He is the King

What a lent, to say the least! We are on the last leg of this journey and our solemn walk with Jesus begins today, and how appropriate to begin Mass with the reading of the Holy Gospel for Palm Sunday. Yes, it’s Palm Sunday, the King of Glory is entering into Jerusalem, the great prophet to the people is making his victorious entrance on a colt.

A royal welcome with song and praise, with people shouting “Hosanna in the highest”. With spirits lifted high, it is a true celebration for the crowd. But an entrance to death, a crucifixion for Jesus.

These very same joyful people will be there on Friday, watching Jesus suffer and die. But Jesus’ thoughts are elsewhere and not with the crowd. Riding on that colt, he sees his scourging, the thorns, the cross of splinters, his crucifixion. Today, he hears the crowd, but his mind is on the ninth hour reflecting on those bitter words of “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me”. He enters this city for one reason only, in order to suffer and die for, “thy will be done”.

Today, they are joyful, carpeting the road that he walks, bowing to their king.  But as Jesus looks, he knows that among this crowd are those not cheering, no in there are those who are hiding having different intentions. They are the enemy. Today, as the crowd shouts out hosanna, on Friday, they will change that to “crucify him”.

Jesus has a bitter and painful week ahead, but it is the week that the Father asked him to come into the world. It is the week that the world is forgiven, we are redeemed. It takes the bitter to bring the healing.

For us, we too have a bitter week ahead. Probably the worse week of our lives for many of us. It is a lent we will never forget, not knowing when it will truly end.  “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me”, we may be saying. We feel the pain, we see a crippled world, and reflect on an uncertain future. Our own enemy, the killer, is hiding among the crowds.

So many people are praying to end this madness, probably, more than ever. Regardless of how well we kept our Lenten commitments amidst this crisis, let this Holy Week provide us with the unique opportunity to give our all to the one who loves us. A week to completely deny ourselves, for the love of God and our neighbor. This could be the medicine.

Yes, this will be a bitter week, and no physical Church to turn to for relief. Even so, make it a week like no other, a true Holy Week, reflecting on our own life with the courage to see our own faults. Make this a week of contrition. Make this a sorrowful week that leads us weeping to the foot of Jesus’ Cross on Calvary, comforting Our Mother Mary.

Deny ourselves and go wherever Christ empties himself for our sake, and believe his words, “I am with you always”. He is with us, among us, and in us. He hears our cries and our prayers. I just wonder if we hear his plea to the world, my people, my people, why have you abandoned me. “He is a forgiving God, always ready to forgive”

Have a Holy Week and one that is most pleasing to our Lord. Stay safe