With this celebration of Palm Sunday, we begin a week of a lot of activity, a week of much tension,
anguish and turmoil, a week of experience of various sentiments culminating in a sense o GREAT RELIEF.
But, where are those who sang in great jubilation, “Hosanna to the Son of David Blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest”, when others shouted ‘crucify him, crucify
him’, when Barabbas was preferred to be released and not Jesus; where were they when he was
thirsty and instead of giving him something to quench his thirst, they gave him a sponge soaked with
vinegar? It is easy to sing Hosanna and then disappear in the midst of suffering, agony, passion and
crucifixion.
We hold palms in our hands, walk in procession acclaiming Jesus as our King. But with whom are
you identifying yourself this week – with the twelve disciples at the last Supper, with Simon Iscariot,
with those who disputed who was the greatest among them, with Simon who said, “Lord I am ready
to go with you to prison and to death’, but later denied him three times, with the three closest
disciples of Jesus who could not keep awake while Jesus was going through agony on the Mount of
Olives, with Judas who betrayed him with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver, with the maid who said
referring to Peter “This man also was with him”, with the cock who crowed, with those who mocked
him, beat him and humiliated him, with the chief priests and scribes, with Pilate who washed his
hands, with Herod ho had long desired to see hi, with those who preferred Barabbas to Jesus, with
those who cried “Crucify him, crucify him!”, with Simon of Cyrene who helped Jesus to carry His
cross, with the women who bewailed and lamented him, with Veronica who wiped his face with a
cloth, with the criminals who were crucified beside Jesus, with the criminal who mocked him, with
the criminal who prayed, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power”, with Joseph
of Arimathea who helped lower the body of Jesus, with John the beloved disciple who took Mary as
his mother and Mary the mother of Jesus who accompanied his throughout his agony, passion and
death? This week, you cannot be a passive spectator. You have to be involved in the happenings of
the Holy Week. But what is your part, your place and role in this?
Identify your place and role and show to the world where you stand in relationship with the Suffering
Servant, with your Creator and Savior. What is going to be your focus this week – Easter Eggs or on
your conversion, returning to the Lord, repentance, believing in the Good News of Jesus, confession
of your sins, wanting forgiveness and reconciliation? Are you prepared to keep your gaze on Jesus
who keeps looking at you with both his hands stretched on the cross as a sign of wanting to embrace
you and the entire humanity in love, forgiveness and reconciliation? What is your response to him?
Will it result in a change of heart, change of life, change of behavior, transformation of your
relationships for the better? Choose between salvation and damnation, between eternal life and
spiritual death, between Christ the Light and Devil the Darkness, between pride and humility, love
and hatred, between the Gospel of Joy and the Sad News of Despair and earn your reward
accordingly.
Let me place before you one thought: Before the triumphant entry into Jerusalem Jesus instructs two
of his disciples, ‘Go to the village there ahead of you; as you go in, you will find a colt tied up that
has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If someone asks you why you are untying it, tell
him that the Master needs it (Mathew 19:31). Commenting on this Bishop Fulton Sheen Says,
“Perhaps no greater paradox was ever written than this – on the one hand the sovereignty of the Lord,
and on the other hand his “need.” This combination of Divinity and dependence, of possession and
poverty was the consequence of the Word becoming flesh. Truly, he who was rich became poor for
our sakes, that we might be rich. Our Lord borrowed a boat from a fisherman from which to preach;
he borrowed barley loaves and fishes from a boy to feed the multitude; he borrowed a grave from
which he would rise and now he borrowed an ass on which to enter Jerusalem. Sometimes God
preempts and requisitions the things of man, as if to remind him that everything is a gift from him,”
(Fulton J Sheen, The Life of Christ)
What do the various characters mentioned above awake in you? What does the Lord want to borrow
from you?
I wish you all a gracefilled Holy Week.
Fr. Michael Dias
