A Palm Sunday Message from Fr. Lix
Today Holy Mother Church celebrates Palm Sunday; She teaches us that the week starting after this Holy Mass is over, we call it “Holy Week.” Why is it Holy? It is Holy because all of Jesus Christ did during these days: His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, His teaching in the Temple, His Institution of the Priesthood and the Most Holy Eucharist, His agony in Gethsemane, His arrest, torture, crucifixion, death on Good Friday, His rest in the tomb and lastly, His Glorious Resurrection on the Third day.
It is also called Holy because it is meant to make us Holy. Holy Mother Church is asking us not to be spectators but to enter into an ever-deeper relation with Jesus in the mysteries we celebrate. Holy Mother Church asks us to internalize all Jesus did for us during these most Holy of days and enter into a deep dialogue with Him, not just with thoughts or words but with our whole being.
Holy Week is supposed to be for us who believe the most faith-filled weeks of the year, but that requires us to make it the most faith-filled week of the year. Holy Mother Church presents to us the Gospels that have one central starting point, namely, the Most Holy Eucharist. Let us strive not to let the events of Holy Week be something that has happened 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem but be real encounters with the Lord Jesus present with us in the Most Holy Eucharist.
As many encounters as there are during Holy Week, let our focus be Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, which is the Gospel we hear at the very beginning of the Holy Liturgy on Palm Sunday. The Evangelist St. Matthew tells us, Jesus told two of His disciples to go into the village, find a donkey tethered to a colt, and bring them to Him, saying, “The Master has need of it.” This was to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah in which the King and Savior would enter Jerusalem humble and riding on the foal of a beast of burden. Just as Jesus the Master had need of a donkey, so He has need of us.
The great Palm Sunday hymn: “All Glory Laud and Honor” proclaims, “May you be the Holy Rider and we your little colt, so that the venerated City of God may embrace us together with you.” Jesus wants us to be as docile, diligent, and steady as a donkey.
In the Eucharist, Jesus longs for us to receive Him, not on our back but within us, and to help Him carry out His saving work. He longs for us to be present with Him faithfully in prayer.
Fr. Kevin Lix, Parochial Vicar