( Isaiah 50,4-7; Philippians 2,6-11;
Matt 26,14-27,66: Palm Sunday: Year A)
Holy Week
begins with this Sunday, which will end with the Paschal
Triduum, (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday) the
summit of the Liturgical Year. On this day, the liturgy unites two motives:
Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and His Passion. The first
aspect is remembered by the rite of the blessing of the palms and the
procession into the church, as well as, by the reading of the gospel event of
Jesus’ entry into the city of Jerusalem. These celebrations are not just to
have pious remembrances of, or to imitate, the past events, but to render
present today those events through the liturgical
celebration and to live it in prayer. Today, we are called
to recognize the Godhead (Divinity) of Jesus, his Messiahship, that is to say,
his salvific action for the world. Today, we are called to
enter into the drama of Jesus’ passion with him and to participate and share in
it. The procession which recalls the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem
prepares our minds to listen to the passion of Jesus in the Liturgy of
the Word and its sacramental actualization in the Liturgy of the
Eucharist.
In the first
reading we listen to the 3rd canticle of the Servant of God, which
anticipates in an impressionable manner, the suffering of the future Messiah.
In the second reading we are presented with the hymn in the letter of Paul to
the Philippians, which illustrates the mystery of the annihilation of Christ
through death and his supreme exaltation through the work and power of God, the
Father. What follows is the narrative of the passion of Jesus according to
Mathew. In Mathew’s narration of the Passion of Jesus, Jesus freedom by which
he comes out to embrace death comes out very clearly. He did not go to meet
death passively or unwillingly, but knowingly and aware that it was the will of
God. Also remarkable is the constant reference to the Scriptures: the son of Man is going, as it is
written in the Scriptures (Matt 26,24). Through his Passion, Jesus
has realized the prophecy and the plan of salvation decreed by the Father,
as is listed in the Scriptures. The Passion of Jesus according to Mathew
repeatedly underscores the innocence of Jesus, and, therefore, the greater
guilt of the people, from Pilate to the High Priests and Pharisees; from
Judas who betrayed Jesus to Peter who denied him and to many other disciples
who abandoned him.
Listening to
the Passion according to Mathew we are invited to enter into in the drama which
Jesus experienced, his physical suffering but especially the interior one, with
dense (heavy) plot of events and persons in which we found ourselves involved
in one way or the other. We have also betrayed Jesus many times ourselves like
Judas by our sins. Have we not often pretended not to know him, as Peter did
when we should in fact stand behind him and for his cause? Or do we not allow
ourselves to fall into slumber of laziness, benumbed by spiritual inertia just
as the apostles did in the garden of olives? There are so many questions we
have to pose to ourselves so that through the light of the Passion of Jesus,
every one of us will read (see) his/her very life and
recognize one’s inconsistencies, contradictions and ingratitudes toward
Jesus. But above all, no matter how we feel guilty of the blood
of that just person, Jesus, let it be found in our hearts the
awareness and knowledge that He, Jesus also died for our salvation and that He
is always prepared to welcome us into his loving and forgiving arms. This
consideration will certainly cause loving emotions of appreciation to spring
from our hearts. May we pray in this Eucharistic celebration to dispose
ourselves so that following Jesus in his passion we may share in the graces of
his resurrection.
+John I. Okoye
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