MARCH 24TH 2024, PALM SUNDAY (YEAR B)

As Jesus entered Jerusalem at the beginning of the first Holy Week, He was welcomed with much enthusiasm, and He accepted the love and devotion of those who welcomed Him. He was their King. He was the Messiah, and the welcome they gave to Him was but a pale gift of the true adoration He deserved. And though Jesus entered Jerusalem with this glorious welcome, less than a week later He would leave Jerusalem with a heavy cross on His shoulders, carrying it outside the city walls to die. When we contrast the entry of Jesus on Palm Sunday with His arrest, abuse, mock trial, carrying of the cross and death, these two extremes do appear to be at the opposite ends of the spectrum. There is rejoicing and praise as He enters, and sorrow and shock as He leaves. But are these two events all that different from a divine perspective? From the perspective of the Father in Heaven, the end of the week is nothing other than the ultimate culmination of the full glory of His Son. Today we read the long and beautiful account of the Passion of Jesus as told in Mark’s Gospel. But on Friday we will read the account of John’s Gospel. Mark’s Gospel tells the story in clear detail, but John’s Gospel will most notably add the spiritual insight that Jesus’ crucifixion and death is nothing other than His hour of glory. We will see His Cross as His new throne of grace, and the earthly glory Jesus receives today as He enters Jerusalem will be fully realized from a divine perspective as He mounts His Throne of the Cross to take up His eternal Kingship. As we enter into the holiest week of the year, it is essential that each of us see the journey of Christ this week as our own calling in life. We must journey toward the glory of the Cross with our Lord. From a worldly perspective, the Cross does not make sense. But from the perspective of the Father in Heaven, the Cross is not only the source of the greatest glory of His Son, but it is also the path by which we share in that glory. We must die with Him, sacrifice all for Him, choose to follow Him, and hold nothing back in our resolve to lay down our lives out of love. Reflect, today, upon the events you will commemorate this week. Commit yourself to share in them, not just as an intellectual remembrance but as a living participation. How is God calling You to step forward in a sacrificial way out of love? How is God calling you to courageously embrace your calling to give your life away? Strive to see this week from the perspective of the Father in Heaven and pray that you will also see the ways in which the Father is calling you to imitate His Son. Let us go and die with Him, for it is in the Cross of Christ that we will discover His eternal glory.