Episode 3027: The Passions of Christ: Part1: Christ’s Agony in the Garden

The Passions of Christ: The Chalice of the Redeemer - Christ’s Agony in the Garden
Nancy: Welcome back to Catholic Reboot, we would like to provide you a series of episodes based on the mystical vision of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich throughout the entire passion of Christ. I know it’s a little early in the Lent season but it is my hope you will enter a better penitential spirit hearing this before the Holy Week. So I hope you enjoy this series. But before we get started let me start with a prayer.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
O Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, Who in the Garden of Gethsemane didst humble Thyself to the point of a bloody agony out of love for sinners, grant us the grace to enter into Thy sorrowful Passion with reverence and contrition.
May this meditation increase in us a love for suffering united to Thine, courage in times of temptation, and zeal for souls. Immaculate Mother of Sorrows, hold our hands as we walk into the Garden of Thy Son’s Agony.
Amen.
Nancy:
Welcome, dear listeners. Today, we enter into one of the most solemn, mysterious, and intimate moments in the life of Our Lord His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Through the eyes of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, we will walk where the Apostles fell asleep. We will watch with Jesus where most of humanity turns away.
Her mystical revelations, granted by divine favor, unveil the hidden torments of that night torments often glossed over, even by the devout. But here, in Emmerich’s vision, we see what the Sacred Heart truly endured not only the fear of pain but the weight of sin, betrayal, abandonment, and the dread of souls rejecting His love.
Segment I: Entering the Garden of Gethsemane
Nancy:
Blessed Anne Catherine saw Our Lord leave the Upper Room with the Apostles. The moon was pale, the air heavy, and the spiritual darkness thick. As they made their way to the Mount of Olives, He grew increasingly sorrowful. His voice faltered. He stumbled.
In her vision, she recounts how He leaned on John, His most faithful, and paused frequently as though He were already carrying the Cross. But there was no wood yet only the invisible burden of the sins of the world.
Walt:
Yes, and he took with him Peter, James, and John just as He did during the Transfiguration. But this time, they would not behold His glory. This time, He would reveal His sorrow.
He tells them: “My soul is sorrowful even unto death. Stay here and watch with Me.” (Matthew 26:38)
He walks a stone’s throw away and falls prostrate. Not kneeling but falling like a man already crucified. Blessed Anne says the ground trembled beneath Him. Creation itself recoiled as its Creator began to drink the Chalice.
Segment II: The Vision of Sin and the Bloody Sweat
Nancy:
What caused His agony was not fear of death. No martyrs have gone singing to their deaths. His agony was deeper. Emmerich describes it as the vision of every sin, from the fall of Adam to the final rebellion at the end of time.
Every act of impurity, every betrayal, every blasphemy, every soul that would receive Him in the Eucharist unworthily, every priest who would profane the altar all were laid upon Him.
Walt:
And he saw more he saw the indifference. The “good Catholics” who wouldn’t bother to visit Him in the Blessed Sacrament. He saw entire generations falling into lukewarmness, abandoning the faith, mocking the Cross, redefining morality. He saw what Pope St. Pius X later warned of Modernism, the synthesis of all heresies.
Nancy:
Yes, and it crushed Him. Emmerich says he trembled and sweated blood real blood which soaked his garments and dripped onto the olive roots beneath him.
Modern science calls it hematidrosis. But this is more than a medical curiosity. This is divine sorrow beyond human comprehension.
Segment III: The Chalice and the Angel of Consolation
Walt:
Then came the angel. Emmerich saw a celestial being descend, not to remove the suffering, but to show Him the souls who would be saved. The virgins, the martyrs, the humble and repentant those who would persevere because of His Passion.
And in that moment, Our Lord made the act of perfect submission:
“Not My will, but Thine be done.”
Nancy:
It was the great reversal of Eden. Adam said, “My will, not Thine.”
Christ, the New Adam, said the opposite.
And Blessed Anne saw that it was at that precise moment not on Calvary but in the Garden, that He chose to suffer. He embraced the Cross before touching it.
Segment IV: The Apostles Sleep and We With Them
Nancy:
Three times He returned to the Apostles. Three times He found them asleep. She says that this pierced Him deeply. Not because He expected comfort, but because they could not even watch with Him one hour.
And is that not us? We sleep spiritually while Our Lord waits in every tabernacle. He longs for companions in His agony, and He is met with yawns, phones, and indifference.
Walt:
The Garden is happening right now. In every soul that suffers. In every Mass where Christ becomes present. In every generation that must choose whether to comfort Him or abandon Him.
Our Lady, Emmerich saw, was mystically present — suffering spiritually with Her Son, in silence. And we, as traditional Catholics, must take Her hand and join Him in the Garden.
Segment V: The Call to Reparation
Nancy:
Blessed Anne Catherine reminds us that Christ’s greatest torment was not pain it was knowing that so many would ignore His Passion altogether. That souls He died for would choose the world, comfort, pleasure, or false religion over the truth.
The answer is reparation. Our Lord pleaded with souls to make acts of love, to offer their trials, to console His Heart. That is the role of the faithful remnant.
Walt:
We are called to be Veronica wiping His face. To be Simon carrying His Cross. But first, we must be with Him in the Garden. In holy hours. In Rosaries offered in silence. In fasting. In penance. In fidelity to the Mass of the Ages.
Concluding Prayer
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
O Divine Savior, Who sweat blood in the Garden for love of us, we beg Thee to accept our humble prayer and our desire to console Thee. We offer Thee our sorrows, our fears, and our trials, in union with Thine.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pierced with sorrow, keep us always at the side of Thy Son.
May our hearts never slumber while He waits.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, bruised and crushed for our sins, have mercy on us.
Amen.