Palm Sunday
Today we started the liturgy with the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem which leads to His trial, suffering and death on the cross. This Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem reminds us to be loyal and to persevere in our spiritual lives so as to deepen our faith in God. Then our regular gospel reading today tells us the story of the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
These two passages from the gospel we heard today show two contrasting attitudes of God’s people with regard to Jesus. In the gospel reading at the distribution of palms from the gospel of St. Luke chapter 19, verse 28 to 40, we heard the crowd shouting, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel.” Then in the gospel reading during the Mass, the Passion of the Lord according to St. Luke chapter 22, verse 14 to chapter 23, verse 56, we heard the crowd saying, “Away with this man! Crucify him! Crucify him!” This in fact reminds us of our attitudes toward God, that is, our inconstancy and fickleness. In one minute, we are consistently praising and honoring Jesus as our Savior; then the next minute, we are rejecting and condemning Him with our life of sin.
This is our reality, and this needs to be changed because it has destroyed our relationship with God. This is why the Church calls us to repentance today as we begin Holy Week by acknowledging and accepting our faults and asking God for forgiveness. This call to repentance also urges us to be loyal to God by persevering in our spiritual lives so as to deepen our faith in Him.
So my dear friends in Christ, let us avoid and fight our spiritual inconstancy and fickleness by praying frequently, by mortifying ourselves through fasting; and by exemplifying God’s love to others through Almsgiving.
