Several posts ago I wrote a post about getting lost but titled it, “Gethsemene.” The post had nothing to do with Gethsemene. This is the actual post for Gethsemene. I had two different thoughts for that day, getting lost and Gethsemene. This is Gethsemene, a deeply personal moment of transfiguration.

I found myself lost because I saw what appeared to be several olive trees. Fascinated, I walked into this area and saw hundreds of olive trees surrounding me. I immediately thought of Jesus, praying with his disciples the night before he died in the very Garden of Gethsemene. Jesus was filled with fear and asked that the cup of suffering be taken from him, but only if it were the will of the Father. It wasn’t. Jesus embraced the Cup. I could feel his anxiety, no his ANGUISH, as his sweat became blood, dropping on the ground. (Luke’s Gospel) Being surrounded by these olive trees evoked that moment of reckoning for Jesus that began his Passion.

Within an hour of this experience, I found myself in the remnants of a church over 800 years old. Inside was a chapel with a most beautiful image of our Lord crucified. A kind and gentle elderly woman, a sort of docent, brought me up to this wooden crucifix and explained that it was from the 12th century… a work of absolute beauty. It mesmerized me, in a strange way, for I felt peace. The woman pointed to the face of Jesus and said His bowed head was filled with tranquility, kindness, gentleness. She so beautifully that we usually see a tormented face of Christ on the Cross. But not in this magnificent wooden sculpture.

Her words of explanation I will never forget. In one day, I experienced two juxtaposing images of Christ during his passion: a tortured face in Gethsemene and a peaceful face on the Cross. This experience, in the midst of getting lost, haunted me in a most striking way. It continues to do so. Christ embraced the Cup of suffering which became the Cup of our salvation. Amazing!!!!!

We all go through experiences of Gethsemene, horribly painful, not wanting to ACCEPT the Cup of suffering. It can feel as though you are “sweating blood.” Seeing someone suffering so that you, yourself suffer, the pain of loneliness, betrayal, your own illness, chronic depression are all moments in Gethsemene.

It’s when we ACCEPT them, live through them, that a peaceful tranquility takes hold of our hearts. The realities may still be there, but peace has dissolved despair. Hope rises with Christ as we emerge from the Garden of Gethsemene into a Garden of Hope…awaiting a glorious Resurrection with Christ. I am still walking a bit off the ground, even as my body groans. My heart is bursting with joy.