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Getsemani, a new book of Bishop Javier Echevarria

A book by Bishop Javier Echevarría entitled Getsemaní: En oración con Jesucristo[1] (Gethsemane: In Prayer with Jesus) has been published by Planeta publishing company of Barcelona. The book is the fruit of the author’s personal prayer.

Using St. Matthew’s account of Christ’s prayer in the Garden as a connecting thread, the Prelate of Opus Dei analyzes verse by verse the Evangelists’ teaching about Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Olives. Through the book’s nine chapters, the author invites us to unite ourselves fully to Christ’s prayer, contemplating Jesus from up close and trying to be one more person in the Gospel scene. “Let us pause calmly in contemplating this passage,” he invites the reader, “which shows us the divine strength of Jesus’ love for mankind, his brothers and sisters, and, at the same time, to what an extreme he took upon himself our frailty and weakness.”

Ascetical considerations, supported by documents of the magisterium of the Church, writings of the saints, the Church Fathers and other spiritual authors, especially St. Josemaría Escrivá, alternate with paragraphs of intimate personal prayer, which help the reader to draw close to Jesus, and to formulate resolutions for a sincere and deep personal conversion. The reader is led to see how Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane should be a model for our own lives.

The narratives of St. Matthew, St. Mark and St. Luke are presented at the beginning of the book in three parallel columns, enabling the reader to compare the details provided by each Evangelist.

[1] Javier Echevarria, Getsemani: En oracion con Jesucristo, 275 pages, Editorial Planeta, Barcelona, 2005.

Romana, n. 40, January-June 2005, p. 128.

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