39. The Lord was sorrowful then unto death because in presence of the death, the earthquake, the darkened day, the rent veil, the opened graves, and the resurrection of the dead, the faith of the disciples would need to be established which had been so shaken by the terror of the night arrest, the scourging, the striking, the spitting upon, the crown of thorns, the bearing of the cross, and all the insults of the Passion, but most of all by the condemnation to the accursed cross. Knowing that all this would be at an end after His Passion, He was sad unto death. He knew, too, that the cup could not pass away unless He drank it, for He said, My Father, this cup cannot pass from Me unless I drink it: Thy will be done649    St. Matt. xxvi. 42. The Greek is:—‘My Father, if this cup cannot pass away except I drink of it, Thy will be done.’: that is, with the completion of His Passion, the fear of the cup would pass away which could not pass away unless He drank it: the end of that fear would follow only when His Passion was completed and terror destroyed650    Reading ‘non nisi finito.’, because after His death, the stumbling-block of the disciples’ weakness would be removed by the glory of His power.

39. Qui tristis usque ad mortem.---Tristitia igitur usque ad mortem Domino est: quia in morte, motu terrae diei tenebris, discissione veli, monumentorum reseratione, mortuorum resurrectione confirmanda jam apostolorum fides esset, quam et nocturnae custodiae terror, et in flagellis, alapis, sputis, corona spinea, crucis onere, et totius passionis ludibrium, et postremo maledictae crucis damnatio commoveret. Sciens igitur Dominus haec omnia post 0374B passionem suam destitutura, ideo et usque ad mortem tristis est: et scit hunc calicem transire non posse, nisi biberit, dicens: Pater meus, non potest calix iste transire a me nisi bibam illum: fiat voluntas tua (Matth. XXVI, 42): consummata in se scilicet passione metum calicis transiturum, qui nisi eum bibisset, transire non posset: finem terroris ejus non nisi consummatae in se passionis terrore succedere; quia post mortem ejus, per virtutum gloriam, apostolicae infirmitatis scandalum pelleretur.