Today is Passion Sunday, the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover. On the second Sunday of Lent, we read in the Gospel of Luke of Christ’s transfiguration on the mountain. Before His disciples, Peter, James and John of the voice of God from the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son, listen to Him.” and the appearance of Moses and Elijah representing the Law and the Prophets which Jesus had said he had come, not to abolish but to fulfill. Luke’s Gospel says, “Moses and Elijah who appeared in glory and spoke of His Exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.”
In the Exodus, Moses with God’s favor led the Jews out of Egyptian slavery into the freedom of the sons of God. The Passover was the eating of the male, one year old unblemished lamb which had been ordained by God to be reenacted in the Holy city, and elsewhere each year at this time in perpetual memorial of the Exodus event.
This morning we began the Mass at the door of the church with the reading from the Gospel of Luke also, Jesus has arrived at the gate of Jerusalem. His hour has at last come. Our Passover, the lamb of God, is about to enter into His city where he will be offered up on Friday - His Exodus is about to begin.
The people were spreading their cloaks on the road and waving Palm branches and shouting Hosanna to the Son of David. They praised God for all the mighty deeds they had seen, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.”
The people were hoping for a popular ruler who would restore sovereignty to Israel as in the glory days of King David. They were to be disappointed and subverted by those who received benefits from the Roman occupiers. None of this changed the objective of Jesus who had come to die for all men so that they might be free. And so He could rule the hearts of men from the cross. Even in heaven where he would be raised up on the third day after his death, and would ascend to His Father’s right hand in heaven. In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is seen at every instance as having set His face to go to Jerusalem. This was His Father’s Plan.
Today in this liturgy we are the people of Jerusalem who shout Hosanna Son of David and spread palm branches and our cloaks before the Lord. And who later will shout crucify Him and will not lift a finger to save Him out of fear for our own safety and loss of benefits.
The scriptures today, in reference to Christ, are about His humiliation in Isaiah, Psalm 22 speaks of His seeming abandonment, Philippians about Jesus kenosis His emptying of Himself, the Gospel of His being overpowered by His enemies.
In the events of the Gospel we see ourselves in Peter who denied Him thrice, in Judas who betrayed Him, in those who argued about who among them was the greatest, and yet Jesus said, “I am among you as the one who serves.” And while Jesus prayed in the garden and His tears became drops of blood. He went three times to His disciples for solace and found them asleep. Jesus, in this hour of His greatest need was a man alone and forsaken by those He loved. All of which is part of His great passion.
The events of the Triduum, of the Holy week’s invitation will move from the upper room, then across the Kidron valley to the ount of Olives and back again to the Palaces of Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod for the mock trial and scourging and out the via Dolorosa to Calvary, to the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
In the upper room on Holy Thursday Jesus will institute the Holy Eucharist and the sacrament of holy orders, the priesthood – as we pray in the Roman Canon, the Eucharistic prayer number one “you are a priest forever in the order of Melchisidek.”
In the seventy two verses of the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus explains that he Himself is the bread come down from Heaven. That His flesh is food indeed and His blood is drink indeed.
In verse 54 of that 6th chapter of John, Jesus makes this declarative statement, “Amen, Amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life and I will raise him up on the last day.”
This great gift of everlasting life is conditioned on living Christ’s life, following Him and carrying the cross without question, by maintaining sanctifying grace in our souls, without which we have no life.
St Paul says in 1Cor:11:27, “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” In other words, to receive the Lord when we are in serious sin will result in our destruction.
Sin is an offence against God’s goodness. When we look upon Christ on the cross in His agony and disfigurement we see sin. For scripture says, “Christ became sin for us.”
If one reads a physicians account of Christ’s passion or reads the record of the inspection of the shroud of Turin, he will get an idea of the extent of Jesus suffering on the cross until He finally expired, being impaled by heavy spikes in the arms and feet and not being able to get His breath over several hours should be enough for each of us to renounce all sin in our lives for as long as we live on earth. If one temporizes or plays games with sin, it will worm its way into the fabric of our very being, venial sin will lead to mortal sin. And so in these days of many week that lie ahead develop empathy with Jesus and commit your life to His cause, which is also your cause and perhaps the unrealized cause of those you love which is the salvation of everyone according to His judgment of us not our judgment of ourselves, “Surrender, therefore, to God and He will do everything for you.”
Jesus reminds us in His Gospel and in the teaching of His church that, “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father in heaven will enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Heaven is our goal but purgatory and hell are also real and have not been eliminated by anyone’s wish to have them disappear.
