And now, again, it is my Lord himself – who by his words has suddenly transported me from the weakness that was mine to the strength that was his – whom I hear saying, “Now my soul is troubled.”

What does that mean? How can you bid my soul follow you if I see your own soul troubled? How shall I endure what I feel to be so unendurably heavy? What kind of support can I seek if the rock itself gives way?

But I think I hear in my own thoughts the Lord giving me an answer, saying,

“You will follow me all the better, because it is to aid your powers of endurance that I bring myself to you this way. You have heard, as addressed to yourself, the voice of my strength; hear in me now the voice of your weakness.  I supply the strength for your running your distance, and I do not stop your hastening along; but I do transfer to myself the causes for your trembling, and I pave the way for you to march along.”

O Lord our mediator, God above us, made man for us, I acknowledge your mercy!  For because you, who are so great, are troubled through the good will of your love, you preverve in the richness of your comfort the many in your body who are troubled by the continual experience of their own weakness; preserve them from perishing utterly in their despair.

St. Augustine, 354-430, On the Gospel of John

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