No other religious order has meant as much to me as the Congregation of the Passion, one which I had discovered before my conversion and seemed to endear itself to me more and more over time as I read more about what the Passionists do, what role they have played and the unique way in which they minister to the faithful. I first became aware of the Passionists, who are not one of the better known orders (such as the Benedictines, Jesuits, Franciscans or Dominicans for example) through one of the programs of Bob and Penny Lord on St Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, one of the order's great saints.
The order of the Congregation of the Passion was approved in 1769 under its founder, St Paul of the Cross, a man who had renounced all earthly things to focus on the suffering Christ endured because of his great love for sinful humanity. As their name implies, the Passionists are devoted to the Passion of Christ, to teaching what Christ's passion and death means to us, how it can be united with our own suffering and the joyful hope that comes in the end from enduring such hardship. This focus spoke to me right away as I had, so to speak, come to accept Christianity by a very rough road and at a time when I doubted the existence of God at all (which now seems rather like denying that the sun shines) it was the image of the suffering Christ on the cross, particularly the blessing given to those who tormented him, which said to my soul, much as the Roman centurion, "truly this was the Son of God". To endure such pain and cruelty for the very sake of those who were inflicting it seemed to me to be the most ironclad proof possible of the divinity of Christ.
Another thing I consequently learned about the Passionists that greatly impressed me was the leading role they have played in the effort to bring England back to the Catholic Church. Particularly during the Oxford Movement, the Passionists were instrumental in seeing the Church take root again after so many years of Protestant oppression. In fact, it was the great Passionist priest Blessed Dominic Barberi who brought John Henry Newman, future Cardinal Deacon, into the Catholic Church. Father Dominic was a man who thought big, and he viewed his ultimate goal as nothing less than the reunion of England with Rome, which unfortunately has yet to be achieved. Passionists have also, naturally, been involved in many other parts of the world. One which stood out to me was Father Amadeo Garibaldi who served as a missionary to Mexico during the reign of Emperor Maximilian, but who was later forced out by the regime of Benito Juarez and later became one of the greatest Passionist missionaries in Spain. Then of course there is the tragic case of young St Gabriel Possenti who had such a great devotion to the suffering of Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, who of course understood the Passion of Christ better than any other human possibly could.
Today, the Passionists are working all around the world as missionaries, teachers, military and hospital chaplains and preaching at retreat centers. They do especially helpful work in helping people struggling through times of crisis, working with people to unite their own suffering to the suffering of Christ and by so doing turn a negative into a positive as God has done so often in the past. For me, there could be no more important work in the world than helping people to understand the passion of Christ, which is the heart and soul of our Christian religion, the source of our salvation and a strengthening for our souls. I can only imagine that the order has made good use of Mel Gibson's touching film, "The Passion of the Christ" which has more honestly conveyed the suffering Christ endured for our sins than anything I have certainly ever come across. To me, it seems impossible that anyone can see or read about the suffering Christ endured, totally for you and me, unworthy though we are, and still remain cold toward God and the Church. The Passion is what it is all about; you can sum up Christianity with that.
St Paul of the Cross said, "The world lives unmindful of the sufferings of Jesus which are the miracle of miracles of the love of God. We must arouse the world from its slumber" and since his time the Passionists have been doing just this, which is a mission certainly as needed today as it was then, if not more so. It is this sacrificial suffering endured for our salvation that we see in the Sacred Heart, that we see in every crucifix, which is why I think these particular icons are so important. Of course, as most people know, I am very much devoted to Christ the King, and in fact the kingship of Christ is present all throughout the suffering and death of Jesus. We see first of all, Jesus taking on our sins, which is just like the kings of the Old Testament going out to battle the enemies of their people. We see Jesus being denounced to King Herod as a rival for his throne as heir to the House of David, and Jesus confessing his kingship, which is also the primary topic with the Romans. We have the dramatic moment when Jesus was crowned with thorns, draped in red, given a reed for a sceptre and presented to the crowd with the cry, "Ecce Rex". We see, as Christ hung on the cross, giving up his life for us, it was under the sign "King of the Jews". He was, to the very last, the suffering king who came to serve his people and to save them, not from the Romans, but from the greater enemy of eternal seperation from God.
As the Passionists say, their goal is to proclaim the message of the Cross to a suffering world, and truly, without Christ, it is a world that is suffering needlessly, which is the most tragic of all. There are Passionists all around the world, but some of those I would like to point out to particularly are those of the Christ the King Retreat Center in Citrus Heights, California; Casa Pasionista Guadalupe in San Antonio, Texas and the Passionist Monastery in Chicago, Illinois, which many people reading this will know I like to support. I would also encourage anyone interested to get themselves a Passionist scapular, I got mine St Michael's store at this link. |
