A Special
Time
We have begun the holiest
of weeks: Palm Sunday today,
and in a couple of days, the
Holy Triduum or Holy Three days of Holy Thursday,
Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil.
There are a lot of words
in today’s liturgy. We begin
recalling how Jesus approaches
the slopes of the Mount of Olives riding
on a colt, and how the multitudes “began
to praise God aloud with joy for all the
mighty deeds they had seen” in and through
Jesus. They even spread their cloaks on
the path before him.
However, the liturgy quickly turns from the joyful cheering of the crowds to the suffering servant in the first reading, who
says “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’
(Is 50:6).
Then St Paul reflects on
this mystery of the suffering
Christ: “though he was in the form
of God, [Christ Jesus] did not regard equality
with God something to be grasped. Rather,
he emptied himself...he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.”
Then the Gospel of Luke
takes us from the Last Supper
to the Lord’s passion and death.
Christ avails to us the
mystery of His death and
resurrection at every Mass, but we have
a unique opportunity every year to celebrate
in a special and (hopefully) more intentional
way during these holy days. As we praise
God and thank Him for His mercy, let us
pray for the grace to empty ourselves so we
may be filled by God’s transforming love.
God Bless, Fr.
Carlos, OSA.
Sunday,
April 14, 2019 — Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
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