Day 30: March 25

Readings:

And they came to a place whose name was Gethsemane; and He says to His disciples, Sit ye here while I pray. And He takes with Himself Peter and James and John, and began to be astounded and to be in agony. And He says to them, My soul is surrounded with sorrow unto death; remain ye here, and watch. And coming forward a little, He fell upon the earth, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to Thee; make this cup to pass from Me; but not what I will, but what Thou will. And He comes and finds them sleeping, and says to Peter, Simon, sleep thou? Did thou not have strength to watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, unless you enter into temptation. The spirit is indeed eager, but the flesh is weak. (Mark 14:32-38)

The nature of the Lord’s temptations—that they were the most terrible of all; and that He felt anguish from the very inmosts, even to the sweating of blood; and that He was then in a state of despair concerning the end and the event; and also that He had consolations. (Arcana Coelestia 1787:3)

Reflection:

The Lord was stronger than any other person, but still He experienced temptations as He glorified His Human. Obviously we can’t defeat temptation on our own. Even learning to trust the Lord will not mean that we never experience struggle, but that we will come through temptation to greater faith and reliance on the Lord in the end.

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