1. The Impact of the Cross in the
WorldToday
Session 1. A Passion for Life

2.  Christian Social Tradition
 Who are the Passionist?
 Passionist Charism
 Community of Compassion
 Passionist Spirituality

3.  Scripture and the Early Christian community
 Decalogue- Legal relationship to God and neighbor
 Matthew 25- Judgment is based on social
responsibility to the poor and neglected
 Beatitudes, Communal Life, Pauline correspondence
 Social reform movements
 Apologetics
 Peace of God Movement (9th and 10th century)
 Religious reform movements (Cistercians,
Mendicants, Passionist and Redemptorist )

4.  1891 – Pope Leo XIII wrote Rerum Novarum
 Papal Encyclicals:
 1931 – Quadragesimo Anno – Pope Pius XI
 1961 – Mater et Magistra – Pope John XXIII
 1963 – Pacem InTerris – Pope John XXIII
 1967 – Populorum Progressio – Pope PaulVI
 1987 – Sollicitudo Rei Socialis: - Pope John Paul II
 1995 – EvangeliumVitae – Pope John Paul II
 2009 – Caritas inVeritate – Pope Benedict XVI
 Vatican II – Gaudium et Spes
 1971 Synod of Bishops – Justice in theWorld
 U.S. Bishops
 The Challenge of Peace, 1983
 Economic Justice for All, 1986
 Renewing the Earth, 1991

5.  Life and Dignity of the Human Person
 Call to Family, Community, and Participation
 Rights and Responsibilities
 Option for the Poor andVulnerable
 The Dignity ofWork and the Rights of
Workers
 Solidarity
 Care for God’s Creation

6. Passionist contribute to the Christian SocialTradition
in two ways.
•Passionist spirituality:
•Passionist ministries:

7.  A Catholic Religious Community
 Contemplative Charism: devoted to the memory of the
Passion
 Apostolic Ministry: Preachers, Missions, Social
Ministries, Spiritual Direction and Retreat Ministries
 Founded by St. Paul of the Cross in 1741
 Religious community of Men, Women (Sisters and
cloistered Nuns) and various lay associations.
 Over 2,000 Passionist vowed men throughout the
world in 59 countries spanning 5 continents.

8. St. Paul of the Cross
 Born 1694: Died 1775
 A famous mystic and
preacher
 Founded the
Passionist in 1741
 Ministry included
Preaching Mission,
Founded Retreats,
Spiritual Direction
Community leadership

9. St. Paul of the Cross
Pursued Justice
As this true disciple of his Divine Master, all
love and charity, could not do alone what he
wished for the poor, he labored in their favor
as much as he could, making use of the
opportunities that the giving of holy missions
and similar employments afforded him…. He
grieved deeply when the poor were
abandoned.

10. St. Paul of the Cross
“We ought to be
grateful and
correspond to his
divine benefits by
loving justice, truth,
and exercising charity
and the works of
mercy towards our
neighbor, especially
to the poor.”

11. Passionist Rules and
Constitutions, #65
• We Passionists make the
Paschal Mystery the
center of our lives.
• This entails a loving
commitment to follow
Jesus Crucified, and a
generous resolve to
proclaim His Passion
and death with faith and
love.

12. Passionist Rules and
Constitutions, #65
• His Passion and death
are no mere historical
events. They are ever-
present realities to people
in the world of today,
"crucified" as they are by
injustice, by the lack of a
deep respect for human
life, and by a hungry
yearning for peace, truth,
and the fullness of human
existence.

13. The Fourth Vow: Keeping alive
the memory of the Passion
Motto: May the Passion of Jesus
be ever in our hearts

14.  Why promise to do something like this? The
answer lies with the meaning of the cross and
death of Jesus Christ for the world…
Fr. Don Senior, CP

15. A Special
Vow
Jesus' death on the cross
was a death in the cause
of justice. He was
executed because he
challenged accepted
values. He sided with
the poor and the
outcasts. He condemned
oppressive structures.
Jesus was a prophet and
prophets meet strong
opposition.

16. A Special
Vow
His cross reminds us
that Christians must
listen to the cries of the
poor. We are in
solidarity with those
whom society may
forget or even exploit.
The cross is a sign of
justice. To remind the
world about the cross is
to challenge the world
for its injustice and
neglect. Passionists are
pledged to that
challenge.

17. A Special
Vow
Finally, remembering
the cross means
remembering those in
the world who bear the
cross today: the
disabled, the sick, the
dying, the grieving,
those isolated and alone
-- all who bear the
burden of pain.

18. COMMUNITY OF COMPASSION
 Passionist Spirituality
begins with the experience
of suffering
 “The memory of the
Passion is a transformative
influence on suffering
enhancing its role as a
component of the
compassion whose activity
can be central in the
process of becoming a
moral person.”

19. COMMUNITY OF COMPASSION
 The Compassionate Person
 A person can be transformed
by suffering and emerge with
Compassion
 Compassion addresses the
suffering of others, in a way
comparable to one’s own
experience of suffering.
 Compassion unifies us with
others who are suffering
 “Compassion in the Christian
setting is love with a facility for
addressing suffering. It is a
suffering love”
 “Compassion is charity before
the suffering of others”

20. COMMUNITY OF COMPASSION
SPE SALVI
 The true measure of humanity is
essentially determined in relationship to
suffering and to the sufferer. This holds
true both for the individual and for
society. A society unable to accept its
suffering members and incapable of
helping to share their suffering and to
bear it inwardly through “com-passion” is
a cruel and inhuman society.
 To suffer with the other and for others; to
suffer for the sake of truth and justice; to
suffer out of love and in order to become
a person who truly loves—these are
fundamental elements of humanity.

21. Passionist Spirituality
 Spirit of Prayer: Contemplate the
Crucified and the “crucified of today”
 Spirit of Solitude: Social suffering can be
incomprehensible. Live in creative
silence, a silence that allows us to find
God and to be revitalized into action.
 Spirit of Penitence: Live with what is
necessary. “Poverty is the standard
under which our congregation fights.” -
Live simply so others may simply live.

22. Passion for Life
• The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest
and most admirable proof of God’s love…and the
remedy for all the evils of our time.
• St. Paul of the Cross