Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Attitude to the Sufferer (Mark 14: 1-15,47)
The Passover is addressed to make us aware of our attitude to the suffering of Christ.

We live in a time when we can hide behind a mass of people. We adjust our opinions, attitudes, lifestyle … Today’s procession with children in hand is not a folklore event. It is a liturgical act to commemorate a significant event in our salvation history, the entry of the Lord Jesus into Jerusalem. During these days, councils of penitents stand freely and voluntarily in churches to confess their sins. Many realize their failure, seduced by the flesh when they thought that as an individual, they meant nothing.

And yet. Two sentences from today’s gospel affect us each personally. “Hosanna” (Mk 11: 9)! and “Crucify him” (Mark 15:13)!

The words of the Passions came to an end, and the unpleasant words “Hosanna!” And “Crucify!” to Jerusalem and to whom the crowd called: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord ”(Mark 11: 9)! These are words of blessing. In the Book of Psalms, we read the words of this blessing: “We beseech thee, God, grant us salvation, we beseech thee, O God, grant us good luck” (Ps 117:25). And to the same Christ in the courtyard of Pilate, the mass of the people, the exalted crowd shouts death: “Crucify him” (Mark 15:13)!

It is also the heart of man. He can love and hate, celebrate and tread. So is my heart. How easy it is to call “Hosanna!” When everything is joy and well-being when there is peace. It is just as easy to shout, “Crucify him!” When life is not going the way we want it when God asks us for something else. That historic Sunday continues today. Even today, the crowds fill the churches. Even today, they have branches in their hands, and even today, the call is “Hosanna.” But even today, the crowd cries out with their common sin, and each man with his sin “crucify him.”
The mystery of Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection continues. Jesus lives in the glory of heaven, but also the history of the world and the Church, in the history of the life of each of us. How would I behave when Christ entered Jerusalem and in the court of Pilate? Would we, too, be part of the mass, the crowd?
History is also today, my life. It is a memento for us today to act as brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus and not as people without our own judgment. Free will and reason are values ​​that we must not abuse against each other. Jesus redeemed us and saved us. He suffered and died for us, but he also rose from the dead for us. In this week, which we call Holy or Good Week, it is right that we realize the meaning of each of our thoughts, each of our words, and each of our deeds. They will either be our reward or our punishment. The pretense does not stand before God. It is right that we get to know our attitude, our face as soon as possible so that it benefits us. Let us not forget this even during the sacramental reconciliation.

Our desire is for us to persevere in joyful shouting, not only today but also tomorrow, until the end of time. Bishop Fulton Sheen talks about his experience. He was invited to a conference in a city where he had not yet been. He met a boy on the street and asked him on the way to the hotel. The boy answered and immediately asked him who he was. In response, the bishop told him that he was a bishop. The boy didn’t say anything, so he kept asking, “And what are you doing? What are you doing?” : “You don’t know the way to the hotel, and you want to show the way to heaven?”
For us, this means that it is not enough to talk about Christ’s suffering. It is necessary to follow Christ. After the Passover Sacrament of Reconciliation, a change of life is needed. Stand out from the masses. Do not compare with others. Take a radical attitude toward sin, especially your own.