an old oak tree that has grown up crooked.  So you must be taught to do right in your youth, that you may do the same when old.  Of the hidden or private life of Our Lord we, as I have said, know nothing, except that He was obedient to His parents; for He wished to give an example also to those holy persons who lead a life hidden from the world.  Some books have given stories about what Our Lord did in school, etc., but these stories are not true.  The only true things we know of Our Lord are those told in the Holy Scripture, or handed down to us by the Church in her teachings, or those certainly revealed to God’s saints.  Remember, then, that others are taught best by example, and be careful of the example you give.

Lesson 8 ON OUR LORD’S PASSION, DEATH, RESURRECTION, AND ASCENSION

The Passion, that is, the terrible sufferings of Our Lord, began after the Last Supper, and ended at His death.  On Thursday evening, Our Lord sat down for the last time with His dear Apostles.  He had been talking, eating, and living with them for over three years; and now He is going to take His last meal with them before His death.  He told them then how He was to suffer, and that one of them was going to betray Him.  They were very much troubled, for only Judas himself knew what he was about to do.

78 Q. What did Jesus Christ suffer?  A. Jesus Christ suffered a bloody sweat, a cruel scourging, was crowned with thorns, and was crucified.

After the Supper, Our Lord went with His Apostles to a little country place just outside Jerusalem, and separated from it by a small stream.  He told the three Apostles, Peter, James, and John, to stay near the entrance, and to watch and pray, while He Himself went further into the Garden of Olives, or Gethsemani, as this place was called, and throwing Himself upon His face, prayed long and earnestly, but the Apostles fell asleep.

We often find persons who are in great anguish or dread covered with a cold perspiration.  Now, Our Lord’s agony in the garden was so intense that great drops, not of sweat, but of blood, oozed from every pore, and trickled to the ground.  There are three reasons given for this dreadful agony.

(1) The clear, certain knowledge of the sufferings so soon to be endured.  If we were to be put to death tomorrow and knew exactly the manner of our death and the pain it would inflict, how great would be our fear!  Our Lord, knowing all things, knew in every particular what He would have to undergo.  Moreover, His sufferings were greater than ours could be, even if we suffered the same kind of death; because His body was most perfect, and therefore more susceptible of pain than ours.  A wound in the eye, because the most sensitive and delicate part of the body, would cause us greater pain than a wound on the foot or hand.  Thus, all the parts of Our Lord’s body being so perfect and sensitive, we can scarcely imagine His dreadful torments, the very thought of which caused Him such agony.