When it was evening, he came with the Twelve. And as they reclined at table and were eating, Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” They began to be distressed and to say to him, one by one, “Surely it is not I?” (MK 14:17-19)
Every Passionist takes a special vow, a solemn promise, a sacred oath to spend their life honoring and promoting the remembrance of the Passion of Christ. They do this by remembering his suffering and death on the Cross as Jesus himself reminds us, “do this in memory of me.” This is at the heart of the charism of the Passionists. It is their pledge to keep the memory of the Cross alive deep within their hearts and to do whatever is in their power to remind others of the great love and sacrifice that has redeemed us and brought us the eternal gift of salvation. The habit of the Passionists is a constant reminder of the promise they professed as consecrated religious. The emblem on the habit is appropriately called the “Sign” a cross on top of a heart and within the heart are the words: “The Passion of Jesus Christ.” The vision of St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionists, was that the Passion of Christ be remembered by all. That it would be always in our hearts. This way, we would never forget “that God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” The Cross is the ultimate sign and symbol, expression and realization of the profound love God has for us, his people. The problem is that our hearts are easily disquieted, deceived, distracted. Our hearts are often divided, torn, separated. We easily forget the Cross, the sacrifice, the cost. We easily forget God, his love, his mercy. We easily forget all that God has done for us to save us, to love us, to heal us and to bring us home. We betray God’s love so easily in our thoughts, in our words, in what we have done and in what we have failed to do. We betray him when we use our words to curse another rather than to extend a blessing. We betray God when we use our thoughts to tear people down rather than to build them up. We betray God when we use our eyes for lusting rather than beholding. We betray God when we use our ears for gossip rather than listening to the sweet sounds of sacred silence. We betray God when we use our bodies for pleasure rather than using it for prayer and praise and worship. Let us keep our eyes securely fixed on the Cross and let our hearts be forever possessed by it. “May the Passion of Christ be always in our hearts.”