“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the highest.” (Mk 11:9-10). On Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, we are called to join with our Lord, Jesus Christ, as he makes a triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and then suffers derision and mockery, scourging and finally crucifixion because he claims to be who he truly is – the Son of God – and comes to offer a new way of life. This week is, indeed, what we Christians call it: Holy Week. Throughout this week, we are reminded that God, who is holy, has called us to follow his son as he leads us from a life of sin to a life of holiness. Today, we join our Lord in Jerusalem, where he goes to accomplish his paschal mystery. We hear about his triumphant entry into Jerusalem as well as his humiliating passion and death on the cross. We take home the palm that is blessed at Mass today to drape around our crucifixes, uniting us with the crowd that welcomed Jesus, proclaiming him to be the “Son of David.” The celebrant wears a red chasuble today, symbolic of the blood that Jesus shed on the cross. The Gospel, ordinarily proclaimed by a priest or deacon, is today proclaimed through the active participation of the entire congregation. All of this draws us into this most important week, when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is betrayed and abandoned by his followers as he accomplishes the work that his heavenly Father has sent him to do. We, who have come to recognize our sinfulness and Jesus’ saving power during this Lenten Season, are now called to decide whether or not we want to stay with the fickle crowd that one day acclaims Jesus as their savior and king and on another day calls for his death, or with the Christ who is willing to suffer humiliation, abandonment, agony and even death in obedience to the Father’s will and for the good of his people.
As I noted at the beginning of the liturgical year last December, this is the year that features The Gospel of Mark; today’s Gospel reading will be taken from that gospel. Regardless of the gospel from which it is taken, however, no part of the life of Jesus is related with as much detail as his passion and death. This is God’s great saving act, the climax of his saving acts throughout human history. It is the liturgical act, and it calls for our careful attention and active participation. Let me remind you about the definition of the word liturgy; it comes from the Greek word λιτυργειν and means a public act for the benefit of the people. Certainly, our Lord’s offering himself at the Last Supper and on the cross at Calvary is the supreme public act for the benefit of all people, as he offers himself to his heavenly Father for our sins and offers himself to us for our salvation!
There are many opportunities this week to participate in this great liturgical event. On Holy Thursday, the only Masses permitted are the Chrism Mass, which is celebrated at the Cathedral of every (arch)diocese, and the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Fr. Reilly, Deacon David and I will join with hundreds of other priests and deacons from throughout the Archdiocese at the Cathedral of Ss. Peter and Paul at 10:00am on Thursday to concelebrate the Chrism Mass with Archbishop Nelson Pérez. At this Eucharistic celebration, all of us priests will renew our priestly promises and Archbishop Pérez will bless the sacred oils that will be used in every parish throughout the year in the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and anointing of the sick. I ask that you keep us clergy – deacons, priests and bishops – in your prayers as we renew our ordination promises.
At 7:00pm, everyone is invited to join in the Mass of the Lord’s Supper here at the parish when we participate in the celebration of the institution of the Eucharist. The church will