A Passion Sunday Thought to Start the Week Off Right
The older liturgical calendar names this 5th Sunday of Lent "Passion Sunday." It marked the beginning of "Passiontide." The new calendar just says "Fifth Sunday of Lent." Something's been lost in the new calendar that made much sense. Let's look at what that might be.
The observance of "Passiontide" causes us to intensify our efforts to mediate, or dwell on, the Passion of Our Lord. We do this throughout Lent, but now we ramp things up. We all know the story of His suffering and death, of course, but lingering on the details can help us appreciate what Jesus accomplished as a result. We note most especially that He endured His Passion not just for the sake of "mankind," but for each of us, for you and for me. We were on His mind through it all, not only in all our sinfulness and imperfection, but also in the beautify and goodness that marks us as sons and daughter of God, made in His image and likeness.
And so as we enter Passiontide, the Cross takes its place at the center of our attention. To the extent we can, in midst of our busy days, whether at home or at work, we remember the Cross and meditate on what it means to us. Of course, a Catholic understands that this recollection of the Cross ought to be part and parcel of our daily lives. While many of us may not be as cognizant of this as we might have been in days past, these last two weeks of Lent - Passiontide - give us the chance to place the Cross where it belongs in our lives: at its very center.
These words, written by Archbishop Edward Leen, C.S.Sp. can help us to focus our attention on what's important during Passiontide. Please read them carefully and prayerfully. Then enter into Passiontide with the appropriate spirit.
Get that: "the Christian way of living" - emphasize, again, "way of living"? It's not a part of our lives that we accept reluctantly, but prefer not to think about. It's our way of life. Sure, it flies in the face of everything that surrounds us, both material and spiritual, in our world today. Most of us follow "lifestyles" where yearning for more "stuff" motivates our daily decisions and actions. And to counter the daily grind to acquire more, we either seek the relief of various pleasures or embrace forms of "spirituality" designed to comfort us, to tell us how great we are, to help us counter the anxiety and stress that, frankly, we frequently bring on ourselves as we run ourselves ragged to acquire more. Talk about a vicious cycle!
Looked at in that light, maybe we can more fully and deeply understand and appreciate Archbishop Leen's words. We followers of Jesus Christ for whom the Cross determines our way of life can step away from a "lifestyle" of "more stuff" punctuated by bouts of pleasure and superficial "spirituality." We can face life as it is, a combination of good and bad, true and false, beauty and ugliness. We can accept our fellow human beings as the imperfect creatures we all are as a result of fallen human nature. We do all this as because we have taken the time to "read" and understand the sign of the Cross. And that enables us "to understand that the Christian calling demands that each follower of Christ develop in himself that attitude of soul which was Christ's, and which found its most significant expression in the Passion..."
So as we enter into Passiontide, let's take the time to think about, to meditate on all this. Let's make sure that we understand our calling to a way of life that keeps the Cross at its center. Doing so will free our minds, our hearts, and the very depths of our soul from all the entanglements of the world, the flesh, and the devil. It does seem worth doing, doesn't it?
With the hope that Passiontide brings us all closer to the life we were meant to live, we pray...
The observance of "Passiontide" causes us to intensify our efforts to mediate, or dwell on, the Passion of Our Lord. We do this throughout Lent, but now we ramp things up. We all know the story of His suffering and death, of course, but lingering on the details can help us appreciate what Jesus accomplished as a result. We note most especially that He endured His Passion not just for the sake of "mankind," but for each of us, for you and for me. We were on His mind through it all, not only in all our sinfulness and imperfection, but also in the beautify and goodness that marks us as sons and daughter of God, made in His image and likeness.
And so as we enter Passiontide, the Cross takes its place at the center of our attention. To the extent we can, in midst of our busy days, whether at home or at work, we remember the Cross and meditate on what it means to us. Of course, a Catholic understands that this recollection of the Cross ought to be part and parcel of our daily lives. While many of us may not be as cognizant of this as we might have been in days past, these last two weeks of Lent - Passiontide - give us the chance to place the Cross where it belongs in our lives: at its very center.
