GETHSEMANE - From the Hebrew, GAT-SHEMANIM means (olive) oil press. A natural grotto where Jesus and His disciples often camped at night, for the Gospels suggest that He never stayed overnight in the city, but went, was His custom, to the Mount of Olives. Who the owner might have been we do not know. Perhaps, like most of us, an unknown disciple whose happiness and reward was to serve Christ. Nearby is what later became the Tomb of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, whence she was assumed into heaven. It was at the grotto that Jesus was betrayed by one of His own disciples, Judas Iscariot, and arrested. At that time, the entire area, including the Garden of Olives was called Gethsemane.

THE GARDEN OF OLIVES

Located next to the Basilica of the Agony on higher ground than the Grotto, the eight remaining trees of the garden known to Jesus and His disciples are enclosed by a fence for conservation. These ancient trees, which the visitor sees immediately upon entering, are, according to botanists, more than 2000 years old and are silent witnesses of our Lord prayer and suffering on the night. He was betrayed and arrested on the eve of His crucifixion. How did they live so long? Because the olive tree does not die, unless destroyed, and will always put forth new shoots. In the Bible, the olive tree signifies spiritual Israel, while the fig tree signifies carnal Israel. And the oil of the olive used for anointings - the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, in the ordinations of deacons, priests, and bishops, and in the anointing of the sick, signifies the powerful grace and gift of the Holy Spirit received on these special occasions in life and ministry, just as it did during the Old Covenant when God directed that priests, prophets, and kings should be anointed with olive oil to signify God's special anointing with the Holy Spirit for doing His work.

Jesus was not anointed by men with olive oil but by His Father with the Holy Spirit at the beginning of His public ministry, at the Jordan, after being baptized by John, who humbly objected to the Messiah being identified with sinners. hadn yet fully realized that that was what our redemption was all about. But then he did, and he proclaimed Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

THE BASILICA OF THE AG0NY

The basilica is popularly referred to as the Church of All Nations, no doubt because of the fifteen mosaics given from various countries. It was intended as a place of prayer and contemplation commemorating Jesus' agony in the garden, the beginning of His sufferings on our behalf, agonized to the point of sweating blood (cf. Luke 22:44) over the prospect of being cut off from His Father, who made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the very righteousness of God Cor 5:21). For when Jesus became sin for us the cross not merely a substitute for us sinners God the Father, as it were, could not look at Him and had to turn away, so that in His humanity (not in His Divine nature) Jesus was cut off from the Father God as though He were a sinner! His sinless human nature it was almost too much for Him to bear. When some visitors to GethsemaneÔ_ contemplate this, they are brought to tears. Others, who may not have been so very religious when they started out on their journey, are so touched by the reality of it all that they experience a deep conversion of heart. The present basilica is the third one to stand here. First, there was: The Byzantine Basilica constructed in the time of the emperor Theodosius (A.D. 380). had, at the center of the apse, the Rock of the Agony, still conserved, where Jesus prayed. This spot was favorite a place of prayer for the earliest believers, and was pointed out to later visitors in an unbroken tradition to the present day better than a document; documents can be forged. Though smaller than the present structure, written records describe the Byzantine Basilica as elegant. was destroyed, like many other things were, by the Persians in A.D. 614. The Crusader Basilica was massive and was erected in the 12 century, ($x remains which are still visible on the south side of the present church. was %l # destroyed Moslems around A.D. 1200. &X!$ The New Basilica begun in 1919 on the same site as the Byzantine Basilica, after World War I, was designed by architect Antonio BarluzziÔ_ and completed 1924. Natural light filtered by alabaster windows creates an atmosphere which invites the visitor to unite oneself with the Lord at the Rock of the Agony which has been conserved directly in front of the altar. When fragments of the original Byzantine mosaic floor were discovered, they were preserved and are visible under glass panels. The architect of the present basilica, Antonio BarluzziÔ_ very devout Catholic, upon seeing the fragments, decided to copy the original in his mosaic floor, thus suggesting a spiritual continuity through out the ages of faith. Mere tourists, who breeze in and out, don see much. But anyone who comes with an open mind and heart will learn that we love Christ because He first loved us.

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