This is a concept which came to me in prayer.
For me, the Garden of Gethsemane is the Garden of Eden. And, the Garden of Eden is the Garden of Gethsemane. I am being told this...
Now, reflecting on Scripture, I can make some comparisons and parallels as well as oppositions.
Christ spoke is parables, but often He speaks to us plainly. This is not plain to me, yet. But, I intend to share some of the insights with you as this is an important point. When I am not sure of something, I stay with it, letting it "sit on the back burner".
St. John in his gospel, as the Pope Emeritus pointed out in the last volume of Jesus of Nazareth, actually highlighted the comparison of Eden with Gethsemane.
Here are some of my thoughts on this comparison to date
Christ by perfect innocence and integrity faces Adam and Eve, facing each other, once in such innocence, now in sin and not integrity. Christ is the New Adam, just as Mary is the New Eve. But, Christ suffers for that status, undoing sin and death.
Adam and Eve walked with God, but God the Father allowed Christ to suffer alone in Gethsemane. Christ faced satan by Himself, taking on the role of the New Adam. Christ was always with God, but in the Passion, He experienced Adam and Eve'sand, therefore, our abandonment through sin, as Christ took on our sin. But, Adame and Eve had an angelic apprehension of God, which was knowledge of Love. Christ showed us this love in His Passion
However, there is not contamination in Christ, no shame in being human, such as Adam and Eve experienced after the Fall. But Christ taking on our sins, all sins, accepted the consequences of that contamination and He saw all this in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Christ's Oneness with the Trinity is a mystery of Faith and we cannot understand the kind of intimacy that Adam and Eve had with God before the Fall. We just cannot grasp this type of perfect union, until God allows us to experience this through the levels of purgation.
Only Christ is Perfect and in His perfection, took the sin of Adam and Eve who lost this perfection
This union with God was like the union of perfection in prayer experienced by St. Teresa, and many others. Eden was a place of perfect communion with God the Father and Gethsemane is the place of prayer
The devil succeeded in ruining Adam and Eve's perfection but Christ undid all of that, giving us all the chance for renewal, eternal life. He squashed the head of the devil undoing the curse, a promise given immediately after the Fall.
Genesis 3:
15 I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.
More thoughts: the Father and Creator walked with our first parents in Eden, and Christ walked with His disciples in Gethsemane. But, they slept, which is a sign of sin and corruption.
I see in my imagination that the Garden of Gethsemane is at one end of the portal and the Garden of Eden is at the other end. God sees all things at once, not separated.
We in the Church are made holy by Christ's Passion, Death and Resurrection.
The church is the mystical body of Christ we are sanctified in the divine heritage won by Christ.
Now, on the road to perfection, one must suffer, accept the Cross, as Christ did in Gethsemane. His acceptance of horrible pain, torture, abandonment, death led to our renewal of the status of children of God, the status of our first parents.
To rediscover who I am, who we are are truly human with immortal souls, we must re-discover our status as creatures, as children of God, heirs of heaven given to us by Christ in His Passion.
But, not without suffering.
I am still meditating on this mystery for my personal life, that Eden is Gethsemane and Gethsemane is Eden.
You and I must rediscover what it means to be truly human with an immortal soul, created to share eternal joy and love with God and endowed with gifts.
Baptism makes us new, new creations. But, this freedom was won back in the Passion, after being lost in Eden.
to be continued...
The Agony in the Garden. Matthew 26:36-46
36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”37 He took along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to feel sorrow and distress.38 Then he said to them, “My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch with me.”39 He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.”40When he returned to his disciples he found them asleep. He said to Peter, “So you could not keep watch with me for one hour?41Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”42 Withdrawing a second time, he prayed again, “My Father, if it is not possible that this cup pass without my drinking it, your will be done!”43Then he returned once more and found them asleep, for they could not keep their eyes open.44He left them and withdrew again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing again.45 Then he returned to his disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand when the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners.46Get up, let us go. Look, my betrayer is at hand.”