The Passions of the Passionate Jesus

"Passion" is from the Latin "pati" which means "to suffer, endure, undergo." It took the meaning "to be affected or acted upon" and later an "emotion, desire, feeling considered an affliction." Eventually it was used of intense sexual and romantic desire but can refer to any overwhelming emotional movement such as rage, joy, or zeal. It differs from "affection" in that it is more powerful and intense, suggesting loss of control to the movement. And so today, being Good Friday, we contemplate the Passion of Christ. By this we mean, immediately, his suffering and pain: the scouraging, crown of thorns, nails, gasping for breath on the cross, the shame and contempt, his feeling of desolation and even abandonment. However, this passion must be understood as derivative and expressive of two primary passions. The first is indicated by Jesus' words: "I thirst!" His thirst was surely physical, dehydration; but more deeply his thirst was for souls, for us, to bring us into union with him and his Father. He is passionate for us; he craves us; he is nuts-crazy-insane-out-of-control. He is not sane and rational in our regard: he is out of his mind in love with us. That is why he surrendered himself to "The Passion." However even his love for us is not absolutely foundational; it is secondary, derivative of and expressive of The Primary Passion: His love for his Father; his urgency to glorify his father; his yearning for his Father; his reception from and giving to, eternally, his father. This is good news for us because it means that he doesn't need us; although he loves us. This leaves us free. We can accept or reject his love; either way he is fine, infinitely delighted in union with the Father in the Holy Spirit. We might consider an analogue: In a happy family, the best thing Dad can do for the kids is love Mom. The conjugal love between the two is already complete and satisfactory; not deprived or needy. The children flow out of, express and enrich the love, but are not necessary or needed. This leaves the kids free, in the right time, to leave Mom and Dad to live their own vocation as they are not, never were "needed." By contrast, a codependent or needy Mom or Dad might smother a child and block the move to freedom and maturity. And so: the Father and the Son are passionate, intense, extravagant, ardent in their desire for us. Even as they do not need us. That is why Jesus came and suffered and rose and ascended and sent the Spirit. As we open our hearts to receive this passionate love, we are ourselves inflamed with Passion: longing for God, and also thirst for souls, an urgency to love others and bring them into the abiding, eternal, delightful Love of the Trinity.