The True Passion of Christ.

The Catholic Liturgical Calendar this week has entered into the second Sunday in Lent which started on Ash Wednesday, 17^th February 2010. Roman Catholics are required to observe fasting and abstinence during the Lenten period.

Pope Benedict XVI likened the season of Lent to a "long retreat," a period of spiritual combat.

At his Angelus audience on the first Sunday of Lent on February 21, the Pope commented on the day's Gospel which recounted Christ's temptation in the desert. The Pope remarked that Jesus taught not merely by example but by actions, "by struggling personally with the Tempter, all the way to the Cross."

Stations Of The Cross, or Way of the Cross, or Via Dolorosa refers to the depiction of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. It is being observed once a week on Fridays. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the meditation is often performed in a spirit of reparation for the sufferings and insults that Jesus endured during His Passion.

The Passion cannot be more cruelly depicted than what has been shown in the film “The Passion of the Christ’.

The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 religious film directed, co-written and co-produced by Mel Gibson. It is based on the New Testament accounts of the arrest, trial, torture, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Source: Wikipedia).

In early December 2003, (the late) Pope John Paul II had seen the film before it was released for public viewing, and he was reported to have commented on the film: "It is as it was."

Mel Gibsons Passion of the Christ depicts only the physical suffering that Jesus endured for us, but what Christ actually did endure was beyond physical comprehension.

The film is about the last 12 hours of Christ’s ministry while he was still on earth. These last few hours, before the most profound victory in the earth’s history, were the most strenuous in Jesus’ ministry. It focused on the physical suffering of Christ prior to His crucifixion and death.

The salvation of the human race was dependent on the outcome of these last hours.

Where then was Christ’s true Passion depicted?

I would like to share with you this video “The True Passion of the Christ" (below) which is befitting for every Catholic Christian to watch during this Lenten period.

To my surprise, little did I realize that there is a profound deeper meaning of Christ’s sufferings and death on the cross than what has been depicted in the film "The Passion of the Christ".