Holy Week Meditations: Palm Sunday

LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY:Today we commemorate Christ’s entry into Jerusalem for the completion of the Paschal Mystery. In the old calendar before Vatican II, the Church celebrated Passion Sunday two Sundays before Easter, and then Palm Sunday was the beginning of Holy Week. The Church has combined the two to reinforce the solemnity of Holy Week. This festival has early roots in the Eastern Church. St. Cyril of Jerusalem writes about annual commemoration of this great event as recorded in the Scriptures, with the custom also being observed by the desert fathers of Egypt and Syria. The first evidence we find in the West is in the 7th Century through the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, that is, at the end of the sixth, or the beginning of the seventh, century. While it many places it was not possible to obtain palms or olive branches; they were supplied by branches from other trees. Nonetheless, the Liturgy of the Palms was still employed.

This Sunday observes the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem that was marked by the crowds, who were in Jerusalem for Passover, waving palm branches and proclaiming him as the messianic king. The Gospels tell us that Jesus rode into the city on a donkey, enacting the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, and in so doing emphasized the humility that was to characterize the Kingdom he proclaimed. The irony of his acceptance as the new Davidic King (Mark 11:10) by the crowds who would only five days later cry for his execution should be a sobering reminder of the human tendency to want God on our own terms. We  are struck again by the fickleness of people. One minute we are praising Jesus as king and the next we want to exchange him for Barabbas and have him crucified on the cross.

This is the context that  we are asked to ponder the reality that this Holy Week which humanly speaking is filled to the brim with suffering, humiliation, despoliation, is a called to embrace the kenotic reality of God, which is earmarked on this very Sunday for our journey . We are invited to embrace the fullness of the Passion  on this day, to grasp it with the same desire we grasp the Palms we are given at the liturgy. As Palm Sunday marks the begining of Holy Week and the hourney of Jesus to Jerusalem, we must ask the question : How shall we journey? We will make the effort to transcend the hectic and, at times burdensome, aspects of life weighed down by things that are not what the soul’s journey is all about? Do we ahve the courage to not just cheer Jesus on with Hosannas but to walk every step with him? Let us renew our resolve this Palm Sunday to make the commitment of kenotic love and make the journey to Jerusalem with Our Lord

PRAYER OF THE DAY: Almighty and ever living God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your 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 share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: “Of the beliefs and practices whether generally accepted or publicly enjoined which are preserved in the Church some we possess derived from written teaching; others we have received delivered to us “in mystery” by the tradition of the Apostles; and both of these in relation to true religion have the same force. And these no one will contradict; – no one, at all events, who is even moderately versed in the institutions of the Church. For were we to attempt to reject such customs as have no written authority, on the ground that the importance they possess is small, we should unintentionally injure the Gospel in these matters…– St. Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit 27 [A.D. 375])”.

HOLY WEEK DISCIPLINE: Read Matthew 21:1-11.What “garments” do I need to lay down before my God? Can you reflect on this avoiding any self -righteousness? We are called to be living testimonies, share with another the fruit of this discipline. On a lighter note, this is also known in some places as “Fig Sunday” due to the tradition that Christ ate figs after his entry into Jerusalem. Adding some type of figs to your meal would be a nice touch or perhaps with those who have less than you.