Palm Sunday

 

Palm Sunday, what a Feast of seemingly opposite extremes. On the one hand, our hosannas and palms prefigure the victory and alleluias of Easter. On the other, we're confronted with the barred fangs iniquity of the Passion, and what iniquity it is. The murderous hatred of the Chief Priests, the weakness of Pilate, the derision of Herod and his court, the torturous savagery of the soldiers and the betrayal of Judas; even of Peter whose rock dissolves to quicksand in the heat of the question.

Joy and suffering, good and evil, darkness and light, God versus Satan. It seems, as Christ dies on Calvary, on the place of a skull, Golgotha, that Satan has won. But no, the perfect sacrifice has been sent, ite missa est, and is found acceptable by the Father for the remission of sin. Accordingly, Christ rises, victorious, on the third day; he has broken the power of death, sin and Hell itself. The palms of his entry into the holy city didn't lie. But that's for the future.

Today he must go to the Cross to confront evil and defeat it. He invites us to do the same, to take up our cross and follow him, both daily and this week especially. To what end? That in the deliberate, conscious, thoroughgoing rejection of sin and concomitant conversion of heart, mind and soul we not only find union with our Lord's sacrifice but also a share in his risen life, in his victory over death. With that, today's hosannas turn to the jubilant exultation of Easter, Alleluia! He is risen!

Again, this is liturgically over the horizon, so in the meanwhile a prayer:

Almighty and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the Cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also be made partakers in his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

 

God bless you all,

LSP