Biographies typically focus on the life of interesting people rather than their deaths. Not so with the four gospels. They give extensive treatment to Jesus’ arrest, trial, death, and resurrection. One-third of their written record is devoted to the circumstances of Jesus’ last week of life. One Biblical scholar, Martin Kahler, described Mark’s gospel as “A passion narrative with an extended introduction.” Passion, from the Latin word “passio” means to suffer. The cross of Jesus is central to understanding his mission.
There emerged in the eighteenth century a movement of people in the Catholic Church known as “Passionists” who believed Jesus’ passion was being neglected in churches. The group was led by Paul Francis Danei (1694-1775), who later adopted the name Paul of the Cross. After a forty-day personal retreat, he founded the Congregation of the Passion in 1720. They became an official order of Catholics organized around four key principles: a continual vigilance to make the gospels, particularly Christ’s passion, the supreme rule of their common life, a commitment to work joyfully as a community of brothers, a firm resolve to pray and teach others how to pray and a keen attention to the needs of others.
As a young twenty-seven-year-old priest, Paul of the Cross entered into a forty day fast of bread and water to discern God’s call for his life. From Nov. 27, 1720, to January 1, 1721, he recorded his reflections and prayers in a daily diary. It’s instructive to read that his prayer efforts were not always sizzling and euphoric. I read entries along the lines of “I was dry and distracted in prayer” (Nov. 30), “I wanted to run away from prayer” (Dec. 11), and “I was dry as a stump and remained that way probably the whole day” (Dec. 25). There are times when we don’t feel like praying. We pray anyway and keep meditating on Scripture, knowing the good feelings will come over time. His prayer leads us to pray: