Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR A PASSION SUNDAY - 20.3.05 Is 50,4-7; Phil 2,6-11; Mt 26,14-27,66 From Hosanna to Crucify him Paschal
Mystery: what is it?
Palm Sunday is a day of joy soon to turn into deep sadness It ushers Holy Week,
when we recall the saving work that Our Lord came to accomplish on earth: to
suffer & be rejected, to die on the cross, be buried & rise from the
dead. Palm Sunday starts with a festive procession: people carry olive &
palm branches, to re-call & re-enact Jesus’ entry in Jerusalem, acclaimed
as Messiah-Lord. But no sooner we arrive & settle in Church then a spirit of
sadness fills the celebration: we listen to the detailed description of Our
Lord’s bitter Passion. Holy Week is a time, when we ponder reverently, on
Jesus’ heroic obedience & willingness to carry his cross in order to show
us how to accept & carry our own & one another’s crosses. During this
week we gather, representing the universal Church of our time: as such we honour
Christ as both our King & suffering Lord. We joyfully enter the church,
waving palm branches & singing acclamations to our King. Significantly
today, the Celebrant wears vestments that are brilliantly red, pointing to a
royal, majestic, victorious celebration. The entry of Our Lord into the Holy
City opens the solemn celebration of what we call Paschal Mystery: we recall the
special time when Jesus accomplished the work of our redemption, & at the
same time we re-enact the atrocities heaped on Jesus, trying to understand the
meaning of suffering: in Jesus’ life & ours. Only at the level of faith,
can we see through the puzzle of suffering, & acknowledge Jesus as both King
of glory & suffering Lord. As we are God’s people on the way to eternal
life, Jerusalem stands as a symbol of the Heavenly City, & our Lord who is
the way, shows us that in no way can we reach God’s glory except through a
humble carrying of the cross along with him & for his sake. A
Mystery of suffering. This
year, it will be impossible to listen to Matthew’s Passion Account, without
calling to mind the realistic, cruel, horrendous scenes depicted in Mel
Gibson’s movie, “Passion of Christ”. At times, it may even be hard to
control tears & deep feelings. Today, the Liturgy exhorts us: “Dear
friends in Christ, for five weeks of Lent, we have been preparing, by works of
charity & self-sacrifice, for the celebration of our Lord’s passion, death
& resurrection.... Let us remember with devotion, this entry to Jerusalem,
which began his saving work, & let us follow him with a lively faith. United
with him in his suffering on the cross, may we share his resurrection & new
life”. Throughout the coming ‘Holy Week’, we are invited to listen
with reverence to the ‘Passion Accounts’ & ponder on all details,
images, reactions of the sacred events. Let’s imitate the humble obedience of
Jesus, and respond with affectionate love. Yes, let us contemplate the face of
Jesus in his passion & death, knowing he is among us, in the Eucharist. The
‘Gospel Truth’ is this: God’s Son came among us, was anointed by the
Father, to announce & bring about a new world order, in which his very
“Passion” has given suffering, (Jesus’ & ours) a new redeeming value.
At the beginning of Lent we prayed in the Liturgy: ‘Lord, through our
observance of Lent, help us to understand the meaning of your Son’s death
& resurrection and teach us to reflect it in our lives’. As we enter Holy
Week, we ask: have we gained a better understanding of what cross, suffering,
death & resurrection are all about? how are we coping in carrying our
crosses & bearing one another’s burdens? how are we following our Lord’s
example - acting for his sake, responding in love, rendering love for love?
Recall the scene from Mel Gibson’s movie where the man from Cyrene helps &
is helped by Jesus in the struggle to carry the cross ______________________________________ |
