[In Luca Giordano's painting Agony in the Garden,] Peter, James, and John are asleep, ignorant of the cosmic event taking place no more than “a stone’s throw away” from them (Lk. 22:41). Only a few moments ago Jesus begged they “stay and watch with” him praying “not to undergo the test” (Matt. 26:38, 41). Yet here they lie, unaware of the Master’s plight and blind to his sacrifice.
How often do we lay asleep in the darkness of our own ego oblivious to the beauty right in front of us? How often do we fail to appreciate the miracles of daily life: the air we breathe, the rose fresh in bloom, the gleaming rays of sunrise and soft-hued tints of sunset? Or worse, how often do we attend Mass or receive the grace of the sacrament of Reconciliation without a proper gratitude alive in our hearts? All of these things are ways God loves us, ways in which his magnanimity is made manifest in our midst. Do we recognize them?
--Fr. Blake Britton
Image & quotation source: Luca Giordano, Agony in the Garden (c.1695).. https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/blog/beholding-beauty-giordanos-agony-in-the-garden/23466/
No comments:
Post a Comment