With the smoke still rising from the second great war, Pope Pius XII surveyed the moral landscape and declared that “the greatest sin today is that men have lost the sense of sin.” This theme, a loss of the sense of sin, has been a recurring one highlighted by each of the subsequent six pontificates. In many ways it represents one of the greatest challenges to the Christian in the modern world. Most of us still believe in sin, but living in the midst of a culture that laughs at any mention in it, we fail to see the ugliness of even the “smallest” sin. The thought of achieving our freedom and conquering sin is nice, but not something we truly desire. And so we simply live a stagnant life by merely avoiding the big sins, or at least that is how we reason. After all, how could we grasp the gravity of sin when it is all around us? Does a fish know that it is wet? So how could we even hope to avoid the little sins and climb the heights of holiness?
When we examine the question more deeply we realize that the problem is hardly unique, even if it is more acute in our age. Preaching a Lenten homily 175 years ago, Blessed John Henry Newman asked pretty much the same question:
“As time goes on, and Easter draws nearer, we are called upon not only to mourn over our sins, but especially over the various sufferings which Christ our Lord and Savior underwent on account of them. Why is it, my brethren, that we have so little feeling on the matter as we commonly have? Why is it that we are used to let the season come and go just like any other season, not thinking more of Christ than at other times, or, at least, not feeling more? Am I not right in saying that this is the case? and if so, have I not cause for asking why it is the case? We are not moved when we hear of the bitter passion of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for us. We neither bewail our sins which caused it, nor have any sympathy with it.” (Parochial and Plain Sermons, Volume 6, Sermon 4).
The Blessed convert hints at the reason in the framing of the question. We do not recognize the seriousness of our sins because the Passion of Christ, not just the entire event, but the whipping, the scourging, the being dragged in chains, the carrying of the cross, the falling , the crown of thorns, the nails, and the suffocation, leaves no lasting impression on us. We might as well be watching a movie. Disturbing perhaps to think about, but quickly left aside as we move on with life. It is not that we are uncaring, it is just way too abstract. And why is this? Newman again responds saying “For this one reason, my brethren, if I must express my meaning in one word, because you so little meditate. You do not meditate, and therefore you are not impressed” (ibid.).
Why Meditation on the Passion Saves Us
Newman is really reiterating something that all the saints have said. Meditation upon the passion of Christ is necessary for both our salvation and our perseverance in the quest for it. Echoing s similar theme, a contemporary of Newman’s, Blessed Columba Marmion said that he was “convinced that outside the Sacraments and liturgical acts, there is no practice more useful to our souls than the Way of the Cross made with devotion. It is sovereign supernatural efficacy” (Christ and His Mysteries, p.309).
Why would Blessed Marmion make such a profound statement? Because he realized that the Passion and Death of Christ is an eternal event and that it has lost none of its power to heal and transform us. In his words, “When we contemplate the sufferings of Jesus He grants us, according to the measure of our faith, the grace to practice the virtues He revealed during those sacred hours…When Christ lived on earth there emanated from His divine Person an all-powerful strength…Something analogous happens when we put ourselves into contact with Jesus by faith. Christ surely bestowed special graces on those who with love, followed Him on the road to Golgotha or were present at His immolation. He still maintains that power now.”
Faith enables us to participate in the Passion of Christ simply by bringing it before us in meditation. It gives us the opportunity to draw directly from its specific, and very personal fruits. At the root of discipleship is Christ’s command, “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me”(). And only by meditating on His Passion can we know what that cross looks like or to have the power to pick it up. “Follow me” is meant literally by walking right behind Him during His own Passion, something that can only be done by putting ourselves there.
Two Examples
Scripture offers us two contrasting visions of disciples who did and did not meditate upon the Passion of Christ that serve as a caution and a model respectively.
The three-fold denial of St. Peter is well known. His disavowal of Christ is one of the things that make him very relatable to all of us. Because we can easily relate to him, we can also fall prey to his blind spot. Why, exactly, did St. Peter abandon Our Lord? In short it was an unwillingness to meditate upon the Passion.
Throughout Our Lord’s public ministry the theme of His Passion and Death was always looming in the background, even if it was shrouded in mystery. He announced it to the Apostles three times (no coincidence) and each time it was denied by Peter. We should not be surprised that his unwillingness to sit with the mystery of the cross then led to his fall. It was his willingness to relive the Passion in his mind and his own share in it that gave St. Peter the grace of final perseverance (c.f. Jn 21).
Our Lady on the other hand is the ultimate model of meditation upon the Passion. Each of the three times it was presented to her in Sacred Scripture, rather than denying it or allowing it to become abstract, “she kept these words in her heart.” This habit of sitting with the mystery of Christ’s Passion enabled her to assimilate that same spirit and to walk with Jesus on the road to Calvary. It was this habit, in other words, that won for her the grace of perseverance. It is for this reason that she can serve as both a model and a guide in our own personal meditation of the Passion of Christ. It is also one of the ways in which she intercedes for us to obtain the grace of final perseverance.
After one of her many encounters with Mercy Incarnate, St. Faustina reflected that Jesus was pleased “best by [her] meditating on His sorrowful Passion and by such meditation much light falls upon my soul. He who wants to learn true humility should reflect upon the Passion of Jesus. I get a clear under-standing of many things that I could not comprehend before” (Diary, 267). The habitual meditation upon Our Lord’s Passion is a constant among all the saints and will become a source of unlimited spiritual growth for the rest of us as well. When we intimately come to know the sufferings our sins cause we will no longer find them desirable, transforming not only ourselves but everyone around us relegating the “loss of a sense of sin” to the past.