday, yes, the night in which the very thought of coming into contact with our sins caused Him to sweat droplets of His Most Precious Blood?

Pope Leo XIII explained the necessity of devotion to Our Lord’s Real Presence to societies as well as individuals, something that one is not going to read in, say, any “conservative” journal. “For as men and states alike necessarily have their being from god, so they can do nothing good except in God through Jesus Christ, through whom every best and choicest gift has ever proceeded and proceeds.” These passages from Pope Leo’s Mirae Caritatis, May 28, 1902, indicate the connection between Eucharistic piety and social order:

Indeed it is greatly to be desired that those men would rightly esteem and would make due provision for life everlasting, whose industry or talents or rank have put it in their power to shape the course of human events. But alas! we see with sorrow that such men too often proudly flatter themselves that they have conferred upon this world as it were a fresh lease of life and prosperity, inasmuch as by their own energetic action they are urging it on to the race for wealth, to a struggle for the possession of commodities which minister to the love of comfort and display. And yet, whithersoever we turn, we see that human society, if it be estranged from God, instead of enjoying that peace in its possessions for which it had sought, is shaken and tossed like one who is in the agony and heat of fever; for while it anxiously strives for prosperity, and trusts to it alone, it is pursuing an object that ever escapes it, clinging to one that ever eludes the grasp. For as men and states alike necessarily have their being from God, so they can do nothing good except in God through Jesus Christ, through whom every best and choicest gift has ever proceeded and proceeds. But the source and chief of all these gifts is the venerable Eucharist, which not only nourishes and sustains that life the desire whereof demands our most strenuous efforts, but also enhances beyond measure that dignity of man of which in these days we hear so much. For what can be more honourable or a more worthy object of desire than to be made, as far as possible, sharers and partakers in the divine nature? Now this is precisely what Christ does for us in the Eucharist, wherein, after having raised man by the operation of His grace to a supernatural state, he yet more closely associates and unites him with Himself. For there is this difference between the food of the body and that of the soul, that whereas the former is changed into our substance, the latter changes us into its own; so that St. Augustine makes Christ Himself say: “You shall not change Me into yourself as you do the food of your body, but you shall be changed into Me” (confessions 1. vii., c. x.).

Moreover, in this most admirable Sacrament, which is the chief means whereby men are engrafted on the divine nature, men also find the most efficacious help towards progress in every kind of virtue. And first of all in faith. In all ages faith has been attacked; for although it elevates the human mind by bestowing on it the knowledge of the highest truths, yet because, while it makes known the existence of divine mysteries, it yet leaves in obscurity the mode of their being, it is therefore thought to degrade the intellect. But whereas in past times particular articles of faith have been made by turns the object of attack; the seat of war has since been enlarged and extended, until it has come to this, that men deny altogether that there is anything above and beyond nature. Now nothing can be better adapted to promote a renewal of the strength and fervour of faith in the human mind than the mystery of the Eucharist, the “mystery of faith,” as it has been most appropriately called. For in this one mystery the entire supernatural order, with all its wealth and variety of wonders, is in a manner summed up and contained: “He hath made a remembrance of His wonderful works, a merciful and gracious Lord; He hath given food to them that fear Him” (Psalm cx, 4-5). For whereas God has subordinated the whole supernatural order to the Incarnation of His Word, in virtue whereof salvation has been restored to the human race, according to those words of the Apostle; “He hath purposed…to re-establish all things in Christ, that are in heaven and on earth, in Him” (Eph. i., 9-10), the Eucharist, according to the testimony of the holy Fathers, should be regarded as in a manner a continuation and extension of the Incarnation. For in and by it the substance of the incarnate Word is united with individual men, and the supreme Sacrifice offered on Calvary is in a wondrous manner renewed, as was signified beforehand by Malachy in the words: “In every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to My name a pure oblation” (Mal. i., 11). And this miracle, itself the very greatest of its kind, is accompanied by innumerable other miracles; for here all the laws of nature are suspended; the whole substance of the bread and wine are changed into the Body and the Blood; the species of bread and wine are sustained by the divine power without the support of any underlying substance; the Body of Christ is present in many places at the same time, that is to say, wherever the Sacrament is consecrated. And in order that human reason may the more willingly pay its homage to this great mystery, there have not been wanting, as an aid to faith, certain prodigies wrought in His honour, both in ancient times and in our own, of which in more than one place there exist public and notable records and memorials. It is plain that by this Sacrament faith is fed, in it the mind finds its nourishment, the objections of rationalists are brought to naught, and abundant light is thrown on the supernatural order.

But that decay of faith in divine things of which We have spoken is the effect not only of pride, but also of moral corruption. For if it is true that a strict morality improves the quickness of man’s intellectual powers, and if on the other hand, as the maxims of pagan philosophy and the admonitions of divine wisdom combine to teach us, the keenness of the mind is blunted by bodily pleasures, how much more, in the region of revealed truths, do these same pleasures obscure the light of faith, or even, by the just judgment of God, entirely extinguish it. For these pleasures at the present day an insatiable appetite rages, infecting all classes as with an infectious disease, even from tender years. Yet even for so terrible an evil there is a remedy close at hand in the divine Eucharist. For in the first place it puts a check on lust by increasing charity, according to the words of St. Augustine, who says, speaking of charity, “As it grows, lust diminishes; when it reaches perfection, lust is no more” (De diversis quaestionibus, Ixxxiii., q. 36). Moreover the most chaste flesh of Jesus keeps down the rebellion of our flesh, as St. Cyril of Alexandria taught, “For Christ abiding in us lulls to sleep the law of the flesh which rages in our members” (Lib. iv., c. ii., in Joan., vi., 57). Then too the special and most pleasant fruit of the Eucharist is that which is signified in the words of the prophet: “What is the good thing of Him,” that is, of Christ, “and what is His beautiful thing, but the corn of the elect and the wine that engendereth virgins” (Zach. ix., 17), producing, in other words, that flower and fruitage of a strong and constant purpose of virginity which, even in an age enervated by luxury, is daily multiplied and spread abroad in the Catholic Church, with those advantages to religion and to human society, wherever it is found, which are plain to see. (Pope Leo XIII, Mirae Caritatis, May 28, 1902.)

Love grows the more it has contact with its object. That is why the rush of new love impels an engaged couple to spend as much time as they can with each other. That is why some married couples, who have cooperated with the graces available to them in the Sacrament of Matrimony, never tire of each other’s presence, growing in mutual love and respect as the years progress. But no human love is the equal of the unsurpassed love that God showed for us when He suffered to redeem our sinful human nature. And we are to have a love for no one human being, not even a spouse, which surpasses our love for Christ and His Holy Church. For we can love no other person authentically if our love is not firmly anchored in an unshakable love for the Blessed Trinity.

Our Lord’s love for us is such that He held back nothing during the events which began during His Passion on Maundy Thursday. Can we not do the same for Him, developing a continuing, life long habit of visiting Him in His Real Presence? If we want to spend all eternity with Him in Heaven, is it not a good idea to show Him how much we love Him by spending time with Him now on earth, by offering up our prayers and petitions for our loved ones and ourselves, by praying fervently to Our Lady as slaves who are totally consecrated to her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart that we may let the rays of her Divine Son’s Sacred Heart help us become instruments of mercy in a merciless world?

