The Trip of a Lifetime — Passion Play 2020 Oberammergau!
Have you considered a pilgrimage to Oberammergau, Germany, for the 2020 Passion Play?
If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to make travel arrangements and get tickets! Here is the official website. Or contact your travel agent or one of the many religious tour operators in the US. Oberammergau is in the heart of Europe and easy to combine with other destinations, whether you travel by car, train or even via a river cruise!
Anticipation of this once-in-a-lifetime event is an integral part of it all! Prepare your spirit (or the spirits of family or friends who are going) with a prayer pocket piece to carry with you from now until you return home from the trip. Creator Mundi has designed a special pewter Oberammergau Passion Play 2020 medallion specifically for this purpose.
Note the Prayer on the back of the coin, one line from the popular medieval prayer Anima Christi.
To pray “Passion of Christ, Strengthen Me” is to ask Jesus, the Risen Christ, to give me strength to endure whatever trial may come my way, to accept the path of suffering and loss where no other path can be found, to find comfort in the Passion of Christ who suffered too, and who, though he was without guilt or sin, suffered for me and for all of humanity.
To pray “Passion of Christ, strengthen me” is to find comfort in the marvelous mystery and reality of God who desires only our freedom, our joy, our fulfillment, and our salvation.
To pray “Passion of Christ, strengthen me” is to admit our physical and emotional vulnerability and fragility and to reach out to the only true source of strength, the Christ, for help and support.
To pray “Passion of Christ, strengthen me” is to put myself into the life-giving flow of the Trinity.
To pray “Passion of Christ, strengthen me” is to know that God protects us from nothing as God unexplainably sustains us in all things (James Finley).
To pray “Passion of Christ, strengthen me” is to trust God’s mercy always and everywhere.
To pray “Passion of Christ, strengthen me” is to ask for God’s unfaltering support on the path of transformation.
To pray “Passion of Christ, strengthen me” is to seek the way out of negative attachment and addiction.
Below is the full text of the prayer in Latin, poetic English and in the translation of Cardinal John Henry Newman:
Latin Text
Anima Christi, sanctifica me. Corpus Christi, salva me. Sanguis Christi, inebria me. Aqua lateris Christi, lava me. Passio Christi, conforta me. O bone Jesu, exaudi me. Intra tua vulnera absconde me. Ne permittas me separari a te. Ab hoste maligno defende me. In hora mortis meae voca me. Et iube me venire ad te, ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te, in saecula saeculorum. Amen
Poetic English Translation
Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. O good Jesus, hear me. Within Thy wounds hide me. Separated from Thee let me never be. From the malicious enemy defend me. In the hour of my death call me. And bid me come unto Thee, that I may praise Thee with Thy saints, forever and ever. Amen
Translation by Cardinal John Henry Newman
Soul of Christ, be my sanctification. Body of Christ, be my salvation. Blood of Christ, fill all my veins. Water of Christ’s side, wash out my stains. Passion of Christ, my comfort be. O good Jesus, listen to me. In Thy wounds I fain would hide. Ne’er to be parted from Thy side. Guard me, should the foe assail me. Call me when my life shall fail me. Bid me come to Thee above, with Thy saints to sing Thy love. World without end. Amen.