Today, as we listen to St. Mark’s grim Passion story, we can appreciate how loneliness must have been a bitter ingredient in our Lord’s sufferings. Even when enemies surrounded Him, He had that searing feeling of being alone in a crowd. It all began in the Garden Gethsemane, where Jesus – His closest friends fast asleep – struggled with an anguish so intense, so devastating that it could have proved fatal, a sorrow “to the point of deathâ€. Betrayed by Judas, deserted by the rest of the Twelve, Jesus is no completely alone, and He will remain alone to the moment of death.
Everything we do this week to make it a truly Holy Week – every prayer, every act of self-denial, every kindness to another person, every acknowledgement of guilt – can become our way of offering some comfort, some support to our lonely Lord. All that happens to Jesus this week, every pain and outrage He suffers, not least the dreadful loneliness He endures, is proof of His love for us. At each stage of the Passion He can say: “My son, my daughter, I undergo this for you.â€