It was also His custom always to pray by Himself, in order to give us an example, to seek for silence and solitude in our prayers. There follows: “And He taketh with Him Peter, and James and John.” He takes only those who had been witnesses of His glory on Mount Tabor, that they who had seen His glory might also see His sufferings, and learn that He is really man, in that He is sorrowful.
Wherefore there follows: “And began to be sore amazed, and very heavy.” For since He had taken on Himself the whole of human nature, He took also those natural things which belong to man, amazement, heaviness, and sorrow; for men are naturally unwilling to die.
Wherefore it goes on: “And He saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death.”
Reproduced in full. Translation: Oxford 1841 (Newman), public domain (Public domain).