Palm Sunday

March 20^th, 2016 Palm Sunday- Fr.Francis Chirackal CMI

Lk 19:28-40(Procession); Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Lk 22:14-23:56

For Readings

http://www.usccb.org/nab/032016.shtml

History has seen hundreds of kings and emperors like Alexander the great, Napoleon and many others. No king gave his subjects the option to accept his rule or live independently without submitting oneself to his rule. Rejecting a king’s rule was death. But none of those kings kept their subjects beyond a certain period. With their death their kingship was also ended. But once the world witnessed an event of giving the honor of a king to a man who never ruled an earthly kingdom as a human being, nor claimed himself as a king. Within a few days of receiving that honor he suffered more than any other king and met with the most unjust, tragic death pronounced by a ruler after repeatedly declaring him innocent in public. Even after over two thousand years billions of people accept him as their king and submit themselves to His rule at free will. That historical event took place in Jerusalem when Jesus was given a warm solemn entry to the city as a king of peace sitting humbly on a colt and within a few days he was tortured, humiliated and crucified by Jewish leaders. Today we are re-living those events in our lives, and seeking his blessings. Last Tuesday, when his vicar Pope Francis was installed in the Vatican, more than one million people assembled, representing the whole world. The Holy Father re-echoed the same message of that King, i.e. the message of love, service and peace in\ simple words with deep humility.

Today we celebrate and observe Palm Sunday. Today’s first reading speaks of the almighty God, who remains always with us renewing the power of the Spirit in us, guiding and protecting, strengthening and encouraging us in our effort for salvation in this earthly journey. St.Paul in the second reading speaks of the self emptying love of Jesus for our salvation. The heavenly Father exalted him above everything and his name became the source of our salvation, as He humbled himself to redeem the human race. 

Today’s gospel reading, presents the solemn entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the story of his passion and crucifixion. On Sunday Jesus rode into the city with the people shouting praises, and praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen. On the following Friday they shouted saying, ‘give us Barabas the notorious thief, and Crucify Jesus, Crucify Him’. Nobody was there for his support other than a few crying women with his own mother. Why this change? Well, there were many possible reasons, but one simple reason was that their words did not match their heart. They had religion but they missed the essence, the person of Jesus. They possessed a casual faith but not a committed one.

How do we recognize a committed faith? It is relationship driven. Many of those who gathered to throw their coats onto the street and who shouted praises did so because it was the popular thing to do at the time. At that one brief moment it became trendy. The principle behind it is, ‘I am doing it because others are doing it’. It was a part of mob behavior. Of course there were many whose had sincere motives, but others soon did it because people around them were doing it. Later at the trial, many were shouting ‘Crucify Him’. In fact for a brief moment it was the trendy thing to do, to make a mass murderer and criminal their hero when they shouted we want Barabas. But our faith should be different from this one. Our faith should be a committed one. A committed faith with personal relationship can’t change like that. Jesus is the one who is with all of us from the beginning to this moment, and forever. He is the goal and means of our lives. In our own lives a committed faith in Jesus comes only through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, through prayer, reading of the Bible, receiving the sacraments, and living a life of love and charity. No personal relationship, no committed faith.

This is the ‘Jubilee Year of Mercy’. This is a special year to grow in our personal relationship with God and our commitment to His Church in a special way by becoming the agents of God’s mercy and experiencing that same mercy in our own life. At the same time we are His Church and He is the Head. How did we get a share in His life? Man was to be the masterpiece of the divine act of creation and the master of the universe. He contains within himself a part of every created being and has the necessary faculties to dominate all the lesser creatures. But He was to be more than that. His human nature was to be raised to union with the Godhead in the Incarnation. This divine plan was eventually fulfilled in Christ. Therefore, birth, public ministry, passion, death and the resurrection of Jesus, were not just some events that happened in history, but a promised divine plan from the beginning of creation, fulfilled in history in the person of Jesus, the Son of God as per the will of the Heavenly Father. Through that we received a share in His life. During this Holy Week, as we re-live Salvific history let us make every effort to intensify our personal relationship with Jesus. Let us make Christian love and Charity, a visible one in our personal, family and communal lives. Let us experience God’s loving Mercy and transmit that mercy to our fellow beings. God bless you.