Passion

"Carlos, I saw a flower near our Lady of La Vang shrine. I've never seen anything like it. Would you know its name?"
"Yes, I know what you're talking about... I just can't remember it. Give me a minute. Let's wait for Kirk to be done on the phone. He's our property manager," Carlos, the center's secretary replied.

Circle Lake Retreat Center was a comfortable 4 1/2 hour drive from Irving. Quaint 11 mph signs lined its roads and small wooden bridges took us over the small lake.

"Passion flower... it's quite common here in Texas. It has a whole story about it and all, how it is like Jesus' Passion," Kirk remarked as he looked at the purple petals.

That morning, the flower had frightened me with its unusual shape.

Five petals and five sepals represented the ten apostles,
leaving out Judas the betrayer and Peter the denier.
The three pistil stigmas are the nails,
the five stamens represent the number of Jesus' wounds.
The corolla resembles Jesus' crown of thorns.
When the flowers are spent after a single day, (the time Jesus spent on the cross),
the petals do not drop from the vine but re-close over the ovary,
and this is like Jesus enclosed in the tomb,
symbolizing the Hidden Wisdom that constitutes the Mysteries of the Cross.

The first time I heard of the Passion of Jesus, I was sure I heard wrongly.
Doesn't passion mean "strong sexual desire" or "lust"?
In Vietnamese, Jesus' last moments on earth was called "sự thương khó", literally "the suffering agony" of Jesus.

What does passion have to do with Jesus?
Passion means "any compelling or strong emotion."
The most fundamental passion is love, aroused by the attraction of the good. Love causes a desire for the absent good. When one obtains it, one experiences the passion of pleasure and joy of the good possessed. The apprehension of evil causes hatred, aversion, and fear of the impending evil; this movement ends in sadness at some present evil, or in the anger that resists it. (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1765)

What are you doing with your passion?
Desiring a good?
Sorrow at some evil?
Anger to fight an evil and obtain the good?
“Resentment is like taking poison and hoping the other person dies.” ~ St. Augustine

Jesus used his passion to accept our weakness and gift us with his power.
What are you doing with your passion?

More info on the passion flower:
http://www.simonhoadalat.com/suyniem/suyniem/MuaChay&PhucSinh/14HoaThuongKho.htm
http://plantsinmotion.bio.indiana.edu/plantmotion/flowers/passionflower/passion.html

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