Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
Lectionary: 37 and 38
At the Procession with Palms - Gospel
Mk 11:1-10
When Jesus and his disciples drew near to Jerusalem,
to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives,
he sent two of his disciples and said to them,
“Go into the village opposite you,
and immediately on entering it,
you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat.
Untie it and bring it here.
If anyone should say to you,
‘Why are you doing this?’ reply,
‘The Master has need of it
and will send it back here at once.’”
So they went off
and found a colt tethered at a gate outside on the street,
and they untied it.
Some of the bystanders said to them,
“What are you doing, untying the colt?”
They answered them just as Jesus had told them to,
and they permitted them to do it.
So they brought the colt to Jesus
and put their cloaks over it.
And he sat on it.
Many people spread their cloaks on the road,
and others spread leafy branches
that they had cut from the fields.
Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out:
“Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come!
Hosanna in the highest!”
OR:
Jn 12:12-16
When the great crowd that had come to the feast heard
that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
they took palm branches and went out to meet him, and cried out:
“Hosanna!
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,
the king of Israel.”
Jesus found an ass and sat upon it, as is written:
Fear no more, O daughter Zion;
see, your king comes, seated upon an ass’s colt.
His disciples did not understand this at first,
but when Jesus had been glorified
they remembered that these things were written about him
and that they had done this for him.
At the Mass - Reading I
Is 50:4-7
The Lord GOD has given me
a well-trained tongue,
that I might know how to speak to the weary
a word that will rouse them.
Morning after morning
he opens my ear that I may hear;
and I have not rebelled,
have not turned back.
I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
my face I did not shield
from buffets and spitting.
The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
Responsorial Psalm
22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
R. (2a) My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
All who see me scoff at me;
they mock me with parted lips, they wag their heads:
“He relied on the LORD; let him deliver him,
let him rescue him, if he loves him.”
R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Indeed, many dogs surround me,
a pack of evildoers closes in upon me;
They have pierced my hands and my feet;
I can count all my bones.
R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
They divide my garments among them,
and for my vesture they cast lots.
But you, O LORD, be not far from me;
O my help, hasten to aid me.
R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
I will proclaim your name to my brethren;
in the midst of the assembly I will praise you:
“You who fear the LORD, praise him;
all you descendants of Jacob, give glory to him;
revere him, all you descendants of Israel!”
R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Reading II
Phil 2:6-11
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Verse before the Gospel
Phil 2:8-9
Christ became obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name which is above every name.
Gospel
Mk 14:1—15:47
The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread
were to take place in two days’ time.
So the chief priests and the scribes were seeking a way
to arrest him by treachery and put him to death.
They said, “Not during the festival,
for fear that there may be a riot among the people.”
When he was in Bethany reclining at table
in the house of Simon the leper,
a woman came with an alabaster jar of perfumed oil,
costly genuine spikenard.
She broke the alabaster jar and poured it on his head.
There were some who were indignant.
“Why has there been this waste of perfumed oil?
It could have been sold for more than three hundred days’ wages
and the money given to the poor.”
They were infuriated with her.
Jesus said, “Let her alone.
Why do you make trouble for her?
She has done a good thing for me.
The poor you will always have with you,
and whenever you wish you can do good to them,
but you will not always have me.
She has done what she could.
She has anticipated anointing my body for burial.
Amen, I say to you,
wherever the gospel is proclaimed to the whole world,
what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve,
went off to the chief priests to hand him over to them.
When they heard him they were pleased and promised to pay him money.
Then he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
when they sacrificed the Passover lamb,
his disciples said to him,
“Where do you want us to go
and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
He sent two of his disciples and said to them,
“Go into the city and a man will meet you,
carrying a jar of water.
Follow him.
Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house,
‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room
where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’
Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready.
Make the preparations for us there.”
The disciples then went off, entered the city,
and found it just as he had told them;
and they prepared the Passover.
When it was evening, he came with the Twelve.
And as they reclined at table and were eating, Jesus said,
“Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me,
one who is eating with me.”
They began to be distressed and to say to him, one by one,
“Surely it is not I?”
He said to them,
“One of the Twelve, the one who dips with me into the dish.
For the Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him,
but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”
While they were eating,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them, and said,
“Take it; this is my body.”
Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them,
and they all drank from it.
He said to them,
“This is my blood of the covenant,
which will be shed for many.
Amen, I say to you,
I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine
until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
Then, after singing a hymn,
they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Then Jesus said to them,
“All of you will have your faith shaken, for it is written:
I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be dispersed.
But after I have been raised up,
I shall go before you to Galilee.”
Peter said to him,
“Even though all should have their faith shaken,
mine will not be.”
Then Jesus said to him,
"Amen, I say to you,
this very night before the cock crows twice
you will deny me three times.”
But he vehemently replied,
“Even though I should have to die with you,
I will not deny you.”
And they all spoke similarly.
Then they came to a place named Gethsemane,
and he said to his disciples,
“Sit here while I pray.”
He took with him Peter, James, and John,
and began to be troubled and distressed.
Then he said to them, “My soul is sorrowful even to death.
Remain here and keep watch.”
He advanced a little and fell to the ground and prayed
that if it were possible the hour might pass by him;
he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you.
Take this cup away from me,
but not what I will but what you will.”
When he returned he found them asleep.
He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep?
Could you not keep watch for one hour?
Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test.
The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”
Withdrawing again, he prayed, saying the same thing.
Then he returned once more and found them asleep,
for they could not keep their eyes open
and did not know what to answer him.
He returned a third time and said to them,
“Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?
It is enough. The hour has come.
Behold, the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners.
Get up, let us go.
See, my betrayer is at hand.”
Then, while he was still speaking,
Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived,
accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs
who had come from the chief priests,
the scribes, and the elders.
His betrayer had arranged a signal with them, saying,
“The man I shall kiss is the one;
arrest him and lead him away securely.”
He came and immediately went over to him and said,
“Rabbi.” And he kissed him.
At this they laid hands on him and arrested him.
One of the bystanders drew his sword,
struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his ear.
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Have you come out as against a robber,
with swords and clubs, to seize me?
Day after day I was with you teaching in the temple area,
yet you did not arrest me;
but that the Scriptures may be fulfilled.”
And they all left him and fled.
Now a young man followed him
wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body.
They seized him,
but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.
They led Jesus away to the high priest,
and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together.
Peter followed him at a distance into the high priest’s courtyard
and was seated with the guards, warming himself at the fire.
The chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin
kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus
in order to put him to death, but they found none.
Many gave false witness against him,
but their testimony did not agree.
Some took the stand and testified falsely against him,
alleging, “We heard him say,
‘I will destroy this temple made with hands
and within three days I will build another
not made with hands.’”
Even so their testimony did not agree.
The high priest rose before the assembly and questioned Jesus,
saying, “Have you no answer?
What are these men testifying against you?”
But he was silent and answered nothing.
Again the high priest asked him and said to him,
“Are you the Christ, the son of the Blessed One?”
Then Jesus answered, “I am;
and ‘you will see the Son of Man
seated at the right hand of the Power
and coming with the clouds of heaven.’”
At that the high priest tore his garments and said,
“What further need have we of witnesses?
You have heard the blasphemy.
What do you think?”
They all condemned him as deserving to die.
Some began to spit on him.
They blindfolded him and struck him and said to him, “Prophesy!”
And the guards greeted him with blows.
While Peter was below in the courtyard,
one of the high priest’s maids came along.
Seeing Peter warming himself,
she looked intently at him and said,
“You too were with the Nazarene, Jesus.”
But he denied it saying,
“I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.”
So he went out into the outer court.
Then the cock crowed.
The maid saw him and began again to say to the bystanders,
“This man is one of them.”
Once again he denied it.
A little later the bystanders said to Peter once more,
“Surely you are one of them; for you too are a Galilean.”
He began to curse and to swear,
“I do not know this man about whom you are talking.”
