Again writing this note on the bus in Germany! Today is our last full day, leaving Munich, visiting Rothenberg on the way to Frankfurt where we will catch a flight home.

One more reflection on The Passion Play, having now seen it! The ‘difficulties’ in it were in the written text. It was often jarring to see things portrayed and said that just aren’t in the gospel. The ‘world’ presumes that the whole account of the gospels is fiction, and thus has no problem re-writing it to fit the modern world. Of course that makes sense, IF you accept their presumption!

The staging, singing, and production are truly first rate! I am so glad that I came with this bus full of pilgrims. The production included many connections to Old Testament accounts fulfilled in the passion narrative. For example, the friends of Job, accusing him, was connected to the trial of our Lord, and Joseph before the Pharaoh was connected to our Lord before Pilate!

When we consider the passion of our Lord, it should invoke the reflection, “look what our Lord did for me” or “look what my sins did to Jesus.” (The former is better, but the latter is good for repentance)! If our response is “look what they did to Jesus,” then our reflections on the passion have missed the mark badly.

St. Theresa of Avila, in her great work on prayer The Interior Castle, speaks of the necessity of meditation on the sacred humanity and passion of our Lord:

“Let us begin by considering the mercy of God showed us by giving us His only son…. [R]eflect upon all of the mysteries
of His glorious life… then allow them to continue the subject until they reach the crucifixion…. This is meritorious kind of prayer…. [Don’t] forget these precious proofs of His love which are living sparks to inflame the heart with a greater love of our Lord.”

All right, the bus is pulling in for a pit stop, and I am going to go grab a cup of delicious coffee!

Pax,

Fr. Mosimann