agony

Holy Week culminates in the celebration of the Triduum—Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. During this liturgy, one of the events we call to mind is Jesus’ agony in the garden of Gethsemane. As the first sorrowful mystery of the Rosary, the Agony in the Garden initiates Jesus’ Passion leading to his death on the cross. It is described in the Gospel According to Matthew 26:36–46 (NABRE).

In modern English, agony means something like great pain or torment. When we think about the word in a religious context, we think about Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, and so the word agony becomes synonymous with that event.

Prior to our modern usage or even to usage at the time of Jesus, however, the Greek word ἀγωνία (agonia) had an entirely different meaning. At its root, agony refers to an athletic struggle, competition, or contest. Jesus’ Agony in the Garden is Jesus’ struggle or competition with Satan. This meaning frames Jesus’ Passion in a different light.

Especially during the Lenten season, we’re called to join in Jesus’ contest by likewise taking up arms against sin and temptation through our own self-sacrifice. In what areas of your life are you being called to join with Jesus in his struggle? How does thinking about agony as a competition or contest change the way you view struggle against temptation?

related topics: into test; passion; temptation; test

you also may like our two-part study of the psalms
Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church provides an in-depth look at all 150 psalms based on The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, a translation prepared by the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey and endorsed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). This translation is being included in new Liturgy of the Hours books. Volume I currently is available only in a digital format. Click on these links to view a sample first lesson from Volume I and another from Volume II.

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