Jesus often complained to Sr. Benigna of the unfathomable sorrow of His Sacred Heart. “Behold”, said Jesus; “I beg the love of My creatures, who refuse it to Me and squander it upon things which pass away. They do not even think of giving it to Me- if thou knewest, Maria, how painful it is to love so much and not to be loved! I do not grow weary, I am always seeking love and no one gives it to me; not only will they not love Me, but they hate Me. Dost thou know what hinders Me from striking sinners? It is the prayers of the just; they disarm My divine Justice.” (Words of Jesus to Servant of God, Sister Benigna Consolata.)
Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni (1667–1740)
My Jesus, why are You crying? Why do you weep so, upon your knees, here in the Garden? Is it because your apostles have fallen asleep and left you to suffer alone?
O my Jesus, I hear Your cry to Your Father: If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me, but not as I will but as You will…..
What is this cup that you cannot bear, my Jesus? Is it the physical pain You are about to undergo in your scourging and crucifixion? Is it fear of this which has caused sweat to run infused with blood down your most adorable Face?
Yet, you are the bravest, most courageous, strongest and most fearless of all men. Terrible, excruciating, horrific as your approaching torture may be, You said that it was for “this” that You had come into the world….this baptism which You so desired. You Who long to give Your Life to save us; You Who cherish within Your Divine Heart the precious Name, Savior. You could not be trembling in agony over the anticipation of your death.
What then? What is worse than death? What has parted the Heavens and moved Your Father to send an angel to comfort You in Your Truly Unbearable Agony?
They will not love Me!
The words echo over and over in Your Mind and the truth of them crushes Your Sacred Heart and more Blood flows….
So few will love Me!
I am God. I am preparing to die for my creatures that they may become my children. My Heart longs to undergo the suffering and death which await me so that they can share in my Divine Life and spend eternity with Me in my Kingdom of Love. I have just given to them my Own Body and Blood to be their Food for the journey, and a foretaste of our union in Heaven.
Still, they will not love Me!
I can bear the scourging because as I watch my Own Blood pouring upon the ground, I will be consoled knowing that It will flow over My children, washing away their sins.
Let the nails fasten Me to the Cross, rendering Me helpless for a time, that the Graces of My Infinite Merits may transform and sanctify My children, infusing them with Divine Life.
I do not fear the sword which will pierce My Heart, for by this Wound, My Heart shall become for my precious ones, a Refuge of Peace, an Oasis of Rest, a Fountain of Grace and Mercy.
But, in spite of all of this, so many will hate and despise Me!
This is the pain which even Your God cannot bear. I am Love. I do not know how to do anything but Love. I seek Love. I hunger for the Love of my creatures.
But, they will not love Me!
The angel from Heaven arrives in the Garden. Suddenly, I do not feel so alone. I see names and faces. I see My children kneeling in prayer. I see hands lifted in praise. I feel kisses and caresses upon My Face. I see tears of repentance. I see hearts eagerly awaiting Me in Holy Communion. I hear my little ones praying for Mercy for their sisters and brothers. I hear My Name being called with so much love: Jesus! Jesus! Oh how sweet is this to Me!
I feel My strength returning. I rise from the ground. I have not been completely abandoned and rejected. There are some….some…..who will love Me.
I will not have died in vain.
If only there could be more…….
But for one alone, I would gladly go to the Cross.
I love you so much.
Will you love Me too?
Please give Me a chance to be Your Lord and Savior.
Trust in Me.
I am Jesus.
I am LOVE!
I Want to See God 
Oh for more souls to console our beloved Jesus! He Who sorrowed unto death….and gave His very life’s blood for us all. Even for those who will not love Him! Poor Jesus…our poor beautiful Jesus!
Oh Trish, I am sure that your most loving and heartfelt words here have already helped to console His Heart. I know that the Saints have said that a glance, a simple remembrance of Him, a whisper of His Holy Name…all these console Him so much. What a blessing and gift it is to know that we can console Him now, because with God there is no time. We can truly, so to speak, be there in the Garden with Him.
Sweet Patricia,
This is a divinely inspired post! How deeply it moved me! Thank you for sharing your deep and abiding love for the Lord and for asking others to join you in giving their all to God.
Agree with Anne. Just a chill from crown of my head down the back of my neck and spine. Very moved by the meditation you wrote but was no doubt inspired by the Holy Spirit. Never considered that Jesus was the bravest of all men who ever lived and that he would have even as the most courageous of men have been able to face up to his suffering, but that what really hurt him was undertaking his mission of love and obedience also knowing the sleeping apostles were just the foreshadowing of the indifference of the hearts of those he suffered so much to save. I love Our Lord so much, and yet it is so little, and so inconsistent. Praise be to Jesus Christ! By his cross and resurrection he has redeemed the world.
Colleen, and I never considered your insight above about how “..the sleeping apostles were just the foreshadowing of the indifference of the hearts of those he suffered so much to save.” That is so true! They loved Him, didn’t they? But they didn’t love Him more than themselves. We know that because they all ran away. Aren’t we so much like them…loving Jesus until it gets too hard. I can’t count how many times I have literally fallen asleep on my prayers. Yes, “inconsistent,” that’s the word for me too.