Although we were not present with Saints Peter, James, and John as they slept through the first Holy Hour with Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemani, we have the opportunity, as noted earlier, today, Maundy Thursday, to keep company with them and Him following the conclusion of Holy Mass. Our Lord sweated droplets of His Most Precious Blood as He contemplated fearfully coming into contact in His Sacred Humanity with the very antithesis of His Sacred Divinity: sin. He saw the sins of every human being from the beginning until the end of time as He was comforted by an angel during His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. He saw each one of our sins. Unlike the three Apostles who were taken up by Our Lord to Mount Tabor as He was transfigured in glory before their eyes, we must not fall asleep as we keep Our Lord company during the hour of His Agony in the Garden. We must meditate on the horror of our own sins and on the love Our Lord wanted to show us in fulfilling the Father’s will by paying back the blood debt of our own sins on the wood of the Holy Cross tomorrow, Good Friday.

The New and Eternal passover, inaugurated on the first Maundy Thursday nearly 2,000 years ago, enters us deep into Our Lord’s Passion. It is time for us now to withdraw from the mundane and profane. It is time for us to concentrate on how precious the salvation of each one of our souls is to Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is time for us to let Him lead us out of the wilderness of our own lives, so frequently characterized by inattention to a concern for our spiritual growth. It is time for realize that without Him we can do nothing, without His Cross we have no hope for life.

Rejoicing in the institution of the Holy Priesthood and the Holy Eucharist, resolving to serve each other with the humility which motivated Our Lord to wash the feet of His Apostles, pledging to be ever more conscious of our need for spiritual reform by the use of the Sacred Tribunal of Penance, we must enter into this Easter Triduum in 2022 full of gratitude. Gratitude for having been made in the image and likeness of the Most Blessed Trinity. Gratitude for having been redeemed on the wood of the Cross. Gratitude for having been brought to the baptismal font so that we could have the gift of the true Faith impressed on our immortal souls, a gift that would not have been possible had not Our Lord left the Upper Room after the Last Supper to do God the Father’s will.

How much do we love Our Lord?

How much do we want to follow Him?

How much do we appreciate what He suffered that evening, sufferings we imposed on His physical Body in time then–and continue to impose on His Holy Church today? (See Father Maurice Meschler's refections on Our Lord's Agony in the Garden, which is appended below for those readers who do not want to read today's original commentary.)

Holy Thursday is the time to enter deep into the mystery of God’s love. That is the time to realize that we are so special to the Triune God that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity made Man was ready to offer Himself this very night into the hands of His own creatures to die for us! He was willing to answer for every sin committed by every human being who would live from the beginning to the end of time. He was willing to remain silent when being accused of one wild accusation after another because He did not want to betray us!

We betrayed Him that night 1,989 years ago. We betray Him, in little and big ways, today. But we can help to repair the damage of our betrayals this Maundy Thursday, April 14, 2022. We can resolve to rejoice in the mystery of the Holy Priesthood and the Holy Eucharist. We can resolve to keep company with Him after the last Mass to be offered prior to the Holy Saturday Mass to meditate more fully on how we need His help to live more fully in His image. We can resolve to keep vigil with Him today, Maundy Thursday, as He undergoes His trial, spends time in prison as a common criminal–and is led the next morning, Good Friday, before the Judgment Seat of Pontius Pilate.

To do this, however, we must be clean. Dom Prosper Gueranger noted this in the passages cited above, but he elaborated upon the necessity of spiritual cleanness in his reflections on Saint Paul's Epistle to the Corithinians and the Gospel according to Saint John that are read in today's Holy Mass:

On the Epistle:

After having rebuked the Christians of Corinth for the abuses into which they had fallen at the feasts (called Agape), which had been introduced by a spirit of fraternal charity but were soon abolished, the holy apostle relates the history of the last Supper. His account, which corresponds throughout with that given by the evangelists, rests upon the testimony of our blessed Saviour Himself, who deigned to appear the apostle does not omit to give the words, whereby our Lord empowered His apostles to renew what He Himself had done: he tells us that, as often as the priest consecrates the Body and Blood of Christ, he shows the death of the Lord, thus expressing the oneness there is between the Sacrifice of the cross and that of the altar. We have explained this important doctrine in the sixth chapter of the introduction to this present volume. The consequence to be drawn from this teaching is evident: it is contained in these words of the apostle: Let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of the chalice. What could be more just, than that, having to be initiated in so intimate a manner with the history of the redemption and to contract so close a union with the divine Victim, we should banish from our hearts sin and affection to sin? ‘He that eateth my Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in Him,’ says our Lord. Could there be a closer union? God and man abiding in each other? Oh! how carefully ought we to purify our soul, and render our will conformable with the will of Jesus, before approaching this divine banquet, to which He invites us! Let us beseech Him to prepare us Himself, as He did His apostles by washing their feet. He will grant us our request, not only to-day, but as often as we go to holy Communion, provided we are docile to His grace. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Volume 6—Passiontide and Holy Week, pp. 377-378.)

On the Gospel:

Our Saviour’s washing the feet of His disciples before permitting them to partake of His divine mystery, conveys an instruction to us. The apostle has just been telling us, that we should prove ourselves; and here we have Jesus saying to His disciples: you are clean. It is true, He adds: but not all: just as the apostle warns us, that there are some who render themselves guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. God forbid we should ever be of the number! Let us prove ourselves; let us sound the depths of our conscience, before approaching the holy Table. Mortal sin, and the affection to mortal sin, would change the Bread of life into a deadly poison for our souls. But if respect for the holiness of God, who is about to enter within us by Holy Communion, should make us shudder at the thought of receiving Him in the state of mortal sin which robs the soul of the image of God and gives her that of satan, ought not that same respect to urge us to purify our souls from venial sins, which dim the beauty of grace? Le us watch over our senses, and the affections of our hearts. Let us wash away these stains by a sincere confession, by penance, by sorrow, and by humility; that thus we may worthily receive the adorable Sacrament, and derive from it the fullness of its power and grace. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Volume 6—Passiontide and Holy Week,pp. 380-381.)

Let us let Him wipe the dirt off of our feet in the Sacrament of Penance. And, with Our Lady’s prayers, let us be ready to pass over that night–and every day and night of our lives–from death to eternal life by our fidelity to Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and His Holy Church, especially by our devotion to spending time before His Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament and by praying as many Rosaries each day as our states in life permit.

Protected by Our Lady, who was with her Divine Son to the very last, may we do the Father’s will for us right now: to let the new Moses once more lead us out from a world of death and sin to the life of true peace and joy that comes only from being made anew each day by the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, extended to us in an unbloody manner by other Christs every day save one by the true Church in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Viva Cristo Rey! Vivat Christus Rex!

Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

APPENDIX A

From The New English Edition of The Mystical City of God on The Last Supper

445. Our Redeemer proceeded on his way to Jerusalem, as I said above (438), in the afternoon of the Thursday preceding his Passion and Death. During their conversation on the way, while He instructed them in the approaching mysteries, the Apostles proposed their doubts and difficulties and He, as the Teacher of wisdom and as a loving Father, answered them in words which sweetly penetrated into their very hearts, for having always loved them He, like a divine Swan, in these last hours of his life, manifested his love with so much the greater force of amiable sweetness in his voice and manner. The knowledge of his impending Passion and the prospect of his great torments not only did not hinder Him in the manifestations of his love, but just as fire is more concentrated by the frost, so his love broke forth with so much the greater force at the prospect of these sufferings. In this way the conflagration of divine love which burned without limit in the Heart of our most loving Jesus issued forth to overpower by its penetrating activity first those who were nearest to Him, and then also those who sought to extinguish it forever. Excepting Christ and his Blessed Mother, the rest of us mortals are ordinarily roused to resentment by injury, or dismayed and disgusted by adversity, and we deem it a great thing not to revenge ourselves on those who offend us; but the love of the divine Master was not daunted by the impending ignominies of his Passion, nor dampened by the ignorance of his Apostles and the disloyalty which He was so soon to experience from them.

446. The Apostles asked Him where He desired to celebrate the Paschal supper (Mt. 26:17), for on that Thursday night the Jews were to partake of the lamb of the Passover, a most notable and solemn national feast. Though of all their feasts this eating of the paschal lamb was the most prophetic and significant of the Messiah and the mysteries connected with Him and his work, the Apostles were as yet scarcely aware of its intimate connection with Christ. The divine Master answered by sending St. Peter and St. John to Jerusalem to make arrangements for the paschal lamb. This was to be in a house where they would see a servant enter with a jug of water, and whose master they were to request in the name of Christ to prepare a room for his Last Supper with his disciples. This rich man was a resident of Jerusalem, illustrious and devoted to the Savior, one of those who believed in his miracles and doctrine, and due to his pious devotion he merited that the Author of life chose his house in order to sanctify it by the mysteries He was to enact there, thus consecrating it as a sacred temple for others who would follow afterwards. The two Apostles immediately departed on their commission, and following the instructions they petitioned the owner of this house that he might admit into it the Master of life and grant Him his hospitality so He could celebrate within it the great solemnity of the Unleavened Bread, also called the Pasch.

447. The heart of this householder was enlightened by special grace and he readily offered his dwelling with all the necessary furniture for celebrating the supper according to the law. He assigned to them a very large hall (Lk. 22:12), appropriately tapestried and adorned for the mysteries which, unknown to him and to the Apostles, the Lord was to celebrate therein. After  cf. Jn. 13:1 [Ed.] due preparation had thus been made the Savior and the other Apostles arrived at this dwelling. His most blessed Mother and the holy women in her company came soon after. Upon entering the most humble Queen prostrated Herself on the floor and adored her divine Son as usual, asking his blessing and begging Him to inform Her what She was to do. He bade Her go to another room where She would be able to see all that was done on this night according to the decrees of divine Providence, and where She was to console and instruct, as far as was proper, the holy women of her company. The great Lady obeyed and retired with her companions. She exhorted them to persevere in faith and prayer, while She, knowing the hour of her Holy Communion was at hand, continued to keep her interior vision riveted on the doings of her most holy Son and her preparation for the worthy reception of his body and blood.

448. His most holy Mother having retired, our Lord and Master Jesus with his Apostles and disciples took their places to celebrate the feast of the lamb. He observed all the ceremonies of the law as prescribed by Himself through Moses (Ex. 12:3ff.). During this Last Supper He gave to the Apostles an understanding of all the ceremonies of that figurative law as observed by the Patriarchs and Prophets in order to signify the truth of what the Lord himself had fulfilled and had yet to accomplish as Repairer of the world; that the ancient law of Moses and its figures would be evacuated by its true fulfillment; that the shadows could no longer endure since the light and beginning of the new law of grace had arrived, which alone would be the permanent foundation of the precepts of the natural law, which was perpetual, though these precepts had been greatly enhanced and perfected by other divine precepts and counsels He himself had taught; that by the efficacy He would give to the new Sacraments of his new law all the figures of the ancient law of Moses were abrogated as being ineffectual and only figurative; and for all this He was celebrating with them this Last Supper by which He terminated and put an end to the rites and obligations of the old law, since all its precepts had been directed to prepare and represent that which His Majesty was accomplishing, and hence having attained its end had now become useless. 

449. This instruction enlightened the Apostles concerning the deep mysteries of this Last Supper. The other disciples who were present did not understand these mysteries as thoroughly as the Apostles. Judas attended to and understood them least of all, yea not at all, for he was possessed by avarice, thinking only of his prearranged treason and occupied with how he could execute it with secrecy. The Lord revealed none of his secret treachery, for so it was appropriate to his equity and to the dispositions of his most high judgments. He did not desire to exclude him from the supper and from the other mysteries, leaving it to his own wickedness to bring about his exclusion. The divine Master always treated him as his disciple, Apostle and minister, and was careful of his honor. Thus He taught the children of the Church by his own example with what veneration they must treat his ministers and priests, how they must guard their honor and avoid speaking of their sins and weaknesses, still adhering to frail human nature in spite of their high office. None of them will ever be worse than Judas, as we can well assume, and not one of the faithful will ever be like Christ our Lord and Savior, nor as our faith teaches us will anyone ever have his divine authority and power. Hence as all men are of infinitely smaller consideration than our Savior, let them accord to his ministers, who though wicked will ever be better than Judas, the same treatment as He condescended to accord to this most wicked disciple and Apostle. This duty toward priests is not less urgent even in superiors, for also Christ our Lord, who bore with Judas and was so careful of his reputation, was infinitely his superior.

450. On this occasion the Redeemer composed a new canticle by which He exalted the eternal Father for having in his Son fulfilled the figures of the old law and for thus advancing the glory of his holy Name. Prostrate upon the earth He humiliated Himself in his humanity before God, confessing, adoring and praising the Divinity as infinitely superior to his humanity. Then addressing the eternal Father He gave vent to the burning affection of his Heart in the following sublime prayer, saying:

451. “My eternal Father and infinite God, thy divine and eternal will resolved to create this my human nature so I would be the Head of all those who are predestined for thy glory and happiness (Rom. 8:29), and who are to attain their true blessedness by availing themselves of my works. For this purpose, and in order to redeem them from the fall of Adam, I have lived with them thirty-three years. Now, my Lord and Father, the opportune and acceptable hour for fulfilling thy eternal will has arrived, the greatness of thy holy Name is about to be revealed to men, and thy incomprehensible Divinity, through holy faith, is to be made known and exalted among all nations. It is time for the seven sealed book to be opened, which thy wisdom has delivered to Me (Apoc. 5:7), and for Me to give a happy end to the ancient figures and sacrifices of animals, which have signified the sacrifice (Heb. 10:1) which I desire to offer now voluntarily of Myself for my brethren, the children of Adam, for the members of this body of which I am Head, and for the sheep of thy flock, for whom I beseech Thee in this hour to look down with eyes of mercy. If in the past thy anger has been placated by these ancient figures and sacrifices which I am now about to abrogate, let it now, my Father, be entirely extinguished, since I am ready to offer Myself in voluntary sacrifice to die for men on the cross and give Myself as a holocaust of my love (Eph. 5:2). O Lord, let the rigor of thy justice be relaxed, and look upon the human race with eyes of mercy. Let Us institute a new law for men by which they may throw down the bars of their disobedience and open for themselves the gates of heaven. Let them now find a free road and open portals for entering with Me upon the vision of thy Divinity, as many of them as shall follow my footsteps and obey my law.”

452. The eternal Father graciously received this prayer of our Redeemer and sent innumerable hosts of his angelic courtiers to assist at the wonderful works which Christ was to perform in that place. While this happened in the Cenacle most holy Mary in her retreat was raised to highest contemplation in which She witnessed all that passed as if She was present; thus She was enabled to cooperate and correspond as a most faithful Coadjutrix, enlightened by the highest wisdom. By heroic and celestial acts of virtue She imitated the doings of Christ our Savior, for all of them awakened fitting resonance in her bosom and caused a mysterious and divine echo of like petitions and prayers in the sweetest Virgin; moreover, She composed new and admirable canticles of praise for all the sacred humanity of Christ was now about to accomplish in obedience to the divine will and in accordance and fulfillment of the figures of the written law.

