On Morning Air, Ashley Noronha joined John Morales to reflect on Pope Leo XIV’s catechesis from his Wednesday general audience on August 27. The Holy Father turned our attention to the Passion of Christ, particularly the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, where the Lord’s fear and loneliness revealed the depth of His humanity. Even in that darkest of times, Pope Leo reminded the faithful that God was there.

The Pope explained that Christ’s act of surrender was not one of weakness or cowardice, but of love. This was a love that is free, mature, and unafraid of rejection. Jesus did not stumble into His Passion; He freely entered it with full knowledge and purpose, in order to redeem mankind. For the Holy Father, this demonstrates that to give one’s life out of love is not failure but the fulfillment of life’s deepest meaning.

Pope Leo stressed that Christ was not untouched by anguish before His Passion. He was greatly troubled, yet His suffering was endured for love of the Father and for the salvation of souls. This example serves as a model for every Christian. In a world where we often feel powerless to control events around us, we always retain one essential freedom: the choice to love. To love God and neighbor each day, even when it costs us something, is the seed of true hope.

The Holy Father pointed out that this strength to love amid suffering can only be cultivated through a life of prayer. He urged Christians not to pray merely to be spared from hardship, but to ask for the grace to endure trials with courage and charity. Prayer, steady and persevering, prepares the heart to receive the life and love of God, which ripens within us the fruit of eternal life.

Pope Leo concluded by calling the faithful to gratitude. Our lives, he said, must be lived as a response to the goodness and blessings we have already received from God. This gratitude should express itself not only in prayer, but also in the pursuit of peace and justice in the world. Accordingly, the Pope issued a renewed appeal for a permanent ceasefire in the Middle East, the restoration of peace, and the provision of humanitarian aid to the innocent who suffer there.

Through his catechesis, Pope Leo reminded us that suffering is not meaningless when united with love. Christ’s agony in Gethsemane shows us that even in the darkest hour, the Father remains with us, and love remains stronger than fear.