And there on the mountain he began to pray. He asked his disciples to stay awake with him and pray. But they kept falling asleep. Even Peter, James and John, his inner circle, who had witnessed his transfiguration on Mount Horeb, could not keep their eyes open.
And so, the Lord suffered, agony alone. St. Matthew tells us that his suffering was out of sorrow. Sorrow for who? Sorrow for Judas. Sorrow for Peter. Sorrow for his disciples’ indifference. Sorrow for the souls of those who would reject him ultimately, and spend eternity in hell. Suffering for those who call themselves Christians, yet persist in indifference to their vocation to holiness. Sorrow for priests who break their vows. Sorrow for married couples who break theirs. Sorrow for children whose hearts turn hateful toward their parents. And sorrow for parents who drive their children to such hatred. Sorrow for all the sins of the world. He took on himself not simply our sins, but the sorrow we should pay for them.
He sweat blood because we have failed to even shed sufficient tears for our sins.
Likely around 4am, the Lord was arrested and brought before Annas and Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin who brought false witnesses to testify against him.
Around the time most of us were getting up this morning, between 6 and 8am, the Gospels are not clear Jesus was brought before the governor Pontius Pilate who found no reason to condemn Him, but sent him to the puppet-king Herod, who also failed to find a crime.
Now with the crowd stirred up by the Sanhedrin, Pilate has Jesus scourged and then agrees to have him crucified, out of fear of a rebellion. Around 8am, Jesus begins to carry his cross through the streets of Jerusalem, and probably around the time you were starting your rosary, around 8:30am, Simon of Cyrene is tasked to help this stranger with the heavy burden.
Around 9am, the time we began our morning prayer, Jesus was nailed to the cross.
Following morning prayer we will depart in silence, but we will return to Church at the hour of the Lord’s final breath—“the ninth hour of the day”.
The Lord was sorrowful for us, and tells us that we ourselves should be sorrowful. He told the women of Jerusalem, “weep not for me, but weep for your sins and the sins of your children.”
Today, rightfully is a day of sorrow. We fittingly weep for our sins today. And we plead God’s mercy for ourselves, for all mankind, for priests and religious, for those who reject God, for those who seem to be stuck in cycles of sin, for those who have become lukewarm, for those who near death, especially those in danger of hell, that maybe, just maybe, if God wills it, a last opportunity for repentance may be given to them.
There is a tradition that of praying the Seven Penitential Psalms today: Psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143. Today also begins The Divine Mercy Novena, which is prayed from Good Friday until Divine Mercy Saturday.
We plead God’s mercy today through the passion and death of our Lord, to help us grieve our sins sufficiently, and to save souls by bringing them to repentance, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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