Excerpt from "How to be Happy; How to be Holy"

[Archer]

By Fr. Paul O'Sullivan.

"The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary obtain for us the ineffable grace of understanding the Passion of Our Lord.  We can never repeat too often that Jesus underwent the awful ignominies and sufferings of the Passion simply to win our love.  He could have saved us by one word, by one drop of His Precious Blood.  Why then, did He undergo the insults, the mockery, the unspeakably cruel pains of His Passion?  It was to prove to us how much He loves us.  If we do not realize all He suffered, we are defeating the principal end of His greatest work, His greatest proof of love, the Passion.  Yet many understand little for the Passion.  Their hearts are as cold as ice--they are utterly unmoved by the sight of the Crucifix, or by hearing the story of the Passion. It would appear as if it were all a legend, rather than a reality.  Every word and act of Our Lord during His life was meant to be a lesson for us.  The greatest, the most astounding act in all His life was His Passion.  It is then, the lesson of lessons for each one of us.  Ask yourself, dear reader, if you feel, if you realize, if you grasp the magnitude of God's love for you in the Passion.  In a word, is the Passion the great, living reality of your life?  Do you really believe that Jesus died for you?  If so, why do you not love Him?  The Saints and holy Doctors tell us that five minutes spent in prayer and meditation on the Passion is worth hours and hours spent in other devotions.  Nay, they say that one tear shed in sympathy and sorrow for the sufferings of Our Lord may obtain pardon for all our sins." (This should be understood in light of the Chrch's teaching on Perfect Contrition.)

-How to be Happy; How to be Holy (pg. 121)

[Bonaventure]

This priest is absolutely correct.