453. Very wonderful and worthy of all admiration would it be for us, as it was for the holy Angels and as it will be for all the Blessed, if we could understand the divine harmony of the works and virtues in the Heart of our great Queen, which like a heavenly chorus neither confused nor hindered each other in their superabundance on this occasion. Being filled with the intelligence of which I have spoken, She was sensible of the mysterious fulfillment and accomplishment of the legal ceremonies and figures of the old law through the most noble and efficacious Sacraments of the new. She gazed upon the vast fruits of the Redemption in the predestined; the ruin of the reprobate; the exaltation of the Name of God and of the most holy humanity of her Son Jesus; the universal announcement and faith in the Divinity which the Lord himself was preparing for the world; that heaven had been closed for so many ages, so from now on the children of Adam could enter it through the establishment and progress of the new evangelical Church and all of its mysteries; and how of all this her most holy Son was the admirable and most prudent Artificer, with the praise and admiration of all the courtiers of heaven. For these magnificent results, without forgetting the least of them, She now blessed the eternal Father and rendered Him ineffable gratitude in the consolation and jubilation of her soul.

454. However, She also reflected how all these admirable works were to cost her divine Son the sorrows, ignominies, affronts and torments of his Passion, and at last the death of the cross, so hard and bitter, all of which He was to endure in the very humanity He had received from Her, while at the same time so many of the children of Adam for whom He suffered would ungratefully waste the copious fruit of the Redemption. This knowledge filled with bitter sorrow the most sincere Heart of the pious Mother; yet since She was a living and faithful reproduction of her most holy Son, all these sentiments and operations found room in her magnanimous and expanded Heart, and therefore She was not disturbed or dismayed, nor did She fail to console and instruct her companions, but without losing touch of her high intelligences She descended to their level of thought in her words of consolation and eternal life for their instruction. O admirable Instructress and superhuman example entirely to be followed and imitated! It is true that in comparison with this sea of grace and light our prerogatives dwindle into insignificance; but it is also true that our sufferings and trials in comparison with hers are so to say only Adam together. Yet neither in order to imitate Her, nor for our eternal welfare, can we be induced to suffer with patience even the least adversity. All of them excite and dismay us and take away our composure; we give vent to our passions; we angrily resist and are consumed with restless sorrow; in our stubbornness we lose our reason, give free reign to evil movements, and hasten on toward the cliff. Even good fortune lures us into destruction, and so no reliance can be placed on our infected and spoiled nature. Let us remember our heavenly Mistress on these occasions in order to repair our disorders.

455. Having completed the legal supper and fully instructed his disciples, Christ our Savior, as St. John tells us (Jn. 13:4), arose from the table in order to wash their feet. He first addressed another prayer to the Father, prostrating Himself in his presence, of the type He had made during the supper. This prayer was not vocal but mental, saying: “Eternal Father, Creator of the universe, I am thy image and the figure of thy substance, engendered by thy intellect (Heb. 1:3). Having offered Myself for the Redemption of the world through my Passion and Death according to thy will, I now desire to enter upon these sacraments and mysteries by humiliating Myself to the dust, so the pride of Lucifer may be confounded by the humility of thy Onlybegotten. In order to leave an example of humility to my Apostles and to my Church, which must be built up on the secure foundation of this virtue, I desire, my Father, to wash the feet of my disciples, including the least of all of them, Judas, steeped in his own malice. I shall prostrate Myself before him in deepest and most sincere self-abasement to offer him my friendship and salvation. Though he is my greatest enemy among mortals, I shall not refuse him pardon for his treachery, nor deny him kindest treatment, so if he shall decline to accept it all the world may know that I have opened up to him the arms of my mercy, yet he repelled my advances with obstinate contempt.”

456. Such was the prayer of the Savior in preparing to wash the feet of his disciples. There are not words or similes in all creation which could properly express the divine impetus of the love with which He undertook and accomplished these works of mercy, for in comparison to it the activity of fire is but slow, the inflowing of the tide but weak, the tendency of a stone toward its center but tardy, and all the forces of the elements in the world that we can imagine in their united activity but inadequate representations of the power of his love. But we cannot fail to perceive that divine love and Wisdom alone could ever conceive a humiliation by which both the Divinity and his sacred humanity lowered themselves beneath the feet of mere creatures, and beneath the feet of the worst of them, Judas; that He who is the Word of the eternal Father, the Saint of saints, the essential Goodness, the King of kings and Lord of lords, prostrated Himself before the most wicked of men and touched the feet of this most impure and degraded of his creatures with his lips; and that He did all this merely for the chance of justifying his wayward disciple and securing for him immeasurable blessings.

457. The Master arose from his prayer, and his countenance beaming with peace and serenity commanded his disciples to seat themselves like persons of superior station, while He himself remained standing as if He were their servant. Then He laid aside the mantle which He wore over the seamless tunic, which went all the way down to his feet, though not covering them. On this occasion He wore sandals, which He had worn ever since his most holy Mother had put them on his feet in Egypt; however, He sometimes had dispensed with them on his preaching tours. They grew in size with his feet as He advanced in age, as I have already remarked (Inc. 691). Having laid aside this mantle, which was the garment spoken of by the Evangelist (Jn. 13:4), He girded his body with one end of a large towel, permitting the other part to hang down free. He then poured water into a basin for washing the feet of the Apostles (Ib. 5), who were wonderingly observing the proceedings of their divine Master.

458. He first approached the head of the Apostles, St. Peter. But when this excitable Apostle saw prostrate at his feet the Lord whom he had acknowledged and proclaimed as the Son of God, being again renewed and enlightened in his faith and overcome by humiliation at his own insignificance, he said (Ib. 6): Lord, dost Thou wash my feet? The Author of life answered him with some earnestness: What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter (Ib. 7). This was the same as to say to him: Obey now first my command and will, and do not prefer thy will before mine, disturbing and perverting the order of virtues. Before all thou must yield captive thy understanding and believe that what I do is proper; then, having believed and obeyed, thou shalt understand the hidden mysteries of my doings, into the knowledge of which thou must enter by obedience. Without obedience thou canst not be truly humble, but only presumptuous; nor can thy humility take preference over mine, for I have humiliated Myself unto death (Philip. 2:8), and in order to thus humiliate Myself I have sought the way of obedience; but thou, who art my disciple, dost not follow my doctrine. Under color of humility thou art disobedient, and by thus perverting the right order of virtues thou dost strip thyself of humility as well as obedience, following thy own presumptuous judgment.

