Provincial’s Message
Turning off the electronics tonight, I need some quiet. I long for true silence.
We have had too much noise lately.
Everywhere I turn, there is more noise—voices, shouting, accusations, confusion and fear. Why do some believe that raising their voices louder will make them heard? The question is not who can be the loudest when so few are listening. And here we sit at the door of Lent. Tonight, I sit in silence, thinking about St. Paul of the Cross, and in my silence, I realize that Pope Francis’ time with us is now limited.
St. Paul of the Cross petitioned the Holy See to extend to the global Church a day to remember the glorious Passion of Jesus and to raise this event to the level of a Solemnity. Going back to Paul’s letters, his hope was for this day to be September 16.[i] Sadly, Paul did not live to see this promulgated for the universal Church. It was only after his death that Pope Clement XIV added the Solemnity, placing it before Lent rather than in September.
As Passionists, we continue to honor the Church’s tradition of celebrating the Solemn Commemoration of the Passion on the Friday before Ash Wednesday, as a doorway leading us into the Lenten Season.
For most of us, this is not the first time down this path. Yet, isn’t it different this year? Personally, I seem more attuned to a restlessness, a unique uneasiness within people, balancing on the uncertainties and questions the tomorrows may bring. Sometimes, it feels like we are stepping on perpetually shifting sands, longing for some solid rock to support the next step of our sojourn.
Those elements of life which provided an assuredness and security for so many years, namely politics, economics and religion, all suddenly feel unstable. Where can we find solid ground to stand on? Various individuals are gazing into their crystal balls projecting out uncertainties which only escalate and spiral anxieties and fear.
As Passionists, we are called to share in the suffering of our sisters and brothers worldwide. They struggle with violence and war, and their lives are shaken by political oppression. They strive for justice and a share of the basic goods of the Earth, as they deal with natural disasters including earthquakes, floods, fires and mudslides. Undoubtedly, we live in a global village filled with suffering. But how is this good news? Beyond these big global issues, are we willing to help bear the cross of a person’s sickness or loneliness? Even the simplest things have become confusing. For example, have you tried to buy eggs this past week?
A few months back, The Passionist Province of St. Paul of the Cross hosted a Charism Day, inviting Sr. Maria Pascuzzi, CSJ, to reflect on the Passionist charism. In the third section of her presentation, she asked a simple question: “What do the people of God need from the Passionists today?” In an enjoyable manner, she commented on Paul the Apostle: “Preaching Christ crucified was already a hard sell in Paul’s day. Preaching Christ crucified as the greatest work of God’s love may be an even more difficult sell today.”
She explored how the majority of believers, whether churchgoers or not, can find the benevolence and love of God in the awesomeness, beauty and majesty of creation in a multiplicity of forms. What people struggle to make sense of is how a good God can be present in all the suffering we see around us today. And her challenge to us was this: Is Jesus Christ Crucified even relevant to the crucified of today? Just like Paul the Apostle, we know this truth is relevant. Yet, that certainly does not make the challenge easier.
Pope Francis’s most urgent and persistent request through his entire pontificate has emphatically called us to go to the poor. Be with the poor! We are not asked to be agents of humanitarian aid. Rather, we are asked to be agents of God! We are not asked to proselytize the poor, nor shall we have any attitude of advantage or superiority. We are asked to move against the direction of our natural inclinations of safety, security and comfort. In doing so, we discover grace, a grace that does not come from us but from God. Intuitively, it moves us out of our comfort zones, forcing us to stretch and trust. Jesus’ Passion moved contrary to the direction others thought he should go. Even Peter advised him not to go that way. From Jesus’ stepping into the unsafe and uncomfortable, the Church receives grace and salvation.
Back in my theology days, one of my favorite teachers used the phrase “Mission-in-Reverse.” A truly reflective person or group of people will discover that it is not what you are doing but how you are being changed by doing it. This is the catalyst for transformation. It is a purely incarnational moment of change when we meet Christ where we were not expecting because we stepped away from our false securities, surrendering ourselves, only to find that Christ is holding our hand. At that moment, the churchy word “Salvation” becomes more personal. I believe this has been the deepest teaching Pope Francis has tried to encourage us. And it is our invitation as we pass through the celebration of this Solemnity into the season of Lent.
God is not here to help us achieve our personal achievements. Lent is not here for us to set a list of goals for the next forty days. St. Paul of the Cross would come home for Lent after preaching many missions. It was a time for him to experience deeper listening and deeper contemplation.
As we celebrate this Solemnity, do your spirit a favor. In your personal prayer over the next four weeks, take time to read and pray through each of the four Passion narratives in the Gospels. This is part of Paul’s expectations for each of us as we journey down the Passionist Way.
Wishing you a very blessed Solemnity on the occasion of our Passionist titular feast.
In the Passion of Christ,
V. Rev. David Colhour, C.P.
Provincial Superior
P.S. I welcome your thoughts and reflections.
