Two Prayers on the Lord's Anguish in the Garden
By Esaias Heidenreich
On the Lord’s Anguish in the Garden
The First Prayer
Lord Jesus, You who began to grieve, shudder, and tremble in the garden to attain again for us and all believers the heavenly, eternal garden of paradise and to save us from eternal distress, we implore You for the sake of the great affliction and anguish of Your most holy soul, that You would grant that we may abide with You in steadfast faith in all misery and testing, and to keep watch in true invocation, so that, as You prayed to the heavenly Father in the midst of Your inexpressible pain and placed and entrusted Your cross to His righteous, most holy will, we would also submit ourselves to His fatherly will and not dictate to His majesty, but rather conform ourselves to Him and patiently follow and accept His knowledge and will. Amen.
The Second Prayer
Lord Jesus, as You were strengthened by the angel in Your anguish, grant that at Your command Your holy angels may also go before us and protect us against all evil to the body and soul. O Lord, by Your bloody sweat, wash away all our sins, lust, and impurity, and grant that the drops of Your blood may be refreshment and renewal to our faint and wearied hearts in the cold sweat of our final hour of death. Grant also that we do not fall asleep in sin, but in the midst of the daily frailties of our life, awaken us through Your holy Word and the admonitions of faithful teachers, to serve Your name here in time and there in eternity. Amen.
Esaias Heidenreich, Passional Betbüchlein (1582)
Master of the Karlsruhe Passion, Prayer on the Mount of Olives (ca. 1450)