Christ's Passion, Our Passions: Reflections on the Seven Last Words from the Cross

by Margaret Bullitt-Jonas

Book Overview

Margaret Bullitt-Jonas not only takes us to the foot of the cross of Jesus, she invites us to consider the breadth of Christ's healing, saving love for us, for those we love, and for the whole creation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1561012114
• ISBN13: 9781561012114
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Cowley Publications
• Length: 92 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.4" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

lenten treasure

This slender volume on the seven last words of Christ would be the perfect companion for the Lenten season in general or Holy Week in particular. Originally presented as a sermon series for Good Friday at Boston's St. Paul Cathedral in 2002, Bullitt-Jonas has added questions for prayer at the end of each meditation, making it ideal for personal reflection, adult Sunday school, small group fellowships, or any number of other venues. In the introduction she also suggests and explains three types of prayer one might use with her reflections --Ignatian contemplation, lectio divina, and what she calls "grounding in the cross." Bullitt-Jonas is an Episcopal priest, writer, environmental activist, retreat leader and spiritual director (she also earned her PhD from Harvard in comparative literature) who brings her considerable gifts, practical insights, and life experiences to bear on the last words of our Lord: *Father, forgive them *Today you will be with me in paradise *Woman, behold your son *My God, my God *I thirst *It is finished *Father, into your hands As she observes in her introduction, "when someone we love is dying, we hang on every word." While she examines these precious words of Christ, she urges us to let them examine us. In Barth's words, Scripture is just as much God's word about us as human words about him. Thus, in this little gem of a book Bullitt-Jonas points us not merely to theological information but to a deeper Christian formation.

An amazing series of meditations

This book is like a long drink of cool water, an amazing series of meditations on one of the most difficult traditions in Christianity, those last words from Jesus while on the cross. Margaret Bullitt Jonas manages to take those words and forge them into meaningful meditations for our modern lives. She reflects on forgiveness, the solace of the natural world and its terrible vulnerability, as well as power and "sin." This is not just for Christians, but for anyone who wants to reflect on the moral and ethical issues that bind us, in the company of a fine mind and soul.