This piece was first published in my private blog on March 30, 2010, the Tuesday of Passion Week, 2010. I publish it again today, the Monday of Passion Week this year 2014 — only this time it is a public post for one and all. The piece was originally titled ‘Passion’. What could be a more appropriate place for this post than this blog titled ‘The Show Must Go On’. The greatest show on earth occurred two thousand years ago on a Sunday that the modern world has christened as Easter Sunday. Original post follows:
Did you know the word ‘passion’ has more than one meaning? In modern English, it is a word used to denote an intense love or affection. We feel passionate about people, places, things, and ideas. But did you know that ‘passion’ also has an archaic definition of ‘suffering’? In particular, it is assigned to the physical agony and suffering of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
As a noun, it is also used as an event: this week in the Gregorian Calendar is traditionally marked as Passion Week. Two days from now, it will be Maundy Thursday, the day known to be Jesus’ last meal with his disciples, also known as the Last Supper. The following day, is called Good Friday: good, because death was swallowed up in victory and life eternal through the supernatural act of Jesus’ resurrection on the third day, also known as Easter.
Some time ago, I wrote a haiku, unknowingly at the time, that captured the dual meaning of the word:Â Love is pain is love, I had written…
The passion of our lives is very often one and the same. As is God’s passion for us. The haiku follows here:Â
Crushed between fingers / There is no line to be blurr’d / Love is pain is love!
For a pretty exhaustive account of the origins of the events known as the Passion, including its influences on art, literature, music and theatre, click right here for a Wiki entry.Â