459. St. Peter did not understand this doctrine contained in the first answer of our Lord, for though he belonged to his school he had not yet experienced the divine effects of this washing and contact. Hindered by the indiscreet affection of his presumptuous humility, he answered the Lord: “I shall never consent, Lord, that Thou wash my feet” (Jn. 13:8). But the Lord of life answered with greater severity (Ib.): If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with Me. By this threatening answer the Lord sanctioned obedience forever as the secure way. According to human insight St. Peter certainly had some excuse for being slow in permitting God to prostrate Himself before an earthly and sinful man as he was, and allow Him, whom he had so recently acknowledged and adored as his Creator, to perform such an unheard-of act of self-abasement. But his opposition was not excusable in the eyes of the divine Master, who could not err in what He desired to do; for whenever there is not an evident error in what is commanded, obedience must be blind and without evasion. In this mystery the Lord desired to repair the disobedience of our first parents Adam and Eve by which sin entered into the world (Rom. 5:19); and due to the  to the similarity and relation between it and the disobedience of St. Peter, our Lord threatened him with a similar punishment, telling him that if he did not obey he would have no part in Him, namely that he would be excluded from the merits and fruits of the Redemption by which alone we become worthy of his friendship and glory. He also threatened to deprive him of participation in his body and blood which He was now about to perpetuate in the sacramental species of bread and wine. The Savior gave him to understand that however ardently He desired to communicate Himself not only in part but entirely, yet disobedience would certainly deprive even the Apostle of this blessing.

460. By this threat of Christ our Lord, St. Peter was so chastened and instructed that he immediately submitted from his whole heart and said: Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head (Jn. 13:9), as if to say: I offer my feet in order to walk in obedience, my hands in order to exercise it, and my head in order to surrender all of my own judgment that may be contrary to its dictates. The Lord accepted this submission of St. Peter and said (Ib. 10): He that is washed needeth not but to wash his feet, but is clean wholly. And you are clean, but not all (for among them was the most unclean Judas). This Christ said because the disciples (except Judas) had been justified and made clean by his doctrines, and it was necessary only to wash the imperfections and slight or venial sins in order to approach Holy Communion with greater integrity and disposition as is required in order to participate fully in its divine effects and receive its abundant graces with so much the greater efficacy and plenitude, for venial sins, distractions and lukewarmness hinder all these benefits very much. Thereupon the feet of St. Peter were washed, as also those of the other disciples, who permitted it in great astonishment and bathed in tears, for all of them were filled with new enlightenment and gifts of grace.

461. The divine Master then proceeded to wash also the feet of Judas, whose perfidious treason could not prevent the charity of Christ from secretly bestowing upon him tokens of even greater charity than upon the other Apostles. Without permitting it to be noticed by the others, He manifested his special love toward Judas in two ways; the first, in the kind and caressing manner in which He approached him, knelt at his feet, washed them, kissed them, and pressed them to his bosom; and the other, by seeking to move his soul with inspirations proportionate to the dire depravity of his conscience, for the assistance offered to Judas was in itself much greater than that offered to the other Apostles. But since his disposition was very wicked, his vices deeply ingrown upon him, and his understanding and his faculties much disturbed and weakened, and since he had entirely forsaken God and delivered himself over to the demon, possessing him in his heart as upon a throne and seat of his wickedness, he resisted all the divine advances and inspirations connected with this washing of his feet. He was moreover harassed by the fear of breaking his contract with the Pharisees and scribes. Hence at the bodily presence of Christ, and by the interior force of the helps and light by which Christ sought to move his understanding, there arose in his darkened conscience a turbulent storm which filled him with confusion and bitterness, and inflamed him with anger, enraging him and whirling him still farther away from his Master and Physician, and converting the salutary medicine He desired to apply into deadly venom and the most bitter gall of wickedness with which he was filled and possessed.

462. Thus did the malice of Judas resist the saving contact of those divine hands in which the eternal Father had placed miraculous power to enrich all creatures with his blessings (Jn. 13:3). Even if he had not received any other assistance except that naturally flowing from the visible and personal presence of the Author of life, the wickedness of this unhappy disciple would have been beyond all bounds. The bodily appearance of Christ our Good was most perfect and attractive. His countenance, serenely dignified yet sweetly expressive and beautiful, was framed in abundant waves of golden chestnut hair, freely growing after the manner of the Nazarenes; his frank and open eyes beamed forth grace and majesty; his mouth, nose, and all the features of his face exhibited the most perfect proportion; and his whole Person was clothed in such entrancing loveliness that He drew upon Himself the loving veneration of all who beheld Him without malice in their hearts. Over and above all this the mere sight of Him caused in the beholders an interior joy and enlightenment, engendering heavenly thoughts and sentiments in the soul. Judas now saw this so amiable and venerable Person of Christ at his feet, striving to please him by new tokens of affection and seeking to gain him by new impulses of love. But so great was the perversity of Judas that nothing could move or soften his hardened heart; on the contrary, he was irritated by the gentleness of the Savior, and he refused to look upon his face or take notice of his actions, for from the time in which he had lost faith and grace he was filled with hatred toward his Master and his heavenly Mother, and never looked them in the face. Greater in a certain respect was the terror of Lucifer at the presence of Christ our Savior, for this demon, having established himself in the heart of Judas, could not bear the humility of the divine Master toward his disciples and sought to escape from Judas and from the Cenacle; but the Lord detained him by his almighty power so his pride would be crushed. Yet later on he was cast out from that place (478-9), filled with fury and the suspicion that Christ might after all be the true God.

463. The Lord completed the washing of the feet, and again assuming his mantle seated Himself in the midst of his Apostles and began the discourse recorded by St. John (13:12ff.): Know you what I have done to you? You call me Master, and Lord; and you say well, for so I am. If then I being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also. Amen, Amen, I say to you: The servant is not greater than his lord; neither is the Apostle greater than He that sent him. Then the Lord proceeded to propound great mysteries and truths which I will not expatiate upon, but for which I refer the reader to the Gospels. This discourse still further enlightened the Apostles in the mysteries of the most blessed Trinity and the Incarnation, and prepared them by new graces for the Holy Eucharist, confirming them in their understanding of the vast significance of his doctrines and miracles. Among them all St. Peter and St. John were most fully enlightened, but each of the Apostles received more or less insight according to his disposition and the divine will. What St. John refers to regarding the question he asked of Christ at the request of St. Peter about who the traitor was who would sell Him, and the understanding which His Majesty himself accordingly gave him, happened at the supper when St. John reclined on the bosom of his divine Master (Jn. 13:23ff.). St. Peter desired to know this in order to avenge or impede the treason due to the fervor which inflamed his bosom, and to manifest above all his love of Christ, which he was accustomed to do. But St. John, though he recognized the traitor by the bread dipped into the sauce and handed to Judas, would not inform St. Peter. He alone knew the secret, but taught by the charity which he had acquired in the school of his divine Master he buried the secret in his bosom.

464. While St. John thus reclined on the bosom of Jesus our Savior he was privileged in many other ways, for there he was made to see many most exalted mysteries of the divinity and humanity of Christ, and many mysteries of the Queen of heaven and most holy Mother of God. Also on this occasion he was commissioned to take charge of Her, for on the Cross Christ did not say to him: She shall be thy Mother, nor thou shalt be her son, but behold thy Mother (Jn. 19:27), because this was not a matter resolved upon at that time, but one which was then to be made manifest publicly as having been ordained and decreed beforehand. Regarding all these sacraments connected with the washing of the feet and the words and discourses of her Son his most pure Mother was minutely informed by interior vision, as I have said in other places, and for all of them She rendered gratitude and gave glory to the Most High. And when afterwards the wonderful works of the Lord were accomplished She beheld them not as one ignorant of them, but as one who saw fulfilled what She had known beforehand and what had been recorded in her Heart like the law recorded on the tablets of Moses. She also enlightened her companions concerning all that was proper, reserving whatever they were not capable of understanding.

INSTRUCTION WHICH THE GREAT MISTRESS OF THE WORLD, MARY MOST HOLY, GAVE ME.

