The Garden of Gethsemane

Today is my favorite day of the year. When I was in Seminary Holy Thursday was regarded as ur biggest day. Seminarians studying for the priesthood for our Diocese from all over the world came home, and we gathered at table for a HUGE meal and a beautiful Mass with the Bishop. Holy Thursday marks the day Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with his friends, instituted the Eucharist, and the Ministerial Priesthood.

Quite the night that was for Jesus. He identifies who will betray Him at dinner. Following this, He and his lot head to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, where He is arrested with Judas' help. As the evenings events unfold, Jesus is abandoned by all His friends, questioned all through the night, and subsequently executed on Friday afternoon.

The Apostles fleeing when Jesus needed them most is perhaps the greatest "Friendship Failure" in human history. We all see and experience these things everyday. In affairs of the heart sometimes its difficult to be a good friend, because that's when the immaturity and caddiness comes out. In the case of the Apostles, it was feuled by a fear of being arrested, and identified as being a part of Jesus' "cohort". In our everyday lives, the driving force behind such things is usually much less significant. Sometimes it is jealousy, sometimes it's just pure frustration, but whatever the reason it always points back to an affair of the heart.

We've all seen it, and done it....The immature or caddy posts on facebook, or some other such public foreum, where we know the other person will see it. The gossip behind their back...or the dirty looks across the bar...we've all been in someone in this situations shoes. Sometimes when we aren't happy with our own lives, we find it so much easier to take it out on someone who is happy. Regardless, to turn on someone so often becomes the result.

The Apostles turning on Jesus that night in the Garden, undoubtedly only added to the pain Jesus already felt with all that was happening. He in His divine wisdom knew that this was only the begining, and His Passion was only begining to unravel, but for His human side this was undoubtedly the most painful.

None the less, He holds His head up high, and faces the events of the following day more or less alone, with the company of only one friend, and His mother. Much like in our own lives, when the backs begin to turn, we see who the real friends are, and who the people are who will stay with us, all the way to our own individual Crosses.

The immaturity of the Apostles that day is clear. But in the days to follow, things subsequently come together again, and after the Ressurection things balance themselves out. Maybe sometimes people need their immature moments. Everyone deals with grief, in all of its forms, in different ways. We have all done it, and we will always have moments when we crumble to that very temptation. That's because affairs of the heart are delicate, and we as humans are naturally ordered to worry about ourselves...but we have to remember to go that extra step, and remember that we are not alone in all this. We have a responsibility to each other, and we have to do our best to not allow the temptation for immaturity to win.

There will be many times in our lives when we find ourselves in the Garden of Gethsemane, when we have the option to be immature and run. There will be times when we have the choice to stand by our friends, or to turn our backs. To be happy for a friend, or to act out. In this economy, its easy for the unemployed to be jelous when someone else lands a job.

Oprah the other night was about this very situation between married couples. One spouse looses a job, and grows to detest the other because they are now the bread-winnder. Sometimes relationships take work, weather it be a friendship, a lover, or a spouse....but we cannot forget our responsibility towards one another. We cant just throw ourselves into facebook wars, or let marriges fail, or let friendships die.

That night in the Garden, the Apostles were scared, and turned their back on their friend. In our lives we get jelous, angry, bitter, or so many emotions, and do the same thing. These "Garden of Gethsemane Moments" have been happening for 2000 years, and don't show any signs of stopping. How will we respond when we have our moment to act?