This Sunday is Palm or Passion Sunday and it is the beginning of Holy Week which ends with the highlight of the liturgical year: the celebration of Easter, the victory of Christ over death through His resurrection. During Holy Week we prayerfully remember the events of Jesus’ passion and death, especially over the Easter Triduum (3 special days) which starts on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday.
Today’s mass, begins with the procession with palms and the Gospel proclaims Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, riding on a borrowed colt. The crowds who were gathered for the feast of Passover enthusiastically waved palm branches and shouted “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” The crowds were hailing Jesus as the king who would lead them against the Romans and make them free again, but Jesus came as a king of peace, love and forgiveness. Not to bring war.
The Gospel proclaimed in the Liturgy of the Word during mass, recounts the passion of Jesus from the Gospel of Mark. This narrative shows us that Jesus understood that his death had been preordained and that it was a part of the mystery of God’s plan and purpose. Jesus in obedience to God’s will freely laid down his life for him to take it up again after three days. The joy of his entrance into Jerusalem did not last long. After Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples (the Last Supper), where he predicted that their faith would be challenged (which they denied), he went to the garden to pray. Jesus went to pray alone to his Father calling him “Abba,” (father Aramaic) a sign of his love and intimate relationship.
Do we as Christians acknowledge God who truly is “Abba” our heavenly father? Do we place our trust in him or are we like the disciples in the garden who Jesus found sleeping? As the men seized Jesus, Mark says that his disciples “all deserted him and ran away.” At this most critical moment we ask ourselves the question, “will I desert Jesus? Will I remain a faithful follower of the Lord during the difficult moments in my life?”
At his arrest Jesus knew that his time had come, in fulfilment of the Scriptures. He was silent and confident before those who accused him, first the Sanhedrin (Jewish elders) and then Pilate. Holy Week invites us to reflect and meditate on the crucifixion, the cross of Christ as the reason why the Son of God became man. He was destined to die and to raise us up with him. After he was sentenced to death Jesus did not speak again until his final cry from the cross “my God, my God why have you forsaken me?” The veil in the Sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two at exactly the same moment, revealing the innermost sacred area the “Holy of Holies.” Confirmation that Jesus is the Son of God, and that through death on the cross he became the ultimate sacrifice, revealing God’s love for each and every one of us.