In Rev. 3:20, we hear the crucified Lord speak to the heart of each of us, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door to me, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me. He who overcomes, I will permit him to sit with me upon my throne; as I also have overcome, and have sat with my Father on His throne.”
In the Exodus, Moses with God’s favor led the Jews out of Egyptian slavery into the freedom of the sons of God. The Passover was the eating of the male, one year old unblemished lamb which had been ordained by God to be reenacted in the Holy city, and elsewhere each year at this time in perpetual memorial of the Exodus event.
This morning we began the Mass at the door of the church with the reading from the Gospel of Luke also, Jesus has arrived at the gate of Jerusalem. His hour has at last come. Our Passover, the lamb of God, is about to enter into His city where he will be offered up on Friday - His Exodus is about to begin.
The people were spreading their cloaks on the road and waving Palm branches and shouting Hosanna to the Son of David. They praised God for all the mighty deeds they had seen, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.”
The people were hoping for a popular ruler who would restore sovereignty to Israel as in the glory days of King David. They were to be disappointed and subverted by those who received benefits from the Roman occupiers. None of this changed the objective of Jesus who had come to die for all men so that they might be free. And so He could rule the hearts of men from the cross. Even in heaven where he would be raised up on the third day after his death, and would ascend to His Father’s right hand in heaven. In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is seen at every instance as having set His face to go to Jerusalem. This was His Father’s Plan.
Today in this liturgy we are the people of Jerusalem who shout Hosanna Son of David and spread palm branches and our cloaks before the Lord. And who later will shout crucify Him and will not lift a finger to save Him out of fear for our own safety and loss of benefits.
The scriptures today, in reference to Christ, are about His humiliation in Isaiah, Psalm 22 speaks of His seeming abandonment, Philippians about Jesus kenosis His emptying of Himself, the Gospel of His being overpowered by His enemies.
In the events of the Gospel we see ourselves in Peter who denied Him thrice, in Judas who betrayed Him, in those who argued about who among them was the greatest, and yet Jesus said, “I am among you as the one who serves.” And while Jesus prayed in the garden and His tears became drops of blood. He went three times to His disciples for solace and found them asleep. Jesus, in this hour of His greatest need was a man alone and forsaken by those He loved. All of which is part of His great passion.
The events of the Triduum, of the Holy week’s invitation will move from the upper room, then across the Kidron valley to the ount of Olives and back again to the Palaces of Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod for the mock trial and scourging and out the via Dolorosa to Calvary, to the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
In the upper room on Holy Thursday Jesus will institute the Holy Eucharist and the sacrament of holy orders, the priesthood – as we pray in the Roman Canon, the Eucharistic prayer number one “you are a priest forever in the order of Melchisidek.”
In the seventy two verses of the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus explains that he Himself is the bread come down from Heaven. That His flesh is food indeed and His blood is drink indeed.
In verse 54 of that 6th chapter of John, Jesus makes this declarative statement, “Amen, Amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life and I will raise him up on the last day.”
This great gift of everlasting life is conditioned on living Christ’s life, following Him and carrying the cross without question, by maintaining sanctifying grace in our souls, without which we have no life.
St Paul says in 1Cor:11:27, “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” In other words, to receive the Lord when we are in serious sin will result in our destruction.
Sin is an offence against God’s goodness. When we look upon Christ on the cross in His agony and disfigurement we see sin. For scripture says, “Christ became sin for us.”
If one reads a physicians account of Christ’s passion or reads the record of the inspection of the shroud of Turin, he will get an idea of the extent of Jesus suffering on the cross until He finally expired, being impaled by heavy spikes in the arms and feet and not being able to get His breath over several hours should be enough for each of us to renounce all sin in our lives for as long as we live on earth. If one temporizes or plays games with sin, it will worm its way into the fabric of our very being, venial sin will lead to mortal sin. And so in these days of many week that lie ahead develop empathy with Jesus and commit your life to His cause, which is also your cause and perhaps the unrealized cause of those you love which is the salvation of everyone according to His judgment of us not our judgment of ourselves, “Surrender, therefore, to God and He will do everything for you.”
Jesus reminds us in His Gospel and in the teaching of His church that, “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father in heaven will enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Heaven is our goal but purgatory and hell are also real and have not been eliminated by anyone’s wish to have them disappear.
In Rev. 3:20, we hear the crucified Lord speak to the heart of each of us, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door to me, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me. He who overcomes, I will permit him to sit with me upon my throne; as I also have overcome, and have sat with my Father on His throne.”
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