Palm Sunday of Lent (Cycle C, Year II)
Community Word: The mercy and compassion of Christ calls us to live a life of holiness.
Theme: We live a life of holiness when we willingly share in the suffering of Christ.
Promise: “I confer a kingdom on you, just as my father has conferred one on me that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.”(Lk 22:29-30)
Reflection:
Palm Sunday ushers in the holiest week in our Church’s liturgical year. The reading is the longest in the year and of the great stories ever written, none is more powerful than that of Jesus Christ – especially his passion, death and resurrection.
This is an opportune time to recall and deeply reflect upon the unique drama of the final days in the earthly life of Jesus Christ. We observe His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, acclaimed asking and hailed as a conquering hero by the cheering crowds, he seemed to have arrived at the culmination of his earthly mission. But for Christ, it’s a week of violent contrasts, one which will end in grief and glory. The palms will soon be formed into crosses and the cheers will turn into jeers calling for his death. Throughout the passion our attention is focused on Jesus who appears as a person completely absorbed in prayer, responding quietly and sensitively to each new moment of sorrow.
During this most solemn week of the church year we are invited to take the road with Mary and those few friends who follow Christ to Calvary and to stay silently by his side. He wants the work of the cross, a call for repentance, to touch our lives and break our sinful ways so that we may be changed and come to know God. The apex of our faith is one day to reach the point when we are ready to accompany Jesus along the road to Calvary, trudging the same path of destruction and death to his glorious resurrection. His passion gives us at least a glimpse of the mystery of the sufferings that surround us on all sides. In times of trials and suffering, what often keeps people going and gives them strength and inspiration is the knowledge that they are at one with Jesus who bore such suffering before them.
St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians goes as far as to liken Jesus to a slave, who took upon himself the lowliest position in life in order that he may raise all people to the glory and dignity of the children of God. He is not dying on the cross for what he has done, but for what you and I, and countless others before and after us, have done and will do. He dies because he loves us unceasingly and excessively, and his love for us and his Father is total and complete. This love empowered him to be obedient unto death in order that we may have redemption, for it was with a profound sense of humble obedience that Jesus embraced the intense suffering of death on the cross.
This confronts us with the primary Christian symbol – the Cross – without which we cannot become his disciples. This gives us the opportunity to ponder the significance and cost of the cross that we either daily take up, or refuse to face. On this day Christ invites us to prepare and relieve anew His journey on the Cross. There is not much point in dwelling on the crucifixion of Christ during this solemn week, if we view it merely as an isolated incident unrelated to our own sufferings the rest of the year.
The drama of Palm Sunday is not just an event that occurred 2000 years ago, it is our drama today too, the split between faith and life. The people of Palm Sunday are none other than us. We too have our own Jerusalem; it may not be a place but a circumstance, an illness, a loss, a sudden change in our life, a problem, challenge and uncertainty ahead of us. In all of this we must look to the example of Jesus and move forward, knowing that Jesus has been there before us. The one message for us this Palm Sunday is that we are not entering our Jerusalem alone, Jesus is there with us. So let us ask the Lord to give us the grace and the strength to face whatever lies ahead. Jesus has shown us that whatever form our cross might take, it can lead to salvation and new life.
God encourages others through us – not in mysterious ways, but by our kind words and actions. This is the glory of God shining through us and in our lives and we grow brighter as we are turned into the image of the one we have been created to reflect. For this week, we are given a reassuring promise from Luke 22: 29 – 30: “I confer a kingdom on you, just as my father has conferred one on me that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.”
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, in the glory of his passion, death and resurrection, your beloved Son Jesus offered up prayers and supplications. By your grace and love, may this glory shine through us in our words and deeds. Give us the courage to face hardship through the inspiration of Your Son, Jesus, who suffered and gave his life for us, we pray through Christ our Lord, Amen.
Reflection Questions:
1. Jesus crucified. What comes to mind when you look at the cross? What was on Jesus’ mind? How are we sharing in his passion?
2. How would you imitate Jesus’ life of obedience in the face of the sufferings it entails at times?
This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
March 20, 2016 (Sun) Is 50:4-7/ Ps 22:8,9,17-20,23,24/ Phil 2:6-11/ Lk 22:14-23:56
March 21, 2016 (Mon) Is 42:1-7/Ps 27:1,2,3,13-14/Jn 12:1-11
March22, 2016 (Tue) Is 49:1-6/Ps 71:1-2,3-4,5-6,15,17/Jn 13:21-33,36-38
March 23, 2016 (Wed) Is 50:4-9/Ps 69:8-10,21-22,31,33-34/Mt 26:14-25
March 24, 2016 (Thu) Is 61:1-3,8-9,/Ps 89:21-22,25,27/Rv 1:5-8/Lk 4:16-21
March 25, 2016 (Fri) Is 52:13-53:12/Ps 31:2,612-13,15-16,17,25/Heb 4:14-16,5:7-9/Jn 18:1-19:42
March 26, 2016 (Sat) Gn 1:1-2:2 /Ps 104:1-2,5-6,10,12,13-14,24,35/Lk 24:1-12
“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ. Read your Bible daily!”
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