The Passionists of Holy Cross Province

The Love that Compels

2016-2017 Retreat Theme and Schedule

Mater Dolorosa 2016-17 Retreat Schedule

The Crucified One is No Stranger

MDRC Theme

The crucified one is no stranger.  This is a bold, even daring statement.  The crucified one is Jesus on the cross.  But the crucified one is still present and living among us.

The theme of our retreat is “The Crucified One is No Stranger.”  We will explore the question we all ask many times: Is God truly present in our lives?  Not just in the beautiful and graced moments, but even in the broken and dark places?

With the eyes of Christ, we can recognize his presence among us.  He is one like us.  And we need not look far to encounter the crucified one in others:  our family, friends or co-workers.  They may have been crucified by life’s circumstances, or worse, by us.  Closer still, the crucified one may be me.  Do I crucify myself by my inability to forgive myself, to forgive others, or to forgive life for being so unfair?

The Crucified One is No Stranger.  He is present among us.  And from the cross, his cross and ours, Christ calls us to hope.  He summons us to resurrection.  And most mysteriously, even as the crucified and risen Jesus invites us to recognize him in his wounds, we will come to recognize ourselves in new life.

Ash Wednesday

On March 2, the Church celebrates Ash Wednesday. 

Most of us learned early in our Catholic lives that Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, and that is a time of special sacrifice in preparation for the Easter celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection.

Dear brothers and sisters, every moment of our lives is a time for believing, hoping and loving…. These words of Pope Francis, taken from his Lenten Message of last year, 2021, and echoing the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, can still inspire our answer to the question: “What am I giving up for Lent?” 

We can draw our Lenten sacrifices out of our daily life: 

Share our faith in God’s presence by sharing in prayer with our family or with those in our parish community.
Share our hope in God’s promises by encouraging positive and respectful dialogue in our family circle and among our friends. 
Share the charity God has bestowed on us in the Passion of Jesus, with those whose sufferings are ignored or aggravated.

Let us pray for one another as we enter the season of Lent. Our Passionist “motto” can be our daily prayer during Lent, “May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts.”