Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.

R. Because by Thy holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Jesus leads his disciples to the garden of Gethsemane, on the slope of the Mount of Olives, after the Last Supper. He takes Peter, James, and John apart and tells them: "My soul is sorrowful even to death" (Matthew 26:38). He falls to the ground in prayer: "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39). Luke's account adds that his sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood — a medical phenomenon known as hematidrosis, associated with extreme physical stress — and that an angel appeared to strengthen him (Luke 22:43-44).

This is the first station of the Scriptural Way of the Cross, introduced by Pope St. John Paul II at the Colosseum in Rome on Good Friday, 1991. It opens not at Pilate's judgment hall but in the garden — at the beginning of the Passion's interior night. Gethsemane reveals the full humanity of Jesus: he does not want to suffer. He prays with anguish for the cup to be removed. He does not suppress this desire but brings it honestly to the Father. And then, in a supreme act of freedom, he surrenders his will to the Father's.

When he returns to his disciples and finds them sleeping, he asks Peter: "Could you not keep watch for one hour?" (Matthew 26:40). It is a question addressed to all of us. Gethsemane is the place where discipleship is tested in its most basic form: can we stay awake, stay present, when Jesus enters the darkness? The Scriptural Stations begin here because the Way of the Cross begins in prayer — in the garden where the decisive choice is made, alone, in the dark, before any crowd can see it.