I usually begin my Tuesday Adoration time with Jesus by praying this decade of the rosary. It’s often as far as I get with the rosary on those days, so it’s been years of thinking on this mystery, while in the Presence of Jesus. I often ask Him about it. What I wrote are of course only my own thoughts, but I do believe there is truth in them. I can’t imagine what else would have caused Him so much sorrow…even to the point of praying that His Father remove this cup. He must have come face to face with the limit that His Sacred Humanity, at least, could bear. I only know that from the Cross He used what little strengh He had to cry out, “I thirst.” Mother Teresa put these words up in all of her chapels, and echoing St. Therese said, “He thirsts for love!”
Colleen, I know that you are a great consolation to Jesus. I love all your Scripture posts on FB. Thank you for all you do for the babies. MY baby…grandbaby 🙂 will be 25 weeks on Tuesday. Can’t wait to hold her!!!! Hugs, Colleen!
Anne, this was on my mind all week. I think since I heard about those awful Grammy awards and the mockery they made of God and marriage. Thank you so much for your always kind words. If anyone finds any inspiration here, thanks be to God! And to Him be all glory, praise and thanksgiving! I was going to use this post for our Sacred Heart link-up, but they didn’t seem to be doing it this month. I hope they will resume at some point. Anne, I always treasure your words..you who are so close to His Heart.
This is so good– to be reminded of our neglect and lack of love for our beautiful, gentle and loving Lord in all our varying degrees; that He suffered from the lack and abandonment of our love. I agree with Anne about the divinely inspired post and for asking us to join in giving ourselves fully to our Lord. Thank you, Patricia, for your always wise, inspirational and moving words. Your message is pure blessing and love. God bless always you dear friend….
God bless you, dear Cynthia! I have missed you…seems we have both been away a good bit lately.
It breaks my heart to realize that Jesus saw all of my sins in His Agony. I do hope I can spend the rest of my life trying to love Him more and thus offer a bit of consolation. On a retreat once, the priest reminded us that Jesus could see down throughout all the ages, and that although He saw us at our worst, He also saw when we would turn toward His Mercy and be reconciled to Him….and that this was a source of great consolation in His Agony. The priest said that all we do for Jesus now, He saw on that terrible night 2000 years ago. So, it is never too late to ease His suffering. A beautiful thought! God bless you too, dear Cynthia! xo
This is such a beautiful and heartrending post, Patricia. Jesus poured Himself out for us in every way and we are ungrateful wretches at times. Yes, so few love Him, especially in our day. And isn’t that the saddest thing, that so few people love Love Himself?
Is the quote at the top of your post from a book?
Mary, I think it was St. Francis of Assisi who is famous for saying: Love is not loved! I wonder what he would say if he lived in our time. I cannot believe the mockery of God these days…especially coming out of Hollywood. Also, the New Age craziness with all of this law of attraction business, and on and on. I often think back to Therese who said, “Must Your rejected Love stay locked up in Your Heart? It is everywhere rejected and despised. Unleash its torrents upon me, that I may be its happy victim.”
I first saw that quote about 30 years ago…I think on something I got from TAN publishers. It just brought tears to my eyes and I have never forgotten it. I decided to google it, and that’s how I came up with the page about the Servant of God Sister Benigna Consolata. I have a link to it on my FB page. It’s worth reading. She was one of those little nuns like St. Faustina to whom Jesus loves to pour out His Heart. He called her His “apostle of love.” He had many affectionate names for her. It’s so lovely to read these accounts of how Jesus personally interacts with these precious souls. But then we know that He is infinitely more wonderful than we can ever imagine! Thanks for commenting, Mary!
Patricia,
This is so beautiful and heart felt. We can only imagine the pain Our Lord suffers even now because so few love Him and some even hate Him. I had never heard of Sr Benigna Consolata before you cited her here. I can only imagine what she must have felt hearing those words directly from Jesus.
Thanks you for sharing the quote and your beautiful reflection.
Thank you, Karin. I had only heard of Sister Benigna from that one quote I read many years ago. I think it was on the back of a book cover or something. I was happy that when I looked it up on the Internet, I found that she was a Servant of God. It reminds me a lot of the way Jesus spoke to St. Margaret Mary. I think He is so much yearning to be consoled. Therese certainly knew that. Maybe we can all be like Mary Magdalene, whom you just wrote about…always trying to think of Jesus and sit at His feet and anoint Him with perfume.
Therese said in one of her poems, I think it was Living on Love:
]esus, the fragrance I anoint You with; it is my love!
Isn’t that beautiful? God bless you, Karin!
Thank you so much Patricia for writing this and for linking it up for the First Friday link-up. I’m always so moved by your love for Christ but far more importantly, moved to love Him. Thank you a million times over! 🙂 Sweet Heart of Jesus, let me love You as You deserve!