PALM SUNDAY –
CYCLE C 2022
Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week, the holiest week
of the year, that will lead us to the glory and joy of Easter Sunday. During
this week Jesus will live his paschal mystery, his Passover from this world to
the Father, from humiliation to glory,
In the first reading on Palm Sunday and on Good Friday, we
read from the Book of Isaiah two of the Servant Poems.
THE SERVANT
POEMS
In the book
of the Second or Deutero-Isaiah we find a series of Poems about a Servant.
1.
42,1-4
2.
49,1-7
3.
50,4-11
4.
52,13-53,12
Many identities
have been proposed for this Servant:
-
Historical
Israel
-
Ideal
Israel
-
An
Old Testament historical character, maybe the Prophet itself
-
In
the New Testament the Church has seen in Jesus the fulfillment of what is said
about the Servant.
The words
used “hear and speak,” refer to the
prophetic mission of the Servant.
First Reading Is 50,4-11.
Third Poem of the Servant
-
He
hears because the Lord has opened his ears
-
And
has given him a well-trained tongue to speak to the weary
-
The
servant is obedient, does not refuse to accomplish his mission
-
He
endures whatever comes to his life because of his willingness to obey God
-
His
trust is in the Lord
o
God
is his help
o
God
is near and upholds his right
-
The
Servant invites those who fear the Lord to
o
Listen
to the voice of the Servant
o
To
put their trust in God
o
Those
who do not follow the Lord will suffer.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
All who see me scoff at me;
they mock me with parted lips, they wag their heads:
“He relied on the LORD; let him deliver him,
let him rescue him, if he loves him.”
R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Indeed, many dogs surround me,
a pack of evildoers closes in upon me;
They have pierced my hands and my feet;
I can count all my bones.
R.
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
They divide my garments among them,
and for my vesture they cast lots.
But you, O LORD, be not far from me;
O my help, hasten to aid me.
R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
I will proclaim your name to my brethren;
in the midst of the assembly I will praise you:
“You who fear the LORD, praise him;
all you descendants of Jacob, give glory to him;
revere him, all you descendants of Israel!”
R.
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
« This psalm is a lamentation
« Of someone close to his death
« God, who in former times was experienced as close, is
now experienced as faraway.
« In the last verses the situation changes, because God
intervenes and this gives way to joy, praise and thanksgiving
Paul invites
the community of Philippi to have the same attitude of Christ
o
contrary to
what Adam who was not God did, Christ who
is God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped at, but took on
the form of a slave (the Word’s incarnation)
o
Slave because
every man is a slave before God, God is our Master and Lord, and even if we
consider ourselves important, we are only slaves, and to become like us the
Word had to humiliate himself.
o
However, God
does not look at us as slaves, but as adopted children in his only son Jesus.
o
The Word made
flesh, obeyed, the opposite to what Adam, the first man, did. Jesus became obedient;
he opened his ears and opened his mouth to proclaim his acceptance of the
Father’s will.
o
He accepted the
most humiliating death, the cross.
o
The consequence
of all of this is that the Father has glorified him, giving him a name above every
other name, an absolute authority, thus everything is submitted to him because
JESUS IS LORD FOR THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER.
o Wonderful fragment of the letter of Paul to the Philippians, in this letter Paul presents Christ Jesus, as true God and at the same time as true man. This is the belief we profess in the creed.
PASSION OF THE LORD ACCORDING TO LUKE
-
The
Lucan passion narrative is read in the same liturgical year C in which the
Gospel of Luke has supplied the readings on Sundays of the Ordinary time. During
Easter, we will read from the Acts of the Apostles, the other half of the Lucan
two-volume work. The total setting is necessary to understand the passion
message:
o
The
Jesus accused before Pilate by the chief priests of “perverting the nation” is
one whose infancy and upbringing was totally in fidelity to the Law of Moses
(2:22, 27,39,42)
o
The
Jesus who is accused of forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar” is the Jesus
who had declared concerning the tribute “Give to Caesar… 20:25)
o
This
casts light on the declaration of some characters in the passion, that Jesus is
innocent 23:4,14,22,41,47)
o
The
Jesus who calmly faces death is the one who had already set face to go to
Jerusalem (9:51), affirming that no
prophet should perish away from Jerusalem (13:33)
o
During
his ministry Jesus showed tenderness, forgiveness, compassion (widow of Nain,
the prodigal son, the good Samaritan) In his passion he shows forgiveness for
those who crucified him
o
We
read in the temptations that the devil left until the opportune time, the time
is now (22:53)
o
He
has always presented the disciples in a very delicate way; never mentions now
in the passion that they abandoned the Lord.
o
Luke
is the only evangelist who presents a post-resurrection picture where all the
appearances of Jesus are in the Jerusalem area, as if the disciples had never
fled back to Galilee.
o
The
Jesus accused before the chief priest, the Roman Governor and King Herod prepares the way for a Paul brought before the same cast of
adversaries (Acts 21:27-25:27)
o
The
innocent Jesus who dies asking forgiveness for his enemies and commending his
soul to God the Father prepares the way for the first Christian martyr Stephen
(Acts 7:59-60)
.CLARETIAN CORNER
One night
while praying and in bitter tears, pleading to our Lord that by the merits of
His Passion and death to have mercy on the necessities of His church which at
that time were many, our Lord told me and pointing at Mgr. Claret as if I saw
him between our Lord and me.” This, my daughter, is the apostolic person whom
you have asked me for so many years and with so much tears”.
His Divine Majesty showed me the grace He poured on that holy soul for the preaching of the gospel, and our Lord told me that there was no other remedy for the peace of the church. I did not know that person. Only a few days before I heard that a certain chaplain by the name of Monsen Claret began preaching with much zeal about the honor due to God and the salvation of souls. It seems to me that have been at least eleven or twelve years ago.[1]
If a son had a very kind
father and saw that he was being maltreated for no reason at all, wouldn't the
son defend the father? If the son saw that this good father was being led to
execution, wouldn't he do all that he could to set him free? Well, then, what
should I be doing for the honor of my Father, who is offended with such
indifference and who, though innocent, is being led to Calvary to be, as St.
Paul says, crucified anew by sin? Wouldn't it be a crime to remain silent? What
would be the sense of not doing everything we could? My God, my Father! Help me
to prevent all sins, or at least one sin, even if I should be cut to pieces in
the attempt.[2]
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