465. My daughter, in three virtues mentioned by thee in this chapter as especially practiced by my Son and Lord I desire thee to be particularly zealous as his spouse and my beloved disciple. They are the virtues of charity, humility and obedience, in which His Majesty desired to signalize Himself toward the end of his life. Without doubt He manifested his love for men during his whole life, since He performed for them such admirable works from the very first instant He was conceived in my womb by the Holy Ghost. But towards the end of his life, when He established the evangelical law of the New Testament, the fire of ardent love which burned in his bosom burst out in more consuming flames. On this last occasion the charity of the Savior for the children of Adam exerted its full force, since it was urged on by the sorrows of death which encompassed Him (Ps. 114:3), and was spurred on from the outside by the dislike of men for suffering, their self-chosen misfortunes, and their boundless ingratitude and perversity in seeking to destroy his honor and life, He who was ready to sacrifice all for their eternal happiness. By this conflict his love was inflamed to the point at which it could not be extinguished (Cant. 8:7), and thus being now about to leave the earth He was driven to exercise all his ingenuity in attempting to prolong his benefactions and interactions with men, leaving among them, by his teachings, works and examples, the sure means of participating in the effects of his divine charity.

466. In this art of loving thy neighbor for the sake of God I desire thee to be very expert and zealous. This thou shalt be if the very injuries and sufferings with which they afflict thee awaken in thee greater love. Thou must remember that then alone shalt thou be secure and unwavering when neither benefits nor flatteries of men have any effect on thee; for loving those who do thee good, though it is a duty, yet thou canst not know (if thou art heedless) whether in that case thou lovest them for the sake of God or for the benefits they confer, which would be loving thy own advantage or thyself rather than thy neighbor for the sake of God. Whoever loves for other ends or motives of flattery does not know the love involved in charity, since he is yet taken up with the blind love of his own ease. But if thou dost love those who do not satisfy any of these cravings, then thou hast as motive and principal object the Lord himself, loving Him in his creatures whoever they may be. Because thou must exercise both the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, yet hast fewer occasions to exercise those of the body than those of the spirit, thou must continually extend thy spiritual works of charity, multiplying according to the will of thy Savior thy prayers, petitions, and pious practices, accompanying them with prudent and holy admonitions, and thus advancing the spiritual welfare of souls. Remember, my Lord and Son conferred no bodily blessings on anyone without accompanying them with spiritual blessings, and it would have derogated from the divine perfection of his works to perform them without this  cf. I Peter 2:18-19 [Ed.] plenitude of goodness. From this thou shalt understand how much we must prefer the benefits of the soul to those of the body, and hence thou must always seek them in the first place, although earthly-minded men blindly prefer temporal blessings, forgetting the eternal ones and those tending toward the friendship and grace of the Most High.

467. The virtues of humility and obedience were highly exalted by the conduct of my most holy Son in washing the feet of his Apostles. If by thy interior enlightenment concerning this extraordinary example thou dost not humble thyself to the dust, thy heart is indeed hardened and thou art very obtuse in the knowledge of the Lord. Let it then be understood henceforth thou canst never consider or profess thyself sufficiently humbled, even when thou dost find thyself despised and trodden under foot by all men, sinners as they are, for they can never be as bad as Judas, or thou as good as thy Lord and Master. But to merit and to be honored by this virtue of humility shall give thee such perfection and worthiness that thou shalt deserve the name of a spouse of Christ and make thyself somewhat like unto Him. Without this humility no soul can be raised to excellence and communication with the Lord, for the exalted must first be humbled, and only the lowly ones can and should be exalted (Mt. 23:12); and souls are always raised up by the Lord in proportion to how they have humbled and annihilated themselves.

468. In order to not lose this pearl of humility just at the time when thou dost imagine thyself secure of it, remember that the exercise of it is not to be preferred to obedience, nor must thou practice it merely according thy own will, but in subjection to thy superiors; for if thou prefer thy own judgment to that of thy superiors, even if thou do it under the color of humility, thou art guilty of pride, for that would not only be refusing to seek the lowest place, but placing thyself above thy superior. Hence thou mayest understand the error of shrinking back, like St. Peter, from the favors and blessings of the Lord, depriving thee thereby not only of the gifts and treasures offered to thee but of the advantage of humility which thou dost seek and which is much preferable; moreover, thou wouldst also fail in gratefully acknowledging the high ends and the exaltation of his holy Name which the Lord seeks in such works. It is not thy business to enter into the examination of his secret and exalted judgments, nor to correct them by thy reasonings and thy objections by which thou mayest think thyself unworthy of his favors or incapable of performing the works enjoined. All this is a seed of the pride of Lucifer, covered up by apparent humility, since he thus seeks to hinder the communications of the Lord, his gifts, and his friendship which thou dost desire so much. Let it then be to thee an inviolable rule that as soon as thy confessors and superiors approve of certain favors and blessings as coming from the Lord thou accept them as such with due gratitude and reverence. Do not allow thyself to be led into new doubts and vacillating fears, but correspond with the favors of the Lord in humble fear and tranquil obedience. (The New English Edition of The Mystical City of God, The Transfixion, Book 6, Chapter Ten).)

APPENDIX B

FATHER MAURICE MESCHLER ON OUR LORD'S AGONY IN THE GARDEN 

THE NATURE OF HIS SUFFERINGS

As regards the nature of our Lords sufferings on Mount Olivet, they were not external, but purely internal, that is to say mental sufferings, sufferings of the soul. But suffering of soul can be much worse than bodily pain, for the very reason that it is interiour and mental, and it often communicates itself to the body.

With regard to their number these sufferings were manifold and various. Thrr in particular are enumerated, viz: first fear and apprehension (Mark xiv. 33); secondly, repugnance, horror and aversion (Mark xiv. 33); and thirdly, sadness and depression (Matt xxvi. 37 38). Even one mental suffering can make us unhappy enough. Here it was not a question of one only, but of many; the waves of affliction came surging in upon the Sacred Heart of our Saviour from all sides. There is no conceivable phase or form of mental suffering that He did not go through in His Agony.

And what shall we say of the depth and violence of these sufferings! We can form some ideas of their terrible intensity from the variability of our Lord's outward behaviour. Now He shuns the companionship of His Apostles, now He goes to seek them; now He prays, now complains of His abandonment; in short, His whole nature is in a tumult of agitation, and He betrays great inward perturbation. – The intensity of these interior sufferings finds vent, secondly, in His words. He says: “My soul is sorrowful even unto death” (Matt. Xxvi. 38.  Mark xiv. 34). Our Saviour was not wont to exaggerate. When He says, then, that He is “Sorrowful unto death.” this sorrow really is such depression, sadness, and abandonment as is experienced only in death; a sadness that would be capable of causing His death, did not his Divinity support and strengthen His human nature. Still more; He asks (not unconditionally, but “if it be possible”) that this bitter chalice of sadness and anguish of soul may be taken from Him. “Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me” (Matt xxvi. 39 42  Mark xiv. 36.  Luke xxii. 42). And He repeats this prayer more than once. It must indeed have been terrible anguish, if He, Who had hitherto longed and prayed for this chalice – He, the Strength of God – finds it so unspeakably bitter and insupportable that He would fain have it taken from Him, and turns from it with repugnance and horror. – And the last peculiar sign and striking proof of the vehemence of these mental sufferings is the actual sweat of blood that they force from His veins. “Being in an agony . . . His sweat became as drops of blood trickling down upon the ground” (Luke xxii. 44).