And immediately a cock crowed a second time.
Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said to him,
“Before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times.”
He broke down and wept.
As soon as morning came,
the chief priests with the elders and the scribes,
that is, the whole Sanhedrin held a council.
They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.
Pilate questioned him,
“Are you the king of the Jews?”
He said to him in reply, “You say so.”
The chief priests accused him of many things.
Again Pilate questioned him,
“Have you no answer?
See how many things they accuse you of.”
Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them
one prisoner whom they requested.
A man called Barabbas was then in prison
along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion.
The crowd came forward and began to ask him
to do for them as he was accustomed.
Pilate answered,
“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”
For he knew that it was out of envy
that the chief priests had handed him over.
But the chief priests stirred up the crowd
to have him release Barabbas for them instead.
Pilate again said to them in reply,
“Then what do you want me to do
with the man you call the king of the Jews?”
They shouted again, “Crucify him.”
Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?”
They only shouted the louder, “Crucify him.”
So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd,
released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged,
handed him over to be crucified.
The soldiers led him away inside the palace,
that is, the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort.
They clothed him in purple and,
weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him.
They began to salute him with, "Hail, King of the Jews!”
and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him.
They knelt before him in homage.
And when they had mocked him,
they stripped him of the purple cloak,
dressed him in his own clothes,
and led him out to crucify him.
They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon,
a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country,
the father of Alexander and Rufus,
to carry his cross.
They brought him to the place of Golgotha
— which is translated Place of the Skull —,
They gave him wine drugged with myrrh,
but he did not take it.
Then they crucified him and divided his garments
by casting lots for them to see what each should take.
It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.
The inscription of the charge against him read,
“The King of the Jews.”
With him they crucified two revolutionaries,
one on his right and one on his left.
Those passing by reviled him,
shaking their heads and saying,
“Aha! You who would destroy the temple
and rebuild it in three days,
save yourself by coming down from the cross.”
Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes,
mocked him among themselves and said,
“He saved others; he cannot save himself.
Let the Christ, the King of Israel,
come down now from the cross
that we may see and believe.”
Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him.
At noon darkness came over the whole land
until three in the afternoon.
And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”
which is translated,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Some of the bystanders who heard it said,
“Look, he is calling Elijah.”
One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed
and gave it to him to drink saying,
“Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
Here all kneel and pause for a short time.
The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.
When the centurion who stood facing him
saw how he breathed his last he said,
“Truly this man was the Son of God!”
There were also women looking on from a distance.
Among them were Mary Magdalene,
Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome.
These women had followed him when he was in Galilee
and ministered to him.
There were also many other women
who had come up with him to Jerusalem.
When it was already evening,
since it was the day of preparation,
the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea,
a distinguished member of the council,
who was himself awaiting the kingdom of God,
came and courageously went to Pilate
and asked for the body of Jesus.
Pilate was amazed that he was already dead.
He summoned the centurion
and asked him if Jesus had already died.
And when he learned of it from the centurion,
he gave the body to Joseph.
Having bought a linen cloth, he took him down,
wrapped him in the linen cloth,
and laid him in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock.
Then he rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb.
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses
watched where he was laid.
OR:
Mk 15:1-39
As soon as morning came,
the chief priests with the elders and the scribes,
that is, the whole Sanhedrin held a council.
They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.
Pilate questioned him,
“Are you the king of the Jews?”
He said to him in reply, “You say so.”
The chief priests accused him of many things.
Again Pilate questioned him,
“Have you no answer?
See how many things they accuse you of.”
Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them
one prisoner whom they requested.
A man called Barabbas was then in prison
along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion.
The crowd came forward and began to ask him
to do for them as he was accustomed.
Pilate answered,
“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”
For he knew that it was out of envy
that the chief priests had handed him over.
But the chief priests stirred up the crowd
to have him release Barabbas for them instead.
Pilate again said to them in reply,
“Then what do you want me to do
with the man you call the king of the Jews?”
They shouted again, “Crucify him.”
Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?”
