Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion
Isaiah
50:4-7; Philippians 2:6-11; Matthew 26:14-27:66
His Story, Our
Story
by Fr. John Martin Shimkus,
O.S.B.
When
you attend Mass on Palm Sunday, I’m sure you notice that
there’s something different about it. (Besides the fact
that it’s longer!) There’s a different feel to it, a
feeling of involvement. Everyone picks up a palm branch,
there’s a special procession into the church, and even the
gospel is read differently, with each part being taken by
specific readers or the congregation. In short, there is
a greater sense of participation in the Palm Sunday Mass, a
deliberate attempt to get everyone more involved in this
particular liturgy.
And that sense of involvement is a
good thing, because when we are reflecting on events that took
place almost 2,000 years ago, it is easy to feel disconnect
from them. We may even be tempted to start thinking
“that was then, this is now”; that was Jesus’ story, but it
doesn’t relate to our life. But that would be a
mistake. The Passion is as much our story as it is the
story of Jesus who “emptied himself” and “coming in human
likeness” became “obedient to the point of death”. It is
this humanness of Jesus, this self-emptying of the
God-made-man that makes his story so relevant for each of
us.
So, in these final days leading up to
Easter, I invite us all to look for and find ourselves in the
Passion of Jesus. Because everyone can identify in some
way with what Jesus experienced in the last hours of his
life. Perhaps we identify with the sense of
disappointment or betrayal at the Last Supper – when Jesus is
getting ready to pour out his life for his friends and they
are getting ready to run. Maybe we relate to the moments
of anguish Jesus felt in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he
knew all too well what his mission demanded of him and his
human nature was afraid. Or maybe we know something of
the physical suffering or the sense of aloneness reminding us
of Jesus on the Cross. Jesus undergoes all of these
experiences, not just for us, but with us and in us, so that
the Passion becomes our story, the story of humanity in its
darkest hours, the story of our suffering, our abandonment,
our cry for love and mercy.
And as we ponder our place in these
events, let’s not forget that the story does not end in
defeat. Rather, it is a story of faithfulness, the
faithfulness of Jesus, the faithfulness of his Father, and our
faithfulness as well. Through the Passion of Christ, we
receive the grace to be faithful to all that life demands of
us. Through our participation in his suffering and
death, we too pass through the challenges and limitations of
this life and into the joy and peace of a life that never
ends. So let us not be mere spectators at our own
salvation, even when we would rather escape from our trials
and pain; let us rather confidently and trustingly live the
story with Jesus our Lord, so that we may also live the glory
with him as well.
When
you attend Mass on Palm Sunday, I’m sure you notice that
there’s something different about it. (Besides the fact
that it’s longer!) There’s a different feel to it, a
feeling of involvement. Everyone picks up a palm branch,
there’s a special procession into the church, and even the
gospel is read differently, with each part being taken by
specific readers or the congregation. In short, there is
a greater sense of participation in the Palm Sunday Mass, a
deliberate attempt to get everyone more involved in this
particular liturgy.