The Passionists celebrate the Solemn Commemoration of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the Friday before Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent. If you want to pray this feast with the Passionist, see here. It’s the feast that describes who the Passionist are.
Here’s St Cyril of Jerusalem on this mystery:
“The Catholic Church glories in every deed of Christ. Her supreme glory, however, is the cross. Well aware of this, Paul says: God forbid that I glory in anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!
“At Siloam, there was a sense of wonder, and rightly so: a man born blind recovered his sight. Yet still, how many blind people are left in the world! Lazarus rose from the dead, but even this affected only Lazarus: what of the countless numbers who die because of their sins? Those miraculous loaves fed five thousand people; yet this is a small number compared to all those now still starving in ignorance.
“For us all, however, the cross is the crown of victory. Indeed, it has redeemed the whole of humanity!” (St. Cyril of Jerusalem)
“A book of life, it teaches the way to life and communicates life,” the Passionist bishop Vincent Strambi writes. “The one who reads this book day and night is blessed.”
“The Passion of Jesus is a “sea of suffering” but also a “sea of love,” St. Paul of the Cross writes, regretting that so many do not know the depths of this mystery. “Like people living in a swamp,” he says, an image probably taken from the swamp lands of the Tuscan Maremma in Italy where Paul ministered much of his life.
“We must awaken them from their sad state. We must send them quickly zealous workers, truly poor in spirit and detached from every creature, that by the trumpet of God’s word they might, through the holy Passion of Christ, awaken those who ‘sit in darkness and the shadow of death.
Almighty God,
awaken within us a spirit of prayer.
Give us devotion to the Passion of your Son
and the grace of fostering it in others
by our preaching and example,
and we ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
The Victor's Place 
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Love never fails…to counter hate; to drive out fear; to help us persevere; to make us see the needs of others; to make us truly happy. May the LOVE of God reign in our hearts!
“Like people living in a swamp,” as St. Paul said, they do not know they are loved by God.
Swamps can be natural habitats for life and a buffer of land before the shore. True the land is unstable, and mushy, and smells bad. Human life doesn’t thrive there. Yet when developers look to make money they fill in these wetlands and build houses, usually high-priced for the water views. But only God’s love can truly transform the soul swamp into a place of beauty.
Blessed Feast day to you and all Passionists!
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There is only one place where a person can see pure love personified, and that place is a crucifix. When we see Jesus, our Savior, hanging on that Cross and realize what He did and is doing for us, that’s when we realize the Pure Love that He represents. On that Cross Jesus shows us not only His Love, but the Love of the Father and the Holy Spirit! When I look at a crucifix all that it brings me is awe and joy! Awe because we have such a blessing knowing how much God loves us and joy because He fills us with it whenever we let Him!
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Tis a good thing to have a crucifix hanging in your home. To look at while you pray and release your burdens at the foot of the cross. Lord. Have mercy.
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Good suggestion for Lent and every day.
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