There is no doubting the fact; this sweat of blood was so copious that it trickled down on the ground. This shows us on the one hand how delicately constituted was our Lord's Sacred Body, and on the other the force of His mental anguish and struggle. It must have been an exceedingly vehement resistance of the higher will to the attacks of the lower volition, for the force of this resistance to press the blood from His Heart through the delicate tissues of His Body. Thus it was a real agony, a true death-struggle, and even His outward aspect must have been a pitiable spectacle. His face was pale, His limbs frembled; His breast heaved convulsively, and His respiration grew short and spasmodic' His terrified glance wandered from heaven to earth, and then to the Apostles, as a cying man turns his anxious gaze first upon one, then upon another of those around him. (cf. Ps. Xvii. 5 6; lxviii 2 3; cxiv. 3).

CAUSES OF THESE SUFFERINGS

Our Lord's three principal sufferings in His Agony may be traced to three corresponding causes.

His fear and apprehension were caused by the certainty and proximity of His Death and the sufferings that were to bring it about. Life is sweet, and it is a hard and bitter sacrifice – indeed, the greatest of all sacrifices – to give it up. Our Saviour recognised more fully than anyone the value of His life, its merit, holiness, and priceless worth for heaven and earth, and especially for His holy Mother and His friends. And this life He was to sacrifice – while yet so young, and by a death so unjust, so unworthy of Him and of such unheard-of cruelty! He pictured these sufferings to Himself, and His vivid fancy conjured up all the scenes of the coming Passion – all the ignominy, ill-treatment and pain that the fury and cruel malice of His foes, the faithlessness and inconstancy of His friends, and the base cowardice of those in authority were to cause Him. He saw all the instruments that were to torture His Body, and His limbs seemed to feel their sharpness and strength already. He recognized the signification of all His torments, and let the consciousness of the sins He had undertaken to expiate cast its shadow over His whole nature, like the thousand spreading branches of a mighty tree. How terribly a hman heart can be affected by fear of a misfortune, or by terror and mortal agony! And what must our Lord have felt, with His vivid fancy and sensitive temperament, presuming that He surrendered Himself up to these impressions! And very probably Divine Justice, in order that He might expiate the contempt with which it meets from men, so worked upon His mind by terrible representations and revelations as to make Him tremble and quiver like an aspen-leaf. For what is even a God-Man against the terrific justice of God, Who crushes like a lion (Isa. Xxxviii. 13), and Whose voice “breaketh the cedars of Libanus” and “shaketh the desert” (Ps. Xxviii. 5 8)? Our Lord writhed under its force, and found no escape from its terrors. He trembled and shook at the magnitude of the atoning suffering that Divine Justice required of Him.

The repugnance, disgust and aversion experienced by our Lord arose from the knowledge of the sins for which He was to suffer so much and so terribly. He was and recognized them in all their dreadful multiplicity – the sins of a ll men and races and ages; He saw all their vileness, baseness wantonness and malice; saw them in their shocking contradiction to God's supreme authority, justice, beauty and goodness; saw their fearful ravages among the human race, and their fatal effects upon men for time and eternity. What abominable pictures of sins, in all their lust, vileness and insolence, crowded upon Him! He saw as it were a mingled torrent of the sinful filth of all ages and races pouring down upon Him. He saw it before Him in one loathsome, unfathomable sea of crime, and every single hateful  drop of it must filled His sensitive Sacred Heart with unutterable repugnance ad horror. And all these sins called for bitter expiation. —The human race itself was a second cause of His repugnance. What must He have seen there! What are men to Him – these men, to atone for whose sins He was now to suffer and die? The greater part of mankind, in all ages, sunk in the depth of heathenism and unbelief—what are they to Him? And all who hold aloof from Him in heresy, mortal sin, indifference, worldliness, and lukewarmness—what are they to Him? Are there not Christians who stand up in crowds against Him, as His personal enemies, full of ferocity and hate? Do then not persecute Him in the souls of men, in His Church, His doctrine, His Sacraments, His representative the Pope, and His own Person? How well He deserved our love and reverence, as our Lord and our God! How good was His will towards us all! And yet, what does He see? Throughout all the centuries, whole troops of Christ-haters drawn up in battle array, and raging against Him with all the weapons at their command. How small the handful of His faithful followers looks against this army of foes! And how does it stand even with these trusty soldiers? Which of us can say that he does all his duty, and serves so good a Master with zeal, constancy, unselfishness and generosity? Oh, how soon we all tire! How we grudge and weigh our service, how soon it is “too much” and “too hard!” We chaffer and haggle over every sacrifice, and how often our Saviour gets the worst of the bargain! He saw all this – saw, too, His own Divine Person and all its claims to service, loyalty, love and generosity, as opposed to our slothfulness, indifference, and unbounded selfishness. Is it any wonder that He felt unspeakable repugnance, disgust and aversion for these men, who would do nothing for Him?

His sadness, lastly, was caused by His knowledge of the small result He would gain by all His sacrifices. In the Incarnation He had espoused Himself to the human race as His bride, in order to lead it to the Heavenly Father. To this end He had founded the Church and instituted her doctrine, Sacraments, and priesthood; and now He was going to die for men. But what was to be the fruit of all this? What is the use of it all? Do they take advantage of it? No! They neglect it all, or misuse it to their own ruin. Our Lord saw the tree of sound doctrine imbued by proud heretics with such deadly poison that millions would die of the fatal fruits; saw the living fountain of the Sacraments neglected, desecrated and profaned by administrators as well recipients, or stopped up altogether in wanton criminal stupidity; the priesthood contemned, mocked at, persecuted; His “seamless coat”—His Church—torn, tattered, and soiled. He was the altar of His most holy Sacrifice and Sacrament become a stone of stumbling and separation, and disappear from whole countries; saw countless souls saved but by a hair's breadth, and many other precious souls – to wander astray and go to their eternal ruin. He gave His infinitely precious Life and Blood for all, and the magnitude of this price He paid for them gave Him a right to expect that all would be saved. And now He was so many perish! The loss of every soul gave Him infinite pain. At that time they were still members of His mystical Body, and He felt the loss of each one as acutely as though a limb had been torn from His material Body. Oh, the grief it cause Him! How many were to perish even on account of His bitter Passion, because they reviled and despised it! All these terrible pictures rose before Him in endless array, and cut Him to the very heart. He mourned, lamented, sighed, and prayed in His agony and distress, bathed in perspiration and blood. It seemed as though all the horrors of earth and hell were besieging the grotto and crowding round Him. This is what made Him come to the Apostles so often, to flee from these oppressors, so to speak, and seek comfort. But He always found them overcome with weariness, anxiety, and drowsiness, and they afforded Him no relief. Thus Gethsemani was truly a wine-press, in which His Precious Blood was forced from the veins of His Sacred Body, as the juice and oil are pressed from the crushed grape and pounded olive.

MANNER IN WHICH OUR SAVIOUR SUFFERED.

The circumstances of the Passion lead us to consider the manner in which our Saviour suffered on Mount Olivet.

