Palm Sunday

Isa. 50: 4-7; Psalm 21; Phil. 2: 6-11; Mark 14:1 -15:47

Read: When they reached the place called Golgotha, they crucified him there along with the two criminals, one on his right, the other on the left side……. Then Jesus cried out in a loud voice, saying: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” With these words he breathed his last.

Reflect: Holy Week starts with Palm Sunday. Why did Jesus have to die? What does it mean that he sacrificed his life for us?  From what bondage did he free us when he placed himself in the hands of those who crucified him on the cross? The reason for the hatred against him held by those who crucified him was because he revealed himself as the Light of the World. The rays of this, his light, that overcame the darkness of the world were strong. These are rays that penetrated the hearts of simple people, and filled them with happiness and hope, but annoyed others.

Jesus proposed a new face of God. No longer a God who judges, but a God who saves every person. He proposed a new face for mankind, by changing the values of this world; for him those who are great are not those who win and dominate, but those who serve their brethren. He proposed a new religion. No longer a religion of rites, but a religion “of the spirit of the truth”.  He proposed a new society where first come the poor, weak and emarginated.

Jesus did not seek to die on the cross, but to try to avoid such a harsh death he would have had to renounce to all these proposals; he would have had to keep his mouth shut, to adapt himself to the mentality of his times, to succumb to the victory of evil, and to abandon mankind for ever into the hands of “the prince of this world”. Had he done so, he would have failed his mission. During this Holy Week we are not invited to feel sorrowful for Jesus’ death, but to celebrate the deliverance brought us by his giving his life for us.

Pray: O everlasting and all-powerful God, who gave us mankind an example of humility when you wanted our Saviour to become man like ourselves and to accept death on the cross; in your mercy, give us the grace that his endurance will be a lesson to us and that we become worthy to accompany him in his resurrection to life.

Act: During this Holy Week let us reflect and to ask ourselves: “Am I opposing your Kingdom, my God? It is I who is not accepting the new face of God, the new religion, the new face of mankind, and the new society that You proposed?