https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkRoCE8J0Mc

What is the Passion of our Lord?

Examine the word "Passion" for a moment. We'll come back to that.

Jesus is the Bread. Well and truly. NOT a metaphor. NOT hyperbole. NOT a mere symbol.

He IS the Bread of Life. Life itself, the substance and the sustenance of the Universe.

What. Was. The. Passion?

The process...

How does one make bread?

First, you plant the seed. (Where does the seed come from? The Seed of seeds?)

You nurture the sprout. Water it, let it grow. Give it sunlight, rich, damp soil, and nutrients.

And it grows, according to no Will but God's. You are merely the catalyst.

From the sprout comes the stalk.

The stalk is collected and washed, dipped briefly to remove what pests my have clung to the leaves. Cleaned for preparation for what comes next.

We take the stalk and dry it out in the barn. Then, when the time comes, we thresh the chaff off -- beating it against the rock and scraping it with barbed hooks to release the grain.

The grain is taken and dispersed among the people.

Then, the time comes to make flour. We grind the grain against two rocks. Crushing it and working it down into smaller and smaller flakes, until we are left with a fine meal.

The meal can be kept this way indefinitely in a dry, cool place.

We now stand before the crucible.

The flour is taken in proper measure and water is added. It is worked, beaten, and cast down upon the wooden board. It is kneaded into dough. Flour is added occasionally so that the bread does not stick.

In the midst of the beating, leaven is added; yeast given to ensure the dough rises to a soft and gentle texture. The dough is put in a dark place so that the dough may rise and gain volume as the yeast multiplies within.

The dough is taken again, and kneaded into its final form. Shaped and molded into the vision the baker has in it.

The dough is then pierced with a blade, forming a crevasse so that the vapors of the yeast can escape.

Next comes the oven.

The bread is taken from the board, given one last dashing of flour, and closed up into the heat of the crucible. The bread rises one last time during this. Only the master baker knows exactly when the bread is done without need of opening the oven door.

When that time comes, the bread is released from the fire and every wound is on display -- cauterized by the heat, giving it a unique pattern of the baker's design, revealed to novices only by the fires but known from the very beginning by the baker.

This is the Bread of Life. The Recipe to God's Will.

Now... Reexamine Jesus' Passion.

They are the same. He IS the Bread.

The seed of seeds, planted in the womb of the earth. The Virgin Birth.

The sprout taken to a safe place and nurtured. Flight to Egypt

The season passes and the stalk stands firm. Jesus begins his Mission.

The stalk is collected and washed. Baptism (to dip) in the river Jordan by John.

The drying in the barn. 40 days' fast in the desert.

The threshing of the chaff Jesus' is tempted by the Devil.

The grain is dispensed to the people Jesus' performs miracles.

The grain is beaten and mashed into a powder between two rocks. Jesus is tested by the Pharisees.

The water is added to the flour. Jesus washes his apostles' feet. Then, the last supper...

The dough is beaten and kneaded. Jesus getting scourged at the pillar.

The dough is given leavening yeast. Crowned with thorns, draped in scarlet cloth, and declared by Pilate to have no fault (Coronation Ceremony).

The dough is left to rise in a dark place. Jesus is mocked as he carries the cross to Calvary.

The dough is beaten and kneaded some more, and pierced. Jesus is nailed to the cross, dies, and is pierced at his side by the spear.

The dough is moved from the wooden paddle into the oven. Jesus is taken from the cross and sealed in the tomb.

The bread is left to bake. Waiting for the Third Day to come, just as he said.

The bread is released from the oven. Jesus rises from the dead!

Hallelujah!

THIS is the Passion of our Lord. The Law of the Universe.

THIS is the formula which all things are approved of by God.

Follow this process, this Remembrance, and you cannot fail in your endeavors. Stray from the formula, and you will not acquire the Bread of Life.

Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is the Perfect emulation of this recipe.

It is found in anything that succeeds. From making bread, starting a family, ruling a nation, and even sacrifice...

It is the Creative Process -- Generation of New Life.

For the bread goes on to feed the masses, who use its energy to plant their own seeds, and form their own bread. This is the Multiplicity of God.

Be Fruitful and Multiply!

A Creator's Creation Creates.

God ascends through us -- to ever higher orders of Creation.

Once you see this formula in the fabric of reality, you hear the heartbeat of the Universe. The Law which the Lord adheres to. The Code of the Good Shepard.

It's everywhere, from the fluttering of a bee's wing to the path the stars take in the sky. Everything is a resonant shattering of barriers, up and up, in a beautiful fractal pattern.

This is the Gospel, well and truly.

15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:15-16

Amen, and God Bless!