They only shouted the louder, “Crucify him.”
So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd,
released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged,
handed him over to be crucified.
The soldiers led him away inside the palace,
that is, the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort.
They clothed him in purple and,
weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him.
They began to salute him with, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him.
They knelt before him in homage.
And when they had mocked him,
they stripped him of the purple cloak,
dressed him in his own clothes,
and led him out to crucify him.
They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon,
a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country,
the father of Alexander and Rufus,
to carry his cross.
They brought him to the place of Golgotha
—which is translated Place of the Skull —
They gave him wine drugged with myrrh,
but he did not take it.
Then they crucified him and divided his garments
by casting lots for them to see what each should take.
It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.
The inscription of the charge against him read,
“The King of the Jews.”
With him they crucified two revolutionaries,
one on his right and one on his left.
Those passing by reviled him,
shaking their heads and saying,
“Aha! You who would destroy the temple
and rebuild it in three days,
save yourself by coming down from the cross.”
Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes,
mocked him among themselves and said,
“He saved others; he cannot save himself.
Let the Christ, the King of Israel,
come down now from the cross
that we may see and believe.”
Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him.
At noon darkness came over the whole land
until three in the afternoon.
And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”
which is translated,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Some of the bystanders who heard it said,
“Look, he is calling Elijah.”
One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed
and gave it to him to drink saying,
“Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
Here all kneel and pause for a short time.
The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.
When the centurion who stood facing him
saw how he breathed his last he said,
“Truly this man was the Son of God!”
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
This Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the final part of a journey to the highest celebration on the Christian Calendar. For almost Forty Days we have been in a spiritual desert while examining our humanness, frailties, and our status as sinners. We have also been encouraged to draw close to the Human Christ and examine our relationship with Him. Part of this is Passion Sunday that starts with the celebration of Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem and ends with the reading of The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is through living this experience that we are reminded forcefully what the true meaning of Lent is and how we should approach this week leading up to The Easter Joy. The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ should either be read during mass or in silence in the form of a prayer; reflecting on the words and the historical event that shook the foundations of the universe.
During this time of crisis in the world today we can find ourselves limited in how we are to approach Holy Week and how we can participate in celebrating it. This holds especially true in places like prison where all religious worship has yet to resume after over one year of being suspended. This can actually be very fitting during Lent because Lent is all about sacrificing and suffering. Where there is suffering there is Jesus. Where there is Jesus there is the Church. The Church is more than a building. At its center are the Children of God. As Jesus said: “Where two or three gather in My Name I am there among them.” With this understanding we can then accept being limited regarding how we can celebrate Holy Week. We can make it a more powerful spiritual experience. The more The Church is persecuted the more it flourishes; that includes us. The Suffering Christ is waiting to join us in our suffering and we have the capability to feel Him when He approaches.
Reading The Passion of Our Lord Jesus can bring us an experience that is reserved for meditative prayer. We can read each paragraph then form the images in our mind. We can bring ourselves into the moment when these things happen and witness how the events unfold. We can be in the crowd laying palms before Jesus with tears of joy streaming down our faces and we can be present during The Last Supper where Jesus introduces The Eucharist to the world. We can pray with Him in Gethsemane and follow Him to The Sanhedrin. We can deny Him as Peter denied Him and abandon Him as His disciples abandoned Him. We can face judgement and punishment by Pilate and pick up our own crosses to walk with Him to Calvary. And yes we can also be crucified with Him.
There are so many ways to experience Christ. We are the only ones that provide any limits. God never limits but only provides more. Thinking that we are prevented the full experience of Passion Sunday by our situations will create a self-fulfilling prophecy all but ensuring that fact. Instead we should embrace our sufferings and revel in them! If we find ourselves suffering then we should remind ourselves that we are suffering in the name of Our Lord Savior Jesus Christ.
