Reflection for Palm Sunday

04-14-2019Weekly ReflectionFr. Julius Kundi

Dearly beloved, today is Passion Sunday, also known as Palm Sunday which marks the beginning of HolyWeek. It is a special Week deep into Lent which recounts a complex and meaningful series of eventswhich lead to the Resurrection on Easter Day. By this understanding we can say Palm Sunday representsa preparation, a setting up, for the Resurrection to occur.

Pope Francis remarked last year in his homily on Palm Sunday that our celebration on this special Sunday can be said to be bittersweet. It is joyful and sorrowful at the same time. We celebrate Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem riding humbly on a donkey, an event which symbolizes the beginning of the New Exodus—like a warrior preparing to conquer death. We also proclaim the Gospel account of His Passion, as He enters the city where He will be mocked, tortured, stripped and crucified. This week we see how Jesus responded to all the humiliation and torture. The events of the Holy Week reveals the true humility of Jesus Christ as was longed foretold in the prophecies of Isaiah, "He was oppressed and was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth” (Is 53:7). And again we read today! "l gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting". For the followers of Christ, these texts should evoke a response deep down within us. We should be able to see how they apply to God’s only beloved Son, and how He died for all of us. Without this sincere love of Christ, we are no true followers of His. We cannot say we fully love Him, until we appreciate what He suffered for us.

Today we begin the most solemn week of the liturgical year. It was traditionally called the ‘Great Week‘, and later became "Holy Week‘. It is a week, Christians, especially witness the total self-giving of Jesus, an act St Paul describes as Jesus' “kenosis” or ‘self-emptying’ by which Jesus made himself entirely receptive to the divine will, ( see Philippians 2:7). Today we are not simply re-enacting a historical event that happened long ago. The liturgy invites us to follow Jesus every step of the way, beginning with his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, where He was welcomed, applauded and acclaimed by a crowd of well-wishers. On Thursday we will join Him at the table, to receive His gift of Himself in the Eucharistic bread and wine. After dining with Him we will, in our reflections, go with Him along the trail from the Upper Room to the Garden of Olives. There we will see Him struggling with fear and anxiety about the cruel death that awaits Him. On Good Friday we will be standing in spirit beside His mother at the foot of the cross, while He hands His spirit back to the Father who sent Him.

Indeed, it will be a week that Jesus will prove who He claimed to be. He is God and came to save us by conquering evil. He will invite us also to imitate the fruit of His humility which is service and self-emptying, for that is the power we can use to change the face of the hostile world in our day and serve as the light to the darkened world around us.

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Have a Spirit-filled TRIDUUM!

Fr. Julius

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