[i]Paul of the Cross, Letters of Paul of the Cross, ed. Mercurio-Sucher, no. 1165, Letter to John Mary Cioni of Saint Ignatius (San Angelo, September 27, 1758). Note, September 14th is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. September 15th is the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. Adding a Solemnity on the 16th would create a trilogy of days for the Passion of Christ.
Thank you for this beautiful reflection Fr. David.
Quieting all the noise and reflecting on the love of our Lord’s passion is a great start.
Your reflection is quite comforting.
Happy Lent!
Thank you very much, David, for these wonderful reflections. I’m especially gratified to see that your preparation included taking special time to immerse yourself into silence. I couldn’t agree more. Our world is getting farther and
farther away from inner peace because we haves stopped listening to ourselves, stopped listening to those voices that dwell within our very souls. Thank you so much for sharing.
Our Lenten theme for 2025 here at Saint Agnes, Louisville is .Return to Me and Be Transformed! Thank you, David for your insightful and profound words encouraging us to take time this Lent to turn off the noise button that surrounds our world and to be open to the message of the passion narratives as found in sacred scripture! I look forward to a prayerful and challenging Lenten journey that includes a transformative return to our God! A blessed journey for you and all Passionists as well. TS
Hi Fr. David, I have read your reflection on the Solemn Commemoration of the Passion several times.
It is a beautiful reflection. Thank you. I myself feel the tension and uneasiness of the shifting structures that have provided security for me and my family. It feels like everything is shifting and tilting and I don’t understand what is really happening. I don’t know where to find truth in what is happening in our political structures. It is frightening to me. I feel we are slipping into naziism and I don’t know what to do to give voice to those being crucified by what is happening. I try to be informed, but I don’t know what is true. I feel nothing coming out of the white house is true, but we are so polarized and there is so much noise, I don’t know where to find truth. I will spend these next four weeks with the Passion narratives in the Gospels. And I will try to find silence in my head. But that is very difficult for me because when I try to get still and quiet, fear of the future rises up in me. I don’t know what to do with that fear. I never have been much good at being still…. I still have the crucifix you gave me. I will try to spend time with that again.
Thank you!
Thank you, David for your insightful reflection. Fr. Bruno read your reflection to our RCIA group last evening. It led to a very meaningful discussion about how difficult it is for some of us to sit in silence and what a gift it is when we allow the silence in. To everyone in the Passionist Family, Happy Feast Day!
Fr. Robin Ryan had a wonderful reflection this morning in the Chapel. Mentioning how we can see the Passion of Christ in a whole listing of events in the suffering of humanity today. Quoting a Jesuit theologian, Jon Sobrino, “The crosses of history are a mediation of the cross of Jesus.” None of us, formed in Passionist theology would argue this, but Fr. Robin suggested that this is a two way street. Not only do the events of human suffering today reflect the passion of Christ, it is because of the cross of Jesus that enables us to see the crosses in history. As evil and brutal as was Jesus’ suffering, it is evident that Jesus is most familiar with pain and cruelty. So while our natural human inclination is to avoid these elements of life, we have a unique hope that we meet the suffering Christ and the compassionate Christ in the depth of our suffering. And this for me has always held such deeper meaning over the years than merely asking God to take the pain away.
Thank you, David, for this fine, heart-felt reflection on the occasion of such a great solemnity. Your reminder to return to the Passion narratives is a good one that I will turn to this Lent. Your thoughts also drew me to recall my old friend, Henri Nouwen, who spoke of learning the practice of “the discipline of displacement.” As you say, getting out of our assumed comfort zones and especially as Francis says to dwell with the “poor.”
Sr. Pascuzzi’s question: “What do the people of God need from the Passionists today?” is an especially good one for us. I think a significant part of that answer comes from the example of our Crucified One who displaced himself to walk among us in the land of fools! Contrary to much of our current culture, particularly in this country, I believe we are called to be examples of “downward mobility.” Nouwen wrote a wonderful book on this: “The Selfless Way of Christ – Downward Mobility in an Age of Anxiety.” Your reflection will bring me to review that Nouwen book during Lent and pray to more deeply incorporate it into my life.
May this selfless way of Christ that we pray upon today bring Passionists and all we encounter to a richer understanding of God’s love for us and may we share that love abundantly. Christ’s Peace to you.
Ernie Rivard
local leader
The Calvary Passionist Associates of Massachusetts
Thank you for the wonderful reflection. I recently was reflecting on what keeps some of us from being with the poor is a sense of, “What difference will it make?” It doesn’t need to make a difference. Or rather, any difference makes a difference.
I love that idea. We often get immobilize by the immensity of global problems which leads to, “What difference will it make?” AND if I am truly a reflective person it makes a 2X difference —first in the other person, and the second is in ourselves. While we have no authority over how it impacts the other peson, we do have authority over how we interpret this event for ourselves.