We can actually find ourselves in a better position to experience Jesus’ Passion than those who are capable of going to a church on the outside! We are forced into a good position where we cannot be distracted by other obligations or things that might stimulate us; drawing us away from serious worship which could then lead to a mystical experience. As Christians we are always encouraged to embrace our surrounding and not use it as an excuse or as a barrier. All is made better through and in by Jesus Christ. Understanding this can enable us to increase a process of filtering things through Jesus Christ to ensure a Christ-experience.
Saint Mother Teresa spoke extensively about suffering and suffering with Jesus Christ:
“Pain and suffering have come into your life, but remember pain, sorrow, suffering are but the kiss of Jesus – a sign that you have come so close to Him that He can kiss you.”
– Mother Teresa
“Suffering is nothing by itself. But suffering shared with the passion of Christ is a wonderful gift, the most beautiful gift, a token of love.”
Most people in the world today would want to avoid suffering at all costs but as Christians we are encouraged embrace suffering so as to come closer to The Crucified Christ which will then deepen our spirituality. If we are conducting ourselves rightly and according to the will of God then it is impossible to separate suffering from the Christian Experience. To suffer is to be a Christian. To be a Christian means there will be suffering. It is through suffering that we are made stronger, are cleansed, and are able to lift ourselves above this physical world and embrace our spirituality. Passion Sunday and meditating on The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ offers us the opportunity to do just. Entering into Holy Week with this celebration brings our Lenten Experience to an epoch of sorts and allows us to reach even higher for a truly beautiful experience with Jesus Christ.
Embrace the suffering. Embrace the loss. Embrace the hurt. Jesus is with us through it all.
Deacon Tom
My Brothers,
Today we celebrate The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the beginning of Holy Week which marks a journey to the most important day of the year: The Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, there is so much more to experience before we come to that point of joy. To reach The Resurrection we much first journey through The Crucifixion. This will be experienced on the most intimate level starting with Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and onward to the Easter Vigil and The Easter Joy. It all begins today. Here we reflect on The Passion and what Jesus Christ voluntarily suffered so that we may achieve eternal life and salvation. It begins here in earnest. Our Lenten journey brought us to this point. Now we are challenged to unite ourselves even more to the Crucified Christ and suffer what He suffered. Through this suffering, a special kind of grace will be encountered.
The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ should have a great meaning to us. Through it, we are encouraged to understand more fully our relationship with Our Lord Jesus Christ. To be a Christian means that we are going to suffer. It is through this suffering that we are drawn more closely to Jesus and can realize more fully who this person Jesus Christ really is and what impact He can have on our lives. Living a life as a Christian is not easy. In fact, it is harder to be a Christian and to accept Jesus as our savior than the alternative, which is embrace the physical world around us and partake in all the enjoyments and temptations that come with it. Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. We must suffer and endure many trials and tribulations if we are going to know Him intimately. It is through this suffering, like iron forged in the furnace, that we become stronger and more vigilant.
The Christ Experience presents everyone with a quandary. Society, the dwelling place of Satan, offers a life with preconceived expectations. We are told that if we work hard we can receive rewards in the form of material wealth, financial security, and enjoyments that satisfy our physical cravings. We are encouraged to concentrate on gathering treasures of money, desire, and things that stimulate us physically and mentally. Living in the moment, we are tempted to consume what is in front of us so as to please a wantonness which originates from our physical senses and is fortified by our metal state. Living in the present and striving for these things creates a mindset on things that are here today and will definitely be gone tomorrow. With this, there will be periods where we are empty and wanting more. We are then told to go out and get more. It is a vicious cycle which can lead to a life of chasing which never ends. Take a moment to reflect: How much time do we spend trying to gather things so as to enjoy them only to feel empty and focused on trying to get more. How much is actually enough? When does it end?
The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ presents an alternative and one that is the foundation of the Christian Experience. We are told to dismiss all that is material and to be appreciative for what we have as a gift from God. Living in the moment, the past is forgotten with all of its successes and failures. In the present, it is only us and Jesus Christ. From there, our problems are embraced. These are our crosses. Jesus Christ had His cross and we have ours. Jesus did not refuse His cross and we are persuaded through Him not to refuse ours. We all lift up our crosses together and put them on our shoulders. Then we walk. It will become clearer to us as we meditate on our situation and what Jesus is doing, that what He is doing is totally for the benefit of us. He receives nothing in return for what He is doing. It is through what He is doing that we actually gain strength to bear our burdens. All is done for us so as to support us and help us overcome what we are facing. In comparison to Jesus, our burdens are nothing, for His burdens are the burdens of the whole world while ours are focused on the self.
