Gethsemane

Seclusion I sought,
In the garden below the Mount of Olives.
A moment of stillness and silence,
In which to pray.
Do not imagine that I was without fear.

Do not imagine that doubt did not torment me.
For I knew what lay before me.
My sacrifice would be genuine,
And so I prayed.
At Gethsemane. I prayed.

To my Father.
I was afraid.
A wave of fear threatened to engulf me.
And so, I sought someone to stay with me.
But my companions all slept.

Not one of them, despite their proclaimed love,
Would stay and watch with me.
Beneath the olive trees.
No matter. It was as it had to be.
I questioned whether I was fit to meet the challenge before me.

I implored my Father to take the cup from me,
If it were possible.
But I knew in my heart it was not.
Fear gripped me.
The pain I would suffer, I saw it all in terrible aspect.

Again I sought to rouse my friends,
But they slumbered on still.
I found my thoughts to be circling around themselves.
Again I beseeched my Father to take the cup from me,
If it were possible.

But it was not. Could never be,
For it was mine to drink, is mine to drink and shall be mine
For all eternity. Through all existence.
For a third time, I sought out my disciples,
Desperate for some human company in my agony.

They slept on, save one.
My betrayer, poor Judas,
He was forgiven, my death freely given, was for all sinners.
A kiss.
To end it all.
And for all Salvation.



Image used from Wikipedia
By Andrea Mantegna - The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. ISBN: 3936122202., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=154510