Of the many sufferings recounted in Jesus’ passion, perhaps the most impressive is the blood sweat he experienced on the Mount of Olives, hours before he died. The evangelist Luke describes it as follows: “In the midst of his anguish, Jesus prayed all the more earnestly. And a perspiration broke out on him and ran down to the ground like thick drops of blood” (Lk 22:44). This phenomenon is known in medicine as “haematidrosis” (from the Greek: haima=blood and hydrosis=sweating): when a person undergoes extreme stress, great anguish or very strong fear, the very fine capillary veins under the sweat glands may break; the blood then mixes with the sweat and flows out on the skin, spreading all over the body.
It once happened that a group of married men were meeting in a hotel for a business event. One of the participants was attracted to the hotel manager, with whom he had to discuss organisational matters. She, too, was reciprocally attracted to him, and the romantic atmosphere between them intensified rapidly. Eventually, the time came for them to separate. Not wanting to miss the opportunity that was opening up to her, she asked him: “Would you like to meet again some other time?” The man, between doubts and hurried apologies… wanted to show his regret for not having been more sincere with her and did what few dare to do. And at one point, “sweating a little blood”, he said: “I am married. I must go home to my wife. Let this story be a story to apply and to learn from”.
Someone I came to admire for his ethical quality used to tell us: “Unless you can sweat blood, you can never keep a commitment in marriage, in the priesthood or in any other meaningful endeavour. That is what it takes!” Today in the West we live in a society that fears pain and in which there is little room for suffering. This fear of pain – “algophobia” – is reflected in all areas of our personal and social life, including Christianity. We are victims of the neo-liberal imperative “be happy”. We feel obliged to be happy at all times and in all places. It is therefore not surprising how many people, at the slightest pain, resort to painkillers.
Yet one of the greatest lessons of Gethsemane is precisely this: to keep a commitment we must sweat blood, because, like Jesus in the garden, there comes a time when we must face the dark night of loneliness, the loneliness of faithfulness and the loneliness of resisting a powerful attraction and giving up very decisive things. Will we understand once and for all that where there is love there is always suffering because love means dying to ourselves so that others may live? Let not what Paul Claudel lamented with sad irony about Christians leaving Mass happen to us: “They come down from Calvary and all they can think of is to talk about the weather“.
Juan Carlos Martos cmf
(PHOTO: manuel_landavazo)
