The Passion of Christ, Strengthen Us...

About the Book

As a result of our "insensitivity" to the will of God Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ may perhaps awaken our spiritual values and challenges us about the reality of heaven and hell in the afterlife.

The Passion of Christ, Strengthen Us..., written by Dr. E. M. Abear, tells us that if we have for a moment what St. Faustina saw in her visions the brutalities done to Christ in Mel Gibson's film may pale in comparison to how sin offends God.

However, the image of Christ on the cover gives us hope of His infinite divine mercy and introduces us to the "Kingdom of Heaven." What sets Dr. Abear's book apart from other writers is his scientific explanation about the death of the human blood in relationship to Christ's own divinity as He dies on the cross.

The entire book tries to supplement what movies about Christ cannot fully articulate in words. Thus, after perhaps reading this scholarly dissertation of love and obedience, of sin and forgiveness, of Pope John Paul II's joy and suffering one may hopefully arrive to a better understanding and appreciation about The Passion of Christ.

Book Review

The main message of this book is to make us understand that The Passion of Christ is the autobiography of our own life. The book starts by defining what is genuine love. The freedom of love according to the author is limited within the confine of God's will by which we all are obligated as creatures to obey, His Ten Commandments.

Since we often fail to obey God's ten commandments (priests, nuns, lay persons alike) in our journey through life God bestows upon us, the gift of our conscience (which the author constantly makes references to Pope John Paul II's concept).

Since conscience is often subjective to the will of man there are failures and successes when tested in a world that has gone increasingly secular. Forgiveness and generosity (chapter 3-4) heal the wounds of our misdeeds so we won't lose hope in our search for perfect happiness. By this the author introduces to us the kingdom of heaven (chapter 5). In this chapter we should not miss his beautiful insight of heaven as based from Christ's teaching nor his practical understanding of Christ's eight beatitudes .in relationship with our daily struggle in life.

Having said that Dr. Abear points out the necessity of our knowing the ugliness of sin (chapter 7) so that no matter how we have sunk into the abyss of sins the two rays from the heart of Jesus (see cover) would show to us the abundance of His divine mercy, particularly available by those who would repent before He comes as a Judge.

Chapter 12 opines with a new idea about the Passion of Christ which sets Dr. E. Abear's book apart from other writers. He writes about the physiology of human blood, how it separates into "blood and serum" and its scientific implication to the "blood and water" mentioned in the bible. In the absence of this scientific explanation for centuries most theologians had regarded the divinity of Christ as a mystery. No man in history has lived long after the blood in his heart turns into "water and blood."

Indeed, the suffering of Christ in terms of our sinfulness is so brutal that it dwarfs the brutalities in Mel Gibson's movie. Mel Gibson is right: Christ dies to redeem 'the sins of humanity,' past, present and future, regardless of religion, color, or creed. Reflecting on the crucified Jesus reveals to us the autobiography of our own life. The 7th canticle of conversion concludes the book:

About the Author

A former student at San Jose Seminary (a Jesuit School) Dr. E.M. Abear is the author of several books (Oriental Stories and selected Light Verses, '83; I am therefore I think,'01; Sin of the flesh, 04; Two Volumes of published poems, '03; Living with a Poodle, '02). He currently resides with his wife, Imelda, in Ogdensburg, N.Y.

To find out more about Dr. Abear and his publications, visit his website at www.elmerabear.com.