In the first place, He suffered voluntarily. He was absolute master of His emotions. If He suffered, then, and suffered much and terribly, it was of His own free will and choice. He Himself opened, so to speak, the flood-gates of the bitter waters of affliction that surged over His Heart; He immersed Himself of His own accord in their terrible depths. He was like one who, though suffering intensely, will not made use of a remedy that is certain to ease the pain, because He wishes to suffer. More than this; theologians find a deep mystery in this mental suffering of our Saviour on Mount Olivet. How was it possible that, in spite of the clear vision of God that shed a beatific light upon His Passion, He could yet be sorrowful, not merely in His Body and sensual appetitive faculty, but also in His higher, purely spiritual will? It was a though the same object at once gave light and joy, and yet frightened Him by its darkness. Of course it may be said that our Saviour had different faculties with which to regard His passion, and could therefore rejoice at it in one respect and sorrow over it in another; but nevertheless it remains a deep and inscrutable mystery and a miracle worked by Our Lord, that He should be able to suffer thus. Indeed, it cannot be denied that this clear vision of God itself increased the pain, horror, and aversion to sin in His higher will. Does not this free volition make the sacrifice doubly dear and deserving of our love and reverence? How glad we feel when the load of some oppressive sadness is at last removed from us, and how great should we consider the sacrifice if we were asked to bear this state of suffering still longer, and even inflict it upon ourselves! But this is what our Saviour did. He shed His first Blood Himself, and how copiously! Truly He has trodden the wine-press Himself – and along (Isa. Lxiii. 3.). How noble, how lovable, precious, and venerable this tree and voluntary endurance renders His Passion!

Secondly, our Saviour suffers with beautiful humility. This suffering on Mount Olivet was, in the eyes of men, a state of great weakness. Nevertheless He allows His disciples to witness it; not all of them, indeed, because they could not all have borne it, but the three chief of the Apostles, who had also witnessed His Transfiguration. – And He shows the same touching humility in His prayer; for in His distress He takes refuge in prayer. He prays most fervently and with the most touching words, crying again and again: “Father, Abba, My Father” (Matt. Xxvi. 39 42. Mark xiv. 36. Luke xxii. 42); He prays repeatedly (Matt xxvi. 44 Mark xiv. 39) and with perfect resignation to His Heavenly Father's Will. However hard it is for His nature to acquiesce in His Passion and Death, still He protests again and again that the Will of His Heavenly Father shall be done. He also shows His humility by not aspiring to the greatest and loftiest flight of generosity in His petitions and asking for suffering, but contenting Himself with lowly submission to the Will of God. – Lastly, He shows loving and humble solicitude for the Apostles, constantly going to watch over them, warning them, encouraging them to pray, and excusing their slowness to respond. “Simon, sleepeth thou? Couldst thou not watch one hour with me? Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. Xxvi. 40 41. Mark xiv. 37 38).

Lastly, our Saviour suffers with constancy and perseverance, and triumphs gloriously. The battle was indeed a hard one; the fear, repugnance and sadness of His inmost nature were unutterable, and so His higher will had a long and hard siege to sustain and a terrible charge to repulse. But He stood firm and won the victory. He kept fast to God's Will – that He should redeem us by His Passion and Death – and so He was comforted. “There appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening him” (Luke xxii. 43) Such a degree of self-forgetfulness and humiliation as He showed in His Agony on Mount Olivet deserved an outward sign from heaven. This was often the case in our Saviour's life; e.g. His Nativity, after His fast in the desert, and again here. He did not absolutely need this comfort, it is true; but still it was consoling to His Sacred Humanity to see a messenger from His Heavenly Father approach Him in visible form, and in His touching humility and gracious condescension He deigned to accept an external consolation of this kink. But how did the angel strengthen our Saviour? Certainly he could not really offer Him anything, exteriorly or interiorly, that He did not know and possess already, or might not have procured for Himself. Probably the heavenly messenger strengthened our Lord in the same way as we comfort a friend, by praising his constancy and drawing his attention to the glorious results of suffering, of suffering well borne. Thus the angel may possibly have shown our Saviour in vision all the grand and glorious consequences, so salutary for men and so conducive to the glory of God, that were to result from His Passion. Perhaps He may have seen all the Saints of the Old and New Testament, vested in the glory merited for them by His Passion, passing before Him in one long, glorious procession, formed from out all ages of the Church – all a wondrous and manifold reflection of His most sacred Life and Passion, and a glorious crown of victory destined for His brow. Certainly the sight of this must have comforted and encouraged our Saviour, so that freed from the inward struggle and the anxiety of His lower nature, He could enter upon the work of the Redemption.

AIM AND INTENT OF THE AGONY ON MOUNT OLIVET

Our Lord's chief intention in suffering this Agony was certainly to give us a conclusive proof of His true and complete human nature. We have here indeed a confirmation of the fact that there were two wills in Christ's nature, one divine and one human; for He says: “Not my will, but Thine be done” (Luke xxii 42 Matt xxvi. 39). – Further, we have a palpable proof that He had, like ourselves, an inferior will with all its natural impulses and emotions; the only difference being that in His case even the very beginning of an emotion was dependent upon His higher will. – Lastly, He wished to teach us that these emotions are not faults or even imperfections, as long as they remain subject to reason. The emotion of fear experienced by our Saviour in this case was not a imperfection; for no one can be said to fear who only fears when he wills to do so.

Secondly, our Saviour intended in this mystery to experience His own Person all interiour sufferings, and this in a very high degree; just as He was also about to take upon Himself all exterior sufferings. That is why He fills the chalice of mental suffering to the very brim, and drains it to the last drop.

Thirdly, He intended to satisfy for the sins and imperfections that we are often guilty of in these interior trials – impatience, rebellion against the Will of God, want of generosity, neglect of prayer, unfaithfulness to resolutions, inordinate seeking for comfort from creatures and complaining to them. Our behaviour is often very different from that of our Saviour on Mount Olivet. He wished to do penance for this.

Fourthly, our Saviour wished to comfort us by His example, when we cannot find comfort anywhere else. How pained He felt at finding no one to console Him and having to bear the whole weight of His suffering alone! Here we have an example to comfort us, when we can find no other solace. And is it not a sweet consolation, to think that our Saivour had to suffer the same and that He too found no comfort.

Lastly, our Lord intended to merit special grace and strength for us when we have interiour trials and sufferings to bear. We are sorely in need of it then. Our Saviour has won it for us; let us go to Him and ask for it. We too shall have our hours on Mount Olivet. But there will be one hour in particular that will be very like of our Saviour's Agony – the hour of our death, our mortal agony, when similar anguish of soul, fear, lassitude and sadness will unman us, and we shall be quite alone. What a consolation it is for us then, that our Saviour has gone through this hour, and that we find in Him a Heart that can understand our distress and help us! Let us often ask for a share in the blessings, graces, and victorious strength of the Agony of Jesus. How sweet it will be then to think that we have often paid it loving veneration! But, generally speaking, perhaps the resolution most in accordance with the intention and signification of this mystery will be never to desist from our good resolves not abate our generosity in the service of our Lord on account of interior difficulties, such as distaste, fear, or sadness. Let us never forget what a combat He had to sustain in His Heart and how hard it was for Him to undertake the Passion for us, but yet how that loving Heart never wavered in its love and fidelity to us.  What a happiness, what an honour for us, if the Angel of Comfort included us also in his consoling representations and pointed to us as being among those who, out of gratitude and reverence for His Passion, would stand the test of interior affliction victoriously! (Father Maurice Meschler, S.J., The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Son of God, in Meditations, Volume II, Freiburg Im Breisgau 1928 Herder & Co., Publishers to the Holy Apostolic See, pp. 378-389.)