The Popes and the Passion

H.H. Benedict XVI,
Homily, Square in front of the Basilica of Mariazell;
Saturday, 8 September 2007
Jesus transformed the Passion, his suffering and his death, into prayer, and in this way he transformed it into an act of love for God and for humanity. That, finally, is why the outstretched arms of the Crucified One are also a gesture of embracing, by which he draws us to himself, wishing to enfold us in his loving hands. In this way he is an image of the living God, he is God himself, and we may entrust ourselves to him.

Saint Leo the Great,
From Sermon 15, De Passione Domini.
True reverence for the Lord’s passion means fixing the eyes of our heart on Jesus crucified and recognizing in him our own humanity.

H.H. John Paul II
14th. World youth day;
Palm Sunday, 28 March 1999, n. 2

Looking at Jesus in his passion, we see humanity's sufferings as well as our personal histories reflected as in a mirror. Although there was no sin in Christ, he took upon himself what man could not endure: injustice, evil, sin, hatred, suffering and finally death .

H.H. John Paul II
Message to the youth of the world on the occasion of
the 15th. World youth day;
June 29th. 1999, n. 2.

“Passion” means a passionate love, unconditioned self- giving: Christ’s passion is the summit of an entire life “given” to his brothers and sisters to reveal the heart of the Father. The Cross, which seems to rise up from the earth, in actual fact reaches down from heaven, enfolding the universe in a divine embrace. The Cross reveals itself to be “the centre, meaning and goal of all history and of every human life”.

The Magisterium of the Church and the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. . .

The Saints and the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. . .