Theological Foundations new file

81 Life in Christ see if there is any sorrow like My sorrow which was brought upon Me” (Lam 1, 12). The Church brings the pain suffered by Christ closer to the faithful as it encourages them to meditate upon His Passion during the time of Lent. 84 Why are we to meditate on the Lord’s Passion? — asks Blessed George. Because Christ’s Passion is the center of the Divine mysteries and the source of our salvation. Through His Passion, our Savior wiped our sins away, reconciled the people with God, obtained for them the grace of being sons of God, and opened the gates of heaven for them. The Passion is also a source of wisdom, because the Cross is the Divine Master’s pulpit, the most perfect book from which the faithful have always been learning the ways of God. That is why St. Paul said: “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him cru- cified” (1 Cor 2, 2). Finally, the Lord’s Passion is a source of power and strength, a defense and shield against the enemies of the soul, namely, Satan, the world and the flesh. 85 Christ’s Passion should be meditated upon with faith, for it is a mys- tery which can be fathomed only through faith. Hence, the Jews consid- ered the Passion to be a scandal and the pagans thought it was foolish- ness. But a Christian, who looks at it through the light of faith, sees what Jesus suffered in body and soul and discovers the magnitude of His pain and love. “Look at Jesus’ Passion with the eye of living faith, encour- ages our preacher, just as if it were being repeated before you, as if you were its witness and participant. Imagine that you are following Him, praying in the garden of Gethsemane, that you are present at His flagel- lation and when He is being crowned with thorns, that you clean up His blood, help to carry the Cross, kneel at its feet and then see Him off to the grave.” The feeling that should accompany us in the meditation on the Lord’s Passion is that of compunction, humility and love. We should be also filled with the desire to make reparations for our sins. A person who committed even one mortal sin must agree that he, too, crucified Jesus. We must, therefore, bemoan not only Jesus’ Passion but also our own blindness. 86