The Living God

In modern language, "passion" describes an emotional state. A person might be passionate about a cause or be involved in a passionate love affair; during Pandemic times, many people have become passionate about the mysteries of sourdough baking. These passions are legitimate enough, but they ignore the ancient meaning of passion, which derives from the Latin term "passus sum": "to suffer, bear, or endure".

This is the Passion referred to in the Passion of Jesus Christ, also known as the Easter Story, which is the basis of the entire Christian Faith. Scholars agree that Jesus of Nazareth was a historic figure, although the exact details of His life and works are lost to the historical record. His divine birth and the miracles He is said to have performed are matters of faith, but two events in the Gospels have been accepted as historical because they are referenced in non-Biblical sources. These are Jesus's baptism by John the Baptist and His crucifixion at the order of Pontius Pilate.

The Living God is a radio series syndicated by the National Council of Catholic Men (NCCM) intended for broadcast between Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) and Easter Sunday of 1942 and starring William Gargan. Although he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the Carole Lombard vehicle They Knew What They Wanted (1940, RKO), Gargan was pretty much a Hollywood "B-Lister", although he would gain a measure of fame starring in the Radio and TV versions of Martin Kane, Private Detective.

The series presents Gargan as a reporter assigned to find a good story as a "Man on the Street" interviewer. He realizes that the most important interview he could have is with the Almighty, or if He was not available, His Son. After asking several folks on the street where he might find Jesus. Eventually, he is directed to a church where he is "transported by faith" to Jerusalem in the year 33.

The reporter's arrival in Jerusalem is simultaneous with Jesus's triumphant Palm Sunday arrival to the city and follows the story of the Last Supper, the Agony and Arrest of Christ at Gethsemane, the Denial of Peter, the Trial before Pilate, the Way of the Cross, the Crucifixion, and culminates with Mary Magdalene discovering the Resurrected Jesus.

The five quarter-hour episodes of The Living God present a necessarily simplified telling of the Passion of Jesus, but manage to capture the sheer majesty of the event. The NCCM was founded in 1920 and celebrated its Golden Anniversary in 1970 before temporarily joining forces with the National Council of Catholic Women (NCCW) as the National Council of Catholic Laity (NCCL). At one point, there were 10,000 organizations affiliated with the Council which had a membership of nearly nine million, but the NCCM and the NCCL were largely inactive by 1975.

See also: Easter Collection and Jesus in Old Time Radio.