Toward Easter - Daily Readings & Meditations for Lent 2025 - Day 33

Passion Sunday marks an essential turning point in our Lenten journey as we enter Passiontide, the final and most solemn two-week period before Easter. Today, we explored the profound reality of Christ's sacrifice and what it means for our spiritual lives during these sacred days.

At the heart of our meditation lies a stunning theological truth from St. John Vianney: "Our Lord suffered more than was necessary to redeem us, but what would have satisfied the justice of His Father would not have satisfied His love." The blood shed at Christ's circumcision alone would have been sufficient for mankind's redemption—each drop of divine blood carrying infinite redemptive power. Yet Christ chose the full suffering of the Cross not from necessity but from superabundant love. This revelation transforms how we understand the Passion and our own participation in it through Lenten practices.

Drawing from Scripture, particularly Hebrews 9:12, we see how Christ fulfilled and transcended the Old Testament sacrifices. The high priest's annual blood offering foreshadowed Jesus becoming both priest and victim, offering His own blood for our salvation. Padre Pio's words further illuminate our path: "Let us climb generously the slopes of Calvary for love of Him, who was immolated for love of us." With these insights, I offered four practical resolutions to deepen your Passion Tide experience: dedicate time to meditate on God's sacrificial love, unite your daily struggles with Christ's sufferings, honor Crucifixes you encounter, and gaze lovingly at the Crucifix in your home or office. As we approach Holy Week, these practices help us "double down" on our Lenten commitments and finish our spiritual journey with renewed focus and devotion.

Have you placed crucifixes throughout your home and workplace as visible reminders of Christ's sacrifice? Consider how these sacred images might transform your final days of Lenten preparation and draw you deeper into the mystery of God's boundless love.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Passion Sunday
• 2:29 Love Unto Sacrifice: Scripture Reading
• 5:15 Prayer and Saints' Reflections
• 7:17 Four Resolutions for Passion Tide
• 10:09 Meditations on Christ's Sacrificial Love
• 12:49 Closing Thoughts and Announcements

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:57

Sancte. Sancte, amare morti necranas nos In tes vera verunt. Good morning everyone, and welcome to Passion Sunday. We are on day 33 of Lent here, and today marks the beginning of the two weeks of Passion Tide. And today marks the beginning of the two weeks of Passion Tide. So we are definitely approaching the end of Lent here. So it's time to double down on our penances, on our fasting, on our abstinence, and finish off Lent strong. And, like I've done in the past, we'll throw up an image on screen and you can listen while we read a short portion of scripture, read a meditation, a prayer, a couple thoughts from the saints. And then today we have four resolutions. So, without further ado, let us begin Passion Sunday.

Speaker 1: 2:22

Love unto sacrifice. From St Paul's epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 9, verse 12. From St Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 9, verse 12. Neither by the blood of goats or of understand that. In the Old Covenant, the high priest entered once a year into the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the altar with the blood of goats and bulls offered in sacrifice in the temple. What the high priest used to do was a figure of what Christ himself carried out with his own blood, by his sacrifice on the cross.

Speaker 1: 3:15

After original sin, the whole history of mankind was oriented toward the one and eternal sacrifice of our Lord, which now, ever since the ascension, is mysteriously but truly perpetuated on our altars during the holy sacrifice of the Mass. The whole history of salvation is gathered in the cross, which is the most moving revelation of God's love for us. If it is true that there is no greater love than to give one's life or one's friends, what are we to think of, then, of the degree of love of our Lord for us who went so far as to die on the cross after enduring horrible sufferings? O Jesus, during this Passion Tide which begins today, I am going to contemplate Thy sacrifice. From this moment, I want to consider attentively the price of my salvation, namely thy blood, the blood of a God. Help me to consider the intensity of thy love for me, love which led thee to become priest and victim in order to open to me the gates of heaven. Help me also to associate my sufferings with thine own. From now on, I am going to continue my work of penance, not only to expiate my sins, but also to unite myself more intimately to thy holy passion. And now a prayer from Father Gabriel, of saint mary magdalene from divine intimacy, volume 2, page 244 and 245, in the name of the father and of the son and the holy ghost, amen. Oh christ, son of god, in contemplating the great pain which thou didst endure for us on the cross, I hear thee say to my soul I was not play-acting when I loved you. Thy God, my God, stirs up in me an ardent desire to avoid all that may offend thee, to embrace the suffering and the disdain which thou didst endure, to keep continually in mind thy passion and thy death, in which we find our true salvation and our life. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, amen.

