This day is familiarly called Palm Sunday when we bless and receive palms as a way to recall the triumphal entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. The Church officially calls it Palm Sunday of the Passion the Lord because we proclaim a Scriptural rendering of his suffering and death. It is of course both, because they are not separate events but the continuation of salvation history which continues to this day. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who turns 90 on Easter Sunday, wrote a trilogy entitled,” Jesus of Nazareth”. The 2nd volume is a powerful reflection of both which is worthy of our prayerful studies this Holy Week. Among his thought provoking insights are these.
First he notes that Our Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem was not a one day event. He in fact journeyed from the Sea of Galilee which is 690 feet below sea level toward the city of Jerusalem which is 2,500 feet above sea level. This is an intentional ascent not simply to the physical city but an intentional ascent to the cross. The Pope wrote: “This ascent into God’s presence leads (by way of) the Cross – it is the ascent toward “loving to the end” which is the real mountain of God.” (p. 2). He loved us to the end of his earthly life by dying on the cross and he loves us still in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Secondly the Pope Emeritus notes that the people who cheered Our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem were not necessarily the ones who called for his crucifixion a few days later. Rather he suggests that the people of Jerusalem did not really know him, some knew of him. He wrote, “The parallel with the story of the wise men from the East (at Christmas) is unmistakable. On that occasion too the people of Jerusalem knew nothing of the new-born king of the Jews; the news about him caused Jerusalem to be “troubled”. . . In this two-stage account of the failure to recognize Jesus – through a combination of indifference and fear – we see something of the city’s tragedy . . .” (p.8). Indifference and fear describe our time, our church, our country, our world. So many through indifference and fear do not know him personally, only of him, and that can lead to tragedy of soul and society.
Thirdly he makes a significant point about what Jesus’ triumphal entry meant to the early Church and should mean for us. He wrote, “For the infant Church, Palm Sunday was not a thing of the past. Just as the Lord entered the Holy City that day on a donkey, so too the Church saw him coming again and again in the humble form of bread and wine. The Church greets the Lord in the Holy Eucharist as the one who is coming now, the one who has entered into her midst. . . As pilgrims, we go up to him; as a pilgrim, he comes to us and takes us up with him in his ascent to the Cross and Resurrection . . . in communion.” (p. 10-11) In a few moments the Lord will come into our midst in the Holy Eucharist, body and blood, soul and divinity. Let us go to him as pilgrims and not let indifference or fear prevent us from experiencing the fullness of his presence.
Today we celebrate with joy the coming of the Lord into our midst as did those gathered in Jerusalem that Palm Sunday. And we will celebrate with humble awe his Passion loving us to the end on the cross on Good Friday. This Holy Week let us ascend with him in reflection, in prayer, and in humble reverence. “We adore you of Christ and we praise you, for by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.” When we adore him in the Holy Eucharist, we will be better able to experience the true joy that the Easter sacraments will offer us in only one week.