Meditation on the Passion

• “He who desires”, says St. Bonaventure, “to go on advancing from virtue to virtue, from grace to grace, should meditate continually on the Passion of Jesus.” And he adds that “there is no practice more profitable for the entire sanctification of the soul than the frequent meditation of the sufferings of Jesus Christ.”
• In our meditation, the Passion of Christ comes out of its cold historical frame and stops being a pious consideration, presenting itself before our eyes, as terrible, brutal, savage, bloody… yet full of Love.–St Josemaria Escriva
• One day,” writes Bonaventure, “while Francis was praying… Jesus Christ appeared to him fastened to the cross”  “And the memory of Christ’s passion was so impressed on the innermost recesses of his heart that from that hour, whenever Christ’s crucifixion came to mind, he could scarcely contain his tears and sighs.”
• “Meditate on the Passion of the Redeemer and compassionate Him Who alone suffered intensely. I only suffered a little, because Jesus Christ had suffered for us.”–St Philomena to Sister Luisa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDr4OM72LJ4 Passion of the Christ “My Deliverer” music video

The Office of the Passion http://www.poorclarestmd.org/clareshare/way/office/passion.html

 This is like a shorter, easier, version of the Liturgy of the Hours focused on the Passion of Christ. (See link above.) I expected this 3-minute prayer by St Francis of Assisi to be centered on the Passion narratives of the Gospels. I discovered instead that it was hardly anything more than a collection of seemingly random Psalms. After reciting it a couple times, however, I discovered the beautiful secret behind this prayer. The Psalms selected were those that Jesus was undoubtedly praying on Good Friday. (You hear Jesus quoting a couple of these same Psalms in the movie The Passion of the Christ) Instead of being an outside spectator while meditating on the Gospels, you get to get inside Jesus’ Head while meditating on His prayers in the Psalms. Repeating the words He Himself must have prayed and imagining the emotion behind those words is enough to provoke tears! The Office of the Passion is one of the most creative and moving prayers I’ve ever said. Good job St. Francis!

• St. Augustine also said that a single tear shed at the remembrance of the Passion of Jesus is worth more than a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or a year of fasting on bread and water.
• But especially I commend earnest mental prayer to you, more particularly such as bears upon the Life and Passion of our Lord. If you contemplate Him frequently in meditation, your whole soul will be filled with Him, you will grow in His Likeness, and your actions will be molded on His. He is the Light of the world; therefore in Him, by Him, and for Him we shall be enlightened and illuminated. –St Francis De Sales_
• “The remembrance of the most holy Passion of Jesus Christ is the door through which the soul enters into intimate union with God, interior recollection and most sublime contemplation…”
• “The Passion of Christ is the greatest and most stupendous work of Divine Love. “The greatest and most overwhelming work of God’s love.”
  “The most holy Passion of Jesus Christ is the most efficacious means to convert obstinate sinners.”– St. Paul of the Cross
  
• “The holy sufferings of Jesus is a sea of sorrows, but it is also a sea of love. Ask the Lord to teach you to fish in this sea. Immerse yourself in it, and, no matter how deeply you go, you will never reach the bottom. Allow yourself to be penetrated with love and sorrow. In this way you will make the sufferings of the gentle Jesus your own. Fish for the pearls of the virtues of Jesus. This holy fishing is done without words.” 8th April, 1758–St Paul of the Cross
• “There is more merit to one hour of meditation on My sorrowful Passion than there is to a whole year of bloody scourging; the contemplation of My Wounds is of great profit to you, and it brings Me great joy.”–Jesus to St Faustina
• The death and passion of Our Lord is the sweetest and most constraining motive that can animate our hearts in this mortal life… so, in the glory of heaven above, next to the Divine goodness known and considered in itself, Our Savior’s death shall most powerfully ravish the blessed spirits in the loving of God–St Francis De Sales-Our Savior’s passion raises men and women from the depths, lifts them up from the earth, and sets them in the heights.–St Maximus of Turin
  

 

This post is dedicated to the Holy Innocents.