“Could you not keep watch with Me for one hour?”
/Greetings to dearest Sisters in Christ in these reflective April Lenten days into Holy Week into the jubilant Alleluia-rich Eastertide. Let us live the days with attention and responsiveness.
The protracted days of the Lenten season grant one’s soul the gift of opportunities to ponder the Way of Christ. One such scene is our sorrowful and troubled (Mt 26:37b) Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane. Withdrawing with the three disciples closest to Him, He takes refuge in a familiar place. Hofmann’s portrayal is a motivating detailed piece for unhurried meditation. The disciples have been directed to pray. Three times the Lord pauses from His own prayer to find they have succumbed to drowsiness. “Could you not keep watch with Me for one hour?”
At its core, this is the inherent invitation posed to a woman considering Holy Hour offerings as a Seven Sister. Yes, at the heart, the intercessor assenting to the commitment is responding to Christ Himself. One-to-one. He asks for cooperation, a friendship in prayer, regarding matters of immense importance. One hour, watchful. The summons continues to echo through the centuries. “Could you not keep watch with Me for one hour?” Our Lord endures in intercession for and with us as we pray for His brother priests. He does not forsake us in our sacrifices of prayer, but rather joins us in an intimate companionship in, with and through the prayer. He is beckoning us into the conversations and doings of heaven! Thy Will on earth as in heaven. What a comfort and fortification all at once.
Considering Our Lord in the Garden might move one to be reminded that sacred Scripture often alludes to images of the gardens of our own hearts. Here prayer finds its roots. Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord (Hosea 10:12). Our Lord nurtures, cultivates, prunes and waters the virtuous bloom of our hearts for the end result of love. What potential for sweet aroma in this world in desperate need! For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing… (2 Corinthians 2:15).
Every gardener either cultivates or yearns for roses! Since ancient times, roses symbolized God at work. The red rose has long been linked with love, beauty and martyrdom, so likely the cultivated garden of the heart of every Christian manifest the noteworthy blooms! Our Blessed Mother bears the titles of Mystical Rose and the Rose without Thorns. She is often portrayed with a crown of roses, as is the icon of the Immaculate Heart. At Lourdes, St Bernadette described Mary as having a yellow rose on each foot. A profusion of roses cascaded from St Juan Diego’s opened tilma, which bore the image of Our Lady. Rosary prayers are commonly spoken of as sending roses heavenward. St. Elizabeth of Hungary once carried food under her mantle to distribute to the poor. On her way, she unexpectedly met her husband who forbade this almsgiving. He opened her mantle, finding not food, but a bouquet of roses. As she lay dying St Thérèse of Lisieux shared: “After my death, I will let fall a shower of roses. I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth. I will raise up a mighty host of little saints.” She poetically captured the essence of a self-emptying heart, desiring to give all to Christ, in her poem, An Unpetalled Rose (translation: Donald Kinney, OCD). All emphases by St Thérèse herself.
Jesus, when I see you held by your Mother,
Leaving her arms, trying, trembling, your first steps on our sad earth,
Before you I’d like to unpetal a rose in its freshness,
so that your little foot might rest ever so softly on a flower!
This unpetalled rose is the faithful images, Divine Child, of the heart
that wants to sacrifice itself for you unreservedly at each moment.
Lord, on your altars more than one new rose likes to shine.
It gives itself to you… but I dream of something else: To Be Unpetalled!
The rose in its splendor can adorn your feast, Lovable Child,
but the unpetalled rose is just flung out to blow away.
An unpetalled rose gives itself unaffectedly to be no more.
Like it, with joy I abandon myself to you, Little Jesus.
One walks on rose petals with no regrets, and this debris is a
simple ornament that one disposes of artlessly, that I’ve understood.
Jesus, for your love I’ve squandered my life, my future.
In the eyes of men, a rose forever withered, I must die!
For you, I must die, Child, Beauty Supreme, what a blessed fate!
In being unpetalled, I want to prove to you that I love you, O my treasure!
Under your baby steps, I want to live here below with mystery, and
I’d like to soften once more on Calvary your last steps!
In Lenten and Eastertide seasons, Our Lord is distinctly set before us as He who emptied Himself completely for love of us. Seven Sisters easily recognize the imitation of this lavishing of love in the lives of our saintly Apostolate patrons, St Mary Magdalene (outpouring of oil) and here in the poetry of St Thérèse. As we take refuge in a familiar place, as Christ Himself took refuge in the Garden to pray, let us seek the graces to cultivate the garden of our hearts of prayer - to desire to love more fully. Perhaps we may soften the steps of the priests/bishops for whom we pray with our unpetalled roses of prayer. Yes, Lord, we will keep watch with You for one hour. Yes, Lord! Yes!
United in prayer and mission...that our prayers may find the heart of every bishop and priest...... eternal gratitude continues as you each remember to offer a wee Hail Mary for me every day.... “One Ave Maria makes hell tremble” (St John Vianney). Pray that I will not 'spoil the beautiful work that God has entrusted...' (St Teresa of Calcutta) ... your kind emails and notes and phone calls and generous support always arrive to my heart door at the right moment! Your financial sacrifices are for 100% furtherance of Apostolate. THANK YOU! The letters of testimony are so beautiful and edifying! What glory is given to God through your writing! Eternal gratitude is mine for YOU! Be assured of my continued daily prayers for you at the altar.
Janette (Howe)
+JMJ+
sevensistersapostolate@gmail.com
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane (detail) – Heinrich Hofmann