Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

This Sunday, we enter Holy Week with the celebration of “Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord.” We begin with the Palm Sunday Gospel passage about the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Then, we hear a long Gospel passage about the suffering and death of Jesus. The contrast between the two passages is obvious. And as we reflect on this, we recognize that our lives too are marked by such contrasts. There is joy as well as sorrow, success as well as failure, peace as well as chaos, health as well as sickness.
The contrast between the two Gospel passages of this Sunday is also a reflection of our experience of life. But as much as there is a contrast, there is also a similarity. When Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the people hailed Him as king. When He was crucified on the cross, there was a notice with an inscription: “This is the King of the Jews.”
So, in life and in death, Jesus held on to His identity as the King of kings. In our contrasting experiences of life, may we always keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, so that we know who we are, that we belong to Him, and that He will always be with us.
Therefore, for now, let us be with Jesus in His suffering and death, and keep faith in Him as we await His raising us to new life. Our reflection is: do we still want to be with Jesus and keep our faith in Him, regardless of the situations we face in our daily lives? What do we want to reflect on and do during this Holy Week? And why?

Fr. Aegidius Warsito, SCJ