Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

Jesus knew all the pain and suffering He was about to experience. His sacrifice wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. He deliberately chose to take the journey to the Cross, in spite of the great cost. Yet He still says to the Father: “not my will, but yours be done.”

Can you sense His anguish? Do you feel His struggle?