SWC22

MEDITATION FR. ANDRÉ LOUF Having arrived at the beginning of his Passover, Jesus is in the presence of his Father. How could it have been any different, since his secret dialogue of love with the Father had never ended? “The hour has come” (Jn 16:32), the hour foreseen from the beginning, announced to the disciples, which is unlike any other, which contains all the others and is the sum of them at the very moment that they are about to be fulfilled in the arms of the Father. And suddenly that hour is the cause of fear. Nothing is hidden from this fear, but there, in the quiet of anguish, Jesus takes refuge with his Father in prayer. In Gethsemane that evening the struggle becomes fierce handto-hand combat, so bitter that on Jesus’ face sweat changes to blood. And Jesus dares one last time, in the presence of his Father, to give expression to the torment that seizes him: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done” (Lk 22:42). Two wills clash for a moment, and then come together in the abandonment to love already announced by Jesus: “I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father” (Jn 14:31). 17

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