Homily - "Not my will, but yours be done"

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Jesus prayed in the garden, "Father, if it is possible, take this cup away from me". Take this suffering away from me...this passion...this martyrdom. In his human nature, Jesus is saying, 'I don't want to do this...my will is to avoid the Cross'. Imagine if the Father had taken the cup away from him. Imagine if there was no suffering or passion or cross. Imagine that he stopped sweating blood in the garden, that he wasn't whipped over a hundred times front and back, that he wasn't crowned with thorns, that he didn't carry a heavy cross, or hang on the cross for at least three hours before suffocating to death. Imagine that there was no Cross or Good Friday.

If there was no Cross, there would be no Resurrection. If there was no Good Friday, there would be no Easter Sunday. We wouldn't even be here...there would be no Church, no Christianity. If Jesus had lived a long life and died a normal death (this is all hard to imagine), we would not have a savior. We would still be in our sin and the gates of Heaven would still be closed. We would have no hope of eternal life.

Thank God for the second part of Jesus' prayer: "not my will, but yours be done". The absolute necessity and primacy of Jesus' humility and obedience to the Father's Will...for us! The absolute necessity and primacy of humility and obedience to God's Will in our own lives!

When we come to the Eucharist at every Mass, we say, "thank you, Jesus". Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for your humility in saying, "not my will, but yours be done".