Every year, on the Friday that precedes Ash Wednesday, the Passionist Congregation celebrates the “Solemn Commemoration of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This feast was proposed by our holy founder, St. Paul of the Cross, to his first companions in a letter he wrote to the Novice Master, Fr. John Mary Cioni, CP, in 1758. Paul of the Cross intended to ask the Holy Father to have it assigned as a feast of the Congregation.
The year following his death, Paul’s wish for the feast was granted. Since 1776, the Passionist Family celebrates this as our Patronal Feast on the Friday before the start of Lent.
The relevance of this feast is also a statement of the relevance of our Passionist charism wherever we “preach the Passion.” Paul of the Cross called the Passion of Jesus the “most stupendous work of God’s love.” If we are to be faithful to this Passionist charism, we must love stupendously those whose lives are the embodiment of suffering, the crucified of today.
May the spirit of St. Paul of the Cross open our hearts and strengthen our Passionist Family to carry on the most stupendous work of God’s love.
Thank you for this inspiration and insight!