Speaker 1: 5:49

Our first thought of the day is from St John Vianney. Our Lord suffered more than was necessary to redeem us, but what would have satisfied the justice of his Father would not have satisfied his love. Our second thought is from Padre Pio. Let us climb generously the slopes of Calvary For love of him, who was immolated for love of us. And now we have four resolutions. One, let us consider for a few moments the love of God for us, manifested during his passion. Two let us offer the fatigue of this end of the school term in reparation for our sins and to unite ourselves to the sufferings endured by our Lord during His Passion. 3. Let us not pass a shrine of the crucifix without making the sign of the cross. And 4. From time to time during the day, let us look with love on the crucifix in our room or in our office. That is the reading for today and clearly, father did write this book, this series, for those in school, for those in school, but we of course can apply it to ourselves or to all those of us outside of school. But yes, the beginning of Passion Tide.

Speaker 1: 7:55

I love what St John Vianney says here, that our Lord suffered more than was necessary to redeem us. It said that the blood shed at Christ's circumcision, you know that was more than enough blood to redeem the whole world. You know, and it makes sense. You know, every sin, of course, is an infinite offense against God, because God is infinitely good is perfectly good. Offense against God because God is infinitely good is perfectly good. So any offense against that perfect goodness is an infinite offense against it. But then, conversely, any blood or suffering offered by our Lord for us is an infinite reparation. Expiation of that so right. So the blood of the circumcision would have been enough of our Lord's precious blood to redeem the whole world.

Speaker 1: 9:06

But as St John Vianney says here, while that would have satisfied the justice of the Father, it would not have satisfied the love of the father or of the trinity in general. Um so so god, you know, gives himself in a super abundant way on the cross. That was done purely out of love. That part was not even necessary truly to redeem us. It's done out of love for us. And of course, by dying on the cross, christ destroys death as well. So through Passion Tide, here, while we prepare and consider the passion and death of our Lord, we really need to do so with the realization that it was done purely out of love, that even the necessary work of salvation could have been done a different way, could have been done with less suffering, have been done a different way could have been done with less suffering, but that would not have satisfied the love of our God. And so these resolutions here are very good resolutions for today. And throughout Passion Tide, you know, every day, for at least a few minutes, just sit and meditate and consider the love God has for us. And that love was manifested during his passion.

Speaker 1: 10:43

Even though most of us aren't in school, this can still be a tiring time of the year as we finish off with winter and if you have kids in school or you know, just excuse me, see, tired um offer, you know just the fatigue of this time of the year. And reparation for our sins, um, any suffering you go through, uh, through the next two weeks, offer, and not not just inriation for sins, but just so we can unite ourselves more closely to the sufferings endured by our Lord. And then, of course, making the sign of the cross. Whenever we see or pass a crucifix From time to time during the day, let us look with love on the crucifix in our room or our office. This is a great, great time. If you don't have a crucifix in your home or in your office, or wherever, get crucifixes in your home, in your office, wherever you can, you can't have too many of them.

Speaker 1: 12:00

Let's see if there's just anything else throughout here that jumps out at me. No, that's not, not really okay. So that's all I have for you today. So tomorrow, monday, in passion week, we will be talking about christian penance and uh, and just to give everyone a forewarning, next Sunday, palm Sunday. My family will be traveling, so I think I'm going to try to record next Sunday's reading on Saturday before we leave and set it up to go. We'll see. That would be what would be best, I think, but that's a week away, so, regardless, thank you all for joining me. I appreciate you all listening and I hope you all have a great Passion Sunday. We'll see you all again tomorrow, thank you.