When people suffer together there is strength and joy. A special bond is formed that cannot be broken. Those outside that suffering will always find it hard to understand while those within will naturally understand and become closer becomes of it. This is the Christian Way. Because Jesus Christ suffered for us, we must suffer to become closer to Him. This is especially true because what He did was completely for us and was by His own choice. He was offered up by the Father and accepted everything.
Jesus Christ invited all of us to experience this journey. We see this in the lives of the Saints who have gone before us. All of them experienced lives of physical and mental hardships and were blessed with a special relationship with Jesus. These hardships were not separate from the Christ Experience but were an intricate part. The suffering led to an explicable joy. We too are promised this same experience. We are all destined for sainthood and will encounter much suffering along the way. When we walk The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we are actually walking our own Passion. Accept your cross readily, walk with Jesus, and raise up the cross next to His. Soon, we will ass be in Paradise with Him.
Deacon Tom
As always on Palm Sunday, the one who preaches needs to have a short homily because the reading of the Passion of the Lord is very long and is a homily of its own. So today we can look very quickly at the first two readings and then speak about the Passion of Christ.
The first reading is from the Third Song of the Suffering Servant from the Prophet Isaiah and speaks of the incredible value of accepting suffering for God’s sake. There is nothing special about suffering, but when suffering is accepted because of the love of God or obedience to God or because of love of others, then suffering is indeed special and radiates a strength which others can sense.
The second reading today is from the Letter to the Philippians. This reading speaks about humility and how even Jesus lived a humility that was able to transform the world. Humility is often another form of suffering.
In the Passion Narrative we have Mark’s account of the suffering and death of Jesus. This comes from what is probably the earliest account of the Passion and it speaks so strongly of the character of Jesus Himself.
On this Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, we are invited to reflect on our own relationship to suffering, either for obedience to God or for love of others. Jesus Christ challenges us to share in the salvation of the world by sharing in suffering which is accepted for love of God or of others. We learn this form of suffering by meditating on the Lord Himself, how He lived and how He died.
Most of us find it very difficult to accept suffering. Our whole being rebels against suffering. We can see this so often when we are sick or inconvenienced or when we are treated badly by others. When our response is love, the whole situation somehow becomes changes in a very positive way. When our response is anger, the situation also changes but not in positive ways. Today’s culture encourages anger, with a presupposition that we always have justice on our side. Jesus had justice on His side and responded with acceptance and forgiveness—and the world was changed forever.
Let us meditate today and at least wonder how we might respond with the same acceptance and love in every situation—when we could response in anger and rejection. May we share in the salvation of the world.
CHRIST IN THE DESERT MONASTERY
This Palm Sunday we can focus our hearts and our minds once more on Jesus, our Savior. We come to celebrate this suffering and death because we know that through this life, suffering and death of Jesus, we have been saved from sin and death.
The second reading today, from the Letter to the Philippians, reflects this reality in one of the first Christian hymns. This hymn tells us that Jesus was willing to stoop down to us, God becoming human, in order to reach to the very heart of our human condition, becoming even a slave for us. Having taken on our flesh, our very humanity, He redeems all of us by His death and resurrection.
The images for this in Christian art show us Christ descending to hell in order to free all who had died without Him. Then He ascends to heaven and takes us all with Him—and yet leaves us free to choose Him.
The account of Christ’s Passion today, from the Gospel of Mark, gives us the human details of the final part of the life of Jesus, the details of His death. This death reflects the prophesy of Isaiah in the first reading: The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
Come, let us worship the Lord, who has died so that we might live.
CHRIST IN THE DESERT MONASTERY
