Passion

Let's be honest, when we're told that someone is passionate about something or someone, we think of them having an ardent affection for them. But passion isn't always affectionate; it can be just the opposite, in fact. One can just as easily have a passion for overindulgence (not me, of course!). Passion is really the intense emotion we have for someone or something. So I was surprised to learn that the derivation of the word is the Latin pati, to suffer, from which we also have the word patient. Perhaps it makes more sense when we consider the Passion of Christ, for here we certainly witness the suffering of Jesus and his patient endurance. Henri Nouwen writes that from the moment Jesus was arrested, his active ministry changed to that of being acted upon by external agents or forces, which is actually the third definition of the word, passion, according to Merriam Webster.