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The National Catholic Broadcasting Council presents, Let Us Reflect Together. 40 Days of Lent Retreat, From the Cross to Hope. Day 34, Entering the Passion with Mark. Not my will, but yours. With Cardinal Thomas Collins.

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In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let's just let our hearts be still. Ask the Lord's forgiveness for those things which are barriers. Let's ask the Lord to help us form a pathway to our hearts. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me as sinner. Away with all those distractions, those things that clutter up our minds and hearts.

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Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening. Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.

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And he took with him Peter and James and John and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch. And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee. Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what thou wilt. And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough, the hour has come, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand. This is so different from, I will never deny you. Not what I will, but what thou. So that, you know, when we come before him at the end of our own lives, whatever it may be, we can never say to him who judges us, you don't know what it's like. But he does. He knows us, he sees us as he sees Peter, he sees us with compassion. And he knows, he's felt, he's experienced as a human. The word became flesh in his human nature. The second person of us, the Trinity, taking that upon him, knows what it is like to feel anxiety, fear, even to the point of, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? So close is God to us, he knows what it is like. That is so profoundly important. The Lord does not live in icy splendor, in invulnerability in some distant palace. He did not cling to his equality with God. And we shouldn't cling either. We should say, Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will. My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. Well, wouldn't we all? He could see what was coming. And he said, Abba. I remember once hearing a little child, a little Jewish child, say, Abba, Abba. Daddy, you know, Dad, Abba, Father. All things are possible to thee. Remove this cup from me. That's what he's feeling. Heavenly Father, oh no. He sees it coming. But instantly he says, but, not what I will, but what thou wilt. He will go through this, sacrificing, showing us the way, showing us love in the midst of hatred, showing us how to be, drawing us to be what we're meant to be. He will not let his ego take over, but he surrenders to the mission of showing us compassion in the midst of suffering, in the midst of evil. Not what I will, but thy will be done. He told us ahead of time, after all. Remember, he said, when you pray, say, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Our Father who art in heaven. And you know, so often, just as we say, you know, listen, Lord, your servant is speaking, we say, My kingdom come, my will be done. The more we do that, the more we fight one another, and the more we are caught up in all kinds of conflict and all kinds of things that are just not worth it. It's so inspiring seeing the holy martyrs of our modern age. I've been meeting a lot of the people lately from the Middle East. The holiness of these people, having seen their homes destroyed, their families massacred, the evil, and yet I remember I went to a commemoration of the martyrs, the 21, you know, those young Coptic men who were murdered on the beach? And each one saying, because the murderers forgot to turn off the microphones, Jesus is Lord as they died. And one of them actually was not a Christian, except in death. He saw so much the blood of martyrs that he became the one himself, the one in the middle from Africa. And he became a saint. So we see that. That is sublime. The God of majesty and power comes amongst us. That's what God is really like. Not to force us and command us and crush us and demand obedience like that, but to come amongst us, share with us our suffering. That's what compassion is to suffer with. And we see it right here. So profound. So counter-cultural. Oh, I tell you. We're in a world where people want to have their hands on the steering wheel. They want to know. Well, they want to control when people are born and when people die. I am in command. There is no future in that. It is fundamentally, how can it be profoundly shallow? How can something be well that is profoundly shallow? That desire. And the Lord showed us the way. The ego, the sense of control. There are things we do not control. And the Lord, who had the power of calling the armies of angels, did not do it. But was suffering with sharing, that deeper wisdom. And he came and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He knows Peter. He loves him. Poor Peter's gonna mess up a few more times before he's home. But he loves him. And you know, he has a heart of gold. He just needs to be helped a lot. But he's the guy who stumbles a lot, that was entrusted with the church. Which is kind of a consolation for people who are entrusted with the church in different ways, given authority in the church. You know, you sure don't get it because you've got competence or something, you know. We're the people, I remember the higher in the hierarchy I've gone, the more I realize that humanly speaking, the whole thing's held together with scotch tape and string. You know? We're all pretty frail, you know. But then again, I guess everybody is, aren't we? So let's all acknowledge. We're all like Peter. We're all pretty frail. We're all in the hands of the Lord. So the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. Come on, Peter. And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. We know what it's like. You know, they were pretty weak, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came a third time and said, Are you still sleeping, taking your rest? It is enough. Come on, the hour has come. I don't know, it doesn't say he snapped his fingers at that point, but come on, wake up. Wake up. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. My betrayer is at hand. At that moment, Judas arrives. But that's next month, we pray that. So here it is. Our Lord has compassion on all of us. He knows what it's like. He understands so often we're like Peter. Yet he entrusted the church, entrusted his life to very frail people. Because so that they might know that it's not their own strength that does it, but it's the Lord. If only they will purify, burn away our egos, and surrender into the hands of our blessed Lord.

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Join us tomorrow for the Sunday TV Mass. Join us Monday for Day 35, The Way of the Cross, Stations 1, 2, 3, 4. Condemned, burdened, and not alone, with the late Father Pat Fitzpatrick. For more information, please email us at info at ncbc.ca, visit our website at daily tvmass.com, or call our office toll-free at one eight eight eight-three eight three six two seven seven seven seven seven seven seven.