Listening to God through Pain, continued
They have helped scores of people to navigate life’s stormy seas in the traditional Passionist “front parlor” and retreat house ministry at St. Paul’s Monastery and Retreat House in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Q: How does your life-long commitment to preach the Passion of Jesus nourish your ministry of spiritual counsel?
Fr. William: Preaching and meditating on the Passion keeps reminding me not to give up on situations, and encourage others to do the same. In Jesus’ darkest hour on the cross, no one could have imagined that God would be able to pull goodness out of that situation.
The Passion also shows me how we are called to surrender our lives to God, not just in the big moments but also in the everyday moments.
Fr. John: I know where the graces come from, nourishing my faith and understanding of the mystery of the cross, — telling me that every grace in my own life and the instrumental grace I am for others was merited by a personal, loving Jesus on the cross — suffering, dying and rising so that I might take my place in the resurrection.
In the Passion of Jesus I have a constant sign for my faith which says “This is how much I love you. This is how much I really care.” This faith gives me courage in the darkness and helps me to be a Christian optimist despite my limitations and failures.
Fr. Dan: What I preach is the fruit of prayer, my ongoing education, life experiences and reflection. What I preach is what I try to live, and that influences my spiritual counsel.
Fr. Tim: As a Passionist I have that special vow to promote devotion to the Passion and to keep its memory alive in my own heart and in the hearts of others.
When I was first professed the wording of the vow formula stressed promoting devotion to the passion. This was not just a devotion, but the primary devotion, a willed (votum) act to enter the Lord’s will, to put on the mind of Christ who emptied himself for us.
In the 1970s and in our new Rule, the emphasis became caught up in the powerful scriptural and theological reflection on the memory of the Passion, a “dangerous memory,” to be kept alive.
Both emphases insist on a preaching (praying, acting, listening, counseling) that enlivens all Passionist ministries.
Spiritual direction or counsel, a treasured legacy from St. Paul of the Cross, pervades every aspect of the graced communication between the wayfarers on the road to Jerusalem with Christ, under the guidance of the director, the Holy Spirit. Faithful companions listen to the voice of the Father, who tells them to “Listen to my Son.”