These words, written by Archbishop Edward Leen, C.S.Sp. can help us to focus our attention on what's important during Passiontide. Please read them carefully and prayerfully. Then enter into Passiontide with the appropriate spirit.
“The Cross of Christ is not merely a reminder of a historical fact; nor is it merely the presentation of a dogmatic truth; nor is it only a revelation of the awful gravity of sin and a warning of the rigors of justice with which it is chastised; it is not even primarily an eloquent plea for gratitude and love. It is, of course, all that, but it is besides, something of yet greater moment. It is above all else a sacrifice, which whilst redeeming mankind, is, at the same time the unfolding of a theory of human existence for the instruction of mankind. It both restores life to man and explains the conditions which underlie that life.
A contemplation of the Passion, no matter how sympathetic it may be, no matter how deeply it may move the emotions, will be in large measure robbed of its fruits, unless it issues for the contemplative in a clear realization and a practical grasp of the lesson the Passion is meant to convey. Each scene of the sufferings of Jesus as it offers itself to the imagination and the thought of the Christian must have, as the permanent background of all the words that so often reinforced and summarized His ascetical instructions to the people: “Whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27). The Cross is the symbol of the Christian way of living. It teaches that sacrifice is the essential condition of attaining the good the Savior won for men at the cost of His Precious Blood; and that sacrifice is the lot not only of the Savior, but of the saved as well. The Cross is not only for Christ, it is for the Christian also. The Cross is a sign, as a book is a sign, for men to read. It gives all Christians to understand that the Christian calling demands that each follower of Christ develop in himself that attitude of soul which was Christ’s, and which found its most significant expression in the Passion…”Let's repeat with emphasis: "The Cross of Christ...is above all else a sacrifice...a theory of human existence for the instruction of mankind. It both restores life to man and explains the conditions which underlie that life." The centrality of the Cross can't be expressed any more emphatically. And that's not just to say that suffering - even if unwanted or dreaded - plays an important role in our lives. Rather, the Cross provides "the permanent background of...His ascetical instructions to the people: 'Whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me cannot by My disciple'...the symbol of the Christian way of living."
Get that: "the Christian way of living" - emphasize, again, "way of living"? It's not a part of our lives that we accept reluctantly, but prefer not to think about. It's our way of life. Sure, it flies in the face of everything that surrounds us, both material and spiritual, in our world today. Most of us follow "lifestyles" where yearning for more "stuff" motivates our daily decisions and actions. And to counter the daily grind to acquire more, we either seek the relief of various pleasures or embrace forms of "spirituality" designed to comfort us, to tell us how great we are, to help us counter the anxiety and stress that, frankly, we frequently bring on ourselves as we run ourselves ragged to acquire more. Talk about a vicious cycle!
Looked at in that light, maybe we can more fully and deeply understand and appreciate Archbishop Leen's words. We followers of Jesus Christ for whom the Cross determines our way of life can step away from a "lifestyle" of "more stuff" punctuated by bouts of pleasure and superficial "spirituality." We can face life as it is, a combination of good and bad, true and false, beauty and ugliness. We can accept our fellow human beings as the imperfect creatures we all are as a result of fallen human nature. We do all this as because we have taken the time to "read" and understand the sign of the Cross. And that enables us "to understand that the Christian calling demands that each follower of Christ develop in himself that attitude of soul which was Christ's, and which found its most significant expression in the Passion..."
So as we enter into Passiontide, let's take the time to think about, to meditate on all this. Let's make sure that we understand our calling to a way of life that keeps the Cross at its center. Doing so will free our minds, our hearts, and the very depths of our soul from all the entanglements of the world, the flesh, and the devil. It does seem worth doing, doesn't it?
With the hope that Passiontide brings us all closer to the life we were meant to live, we pray...
We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee,
Because by Thy Holy Cross Thou Hast Redeemed the world.
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