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Devotion to the Passion - Jesus in the Garden of Olives - Hildegard of Bingen - 02-20-2021 (Taken from St. Alphonsus’ Prayer-Book – page 446-447) DEVOTION TO THE PASSION Jesus in the Garden of Olives Our afflicted Lord, during His agony in the garden, exclaimed: “Is this, O men, the reward That you render Me for My immeasurable love?”     Eternal Father, look on the face of Thy Christ” (Ps. Xxxiii. 10): look not on my iniquities; behold this, They beloved Son, trembling, agonizing, and sweating blood in order to obtain Thy pardon for me.  “And His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground” (Luke xxii. 44).  Behold me, and have pity on me.  But, my Jesus, in this garden there are not executioners to scourge Thee, nor thorns, nor nails to torture Thee; what, then, extracts so much blood from Thee?  Ah, I understand Thee:  it was not the foresight of Thy approaching sufferings that then afflicted Thee so grievously; for to these pains Thou didst spontaneously offer Thyself: “He was offered because it was His own will” (Isa. Liii. 7).  It was the sight of my sins; these were the cruel press which forced so much blood from Thy sacred veins.  Hence, it was not the executioners, nor the nails, nor the thorns, that were cruel and barbarous in Thy regard: no, my sins, which made Thee so sorrowful in the garden, have been barbarous and cruel to Thee, my sweet Redeemer.  Then, in Thy great affliction, I too have added to Thy sorrows, and have grievously afflicted Thee by the weight of my sins.  Had I been guilty of fewer sins, Thou wouldst have suffered less.  Behold, then, the return I have made for Thy love in dying for me.  I have added to Thy great sufferings!  My beloved Lord, I repent of having offended Thee, I am sorry for my sins, but my sorrow is not sufficiently great; I would wish for sorrow that would take away my life.  Ah, through the bitter Agony which Thou didst suffer in the Garden, give me a portion of that abhorrence which Thou didst then feel for my sins.  And if my ingratitude was then a cause of affliction to Thee, grant that I may now please Thee by my love.  Yes, my Jesus, I love Thee with my whole heart.  I love Thee more than myself, and for Thy love I renounce all the pleasures and goods of this earth.  Thou alone art, and shalt always be, my only good and my only love.