Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’  He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated.  Then he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.’  And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.’  Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, ‘So, could you not stay awake with me one hour?  Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’  Again he went away for the second time and prayed, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.’  Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.  So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words.  Then he came to the disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.’

“From presumption restrain your servant and let it not rule me.” (Psalm 19.13)  I was given to see that this passage plays an essential part in prayer, for we can only be admitted to each successive degree of prayer as our Lord invites – just as he drew his disciples aside and even among them invited certain ones further into the garden – and we must never presume during prayer that we will be invited in to the banquet closer in, but it may very well be for us to remain in vigil with oil in our lamps.

As said, Our Lord took his disciples to the garden at Gethsemane.  Our first task before beginning to pray is to be profoundly thankful that Our Lord is even inviting us to this relationship with him in the first place.  He is asking us to step aside and be with him in the garden.  We must, therefore, begin by a deep examination of conscience and sincerely confess all our sins to him so that we may be healed.  He knows us through and through and desires souls to see their wretchedness in the face of the vast Judge of Love.

In this task we must ask our guardian angels to strengthen us, for strengthening us and helping us to pray is one of their principal tasks and it is a great mistake and affront to them to not invoke their aid.  Mary, too, must be invited to pray with us for she is always there where her son is and is deeply desirous to join in our prayer and to assist us.

So after we have been invited to the garden, that is, to prayer with Our Lord, we offer our thanksgiving, then confess all our sins to him, imploring his mercy, and beg the assistance of our guardian angels and the Mother of God.

We are then asked, as part of Our Lord’s inner circle of friends, to “sit here” (v 36).  This represents the first stage of prayer, which is always vocal prayer.  With vocal prayer we always begin, to vocal prayer we always return.  This also includes prayerful reading of the Word.

It may be the occasion during this type of prayer that Our Lord wishes to reveal some truth or other to us.  By this, he himself takes us by the hand and draws us further in to the garden just as he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee.  He shared with them this intimate knowledge about himself: “I am deeply grieved, even to death.”  He tells them: “remain here and stay awake with me.”  Notice in the first and primary stage of active prayer we are told to “sit here.”  When drawn to contemplate on a truth we are told “remain here,” seeing once again who it is who draws us to each stage.  “Stay awake with me” is the intimate yearning by Our Lord that our minds and hearts remain lovingly attentive to the truth he has revealed about himself.

When Our Lord returns to the disciples they are asleep.  He asks “could you not stay awake with me one hour?”  This is the inner chastisement we feel when we let our mind knowingly wander away in useless dissipation and titillation, roaming about for some distraction or other.  This takes place during the course of the day, too, when we are given to constant rumination on some scripture or other and we deliberately discard it for some idle amusement or distraction, thus rejecting the bread of angels for that of swine.

“Pray that you may not come into the time of trial” is yet another reinforcement of that injunction given during the Lord’s Prayer: “deliver us not into temptation” so it must be of particular importance.  When one seeks to enter into prayer and root out vice from their lives they will soon discover the temper has set his snares on the very footpath itself, principally through vainglory.  Unlike the other vices, vainglory has a thousand disguises.  It tempts the soul into thinking it is something special, to be drawn into prayer by the Lord.  The soul begins to believe it has accomplished this through its own strength or merits, that it must be recognized, that it is right and fitting for it to lead others, that it shall always be drawn by Our Lord into the inner garden, and a thousand other manifestations of that pride which is detestful to Our Lord.  For he is the author of our inner life, and a stench arises from us when we begin to glance in a mirror at ourselves.

This is all as it is written in the book of Ezekiel.  “I passed by you, and saw you flailing about in your blood.  As you lay in your blood, I said to you, “Live!” and you grew up” (Ezekiel 16.6) and so we are drawn to leave sin and seek virtue and prayer.  “I passed by you again and looked on you; you were at the age for love…I pledged myself to you, washed you, anointed you, adorned you with ornaments…you grew exceedingly beautiful” (Ezekiel 16.8-14).  Thus it is for the soul drawn deeper into the garden, to be a pleasure for the king.  “But you trusted in your own beauty” (v 15).  The soul begins to believe it has actually merited these divine favors, that they are its own by right, and they shall always be there.  Thus we begin to play the whore and end up in adultery, that is, idolatry, worshipping the consolations of God and not God Himself.  And we forget the days of our youth, “when we were naked and bare, flailing about in our own blood” (v 22).

All this is a result of that trial which Our Lord warns us specifically in two separate instances to pray that we may be spared.

What shall we say of those yet deeper stages of prayer, except that they mirror Our Lord’s own prayer and trial.  In the dark night of faith where we feel most abandoned by the Father and cast ourselves onto the ground and pray to be relieved.  Yet at its innermost core the soul senses it is for the Father’s greater glory, so all semblance of self is burned away.  Our will is united to his in the most intimate union.  We are clasped to his chest and led by Him, accompanied by our angel, to Calvary.