PALM SUNDAY - Matthew 26:14-27:66
Palm Sunday is the beginning of the Holy Week, a week set apart for us to be touched by the passion of the Lord Jesus and by the suffering of the world.
With most of the countries of the world under the threat of the coronavirus, we are forced to face our fragility and mortality. Humanity is going through rough seas and we are all in the same boat and facing the same danger. Before this pandemic, we have to humble ourselves. Indeed, there is nothing to boast about. This pandemic is a call for all of us to become aware of the perilous path we go through. We have forgotten that, leading a life full of selfishness and total disregard for the well-being of the others and of the earth, which sustain us.
In many parts of the world, there will not be a public celebration of Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter. It is as if all of us are in the tomb, like Jesus in the Saturday that followed his death. We are not going to walk on the streets, but at home, with the family, we are going to celebrate knowing that we are in communion with thousands of thousands of families, forming a big community, the living Church, which is the body of Christ.
FIRST READING - Isaiah 50, 4-7 - The Messiah presents himself as a faithful disciple, who listens to the word of God and takes it “to those who are “wearied”, giving them encouragement and comfort. Because of his faithfulness, the Messiah will suffer rejection, but he “made no resistance”, nor did he “turn away”: “I did not cover my face against insult and spittle.” He put his trust in God, knowing that he will not be disappointed.
SECOND READING - Philippians 2, 6-11 - In the letter to the Philippians, Paul gives us a poem about the mystery of Christ's passion and death. Being of divine condition, he became a servant, similar to us. He did not use his divine condition to impose himself and show himself to be superior to men. On the contrary, he lowered himself and became a human being like all of us, weak and fragile, experiencing suffering and death. He showed his fidelity and his obedience until his death on the Cross. And that is why God exalted him. He “emptied himself” in order to share our human condition enslaved by sin, and God glorified and exalted him. For this reason, his name is above all names, “so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus, to the glory of God the Father.” It is in Him that we find salvation and life.
GOSPEL - Matthew 26, 14 - 27, 66 - In Matthew's gospel, the passion narrative begins with Judas' betrayal. What could have caused this man to be so disillusioned with Jesus as to betray him? Or was it simply a matter of money? Then, Matthew presents the Passover celebration, in which Jesus takes the place of the lamb, offering himself as a paschal sacrifice, in which his blood is "poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." After supper, Jesus went with the apostles to spend the night on a property called Gethsemane. There he was arrested. During the night he was tried by the Sanhedrin; condemned as a false prophet, he was tortured. At dawn, they took him to Pilate, accusing him of pretending to be king of the Jews. Pilate realised the falsity of the accusation but eventually sentenced him to death for high treason. Realising his exhaustion, the soldiers forced Simon of Cyrene to carry his cross. At three o'clock in the afternoon, Jesus prayed with Psalm 22 saying: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?" And Jesus, “crying out in a loud voice, yielded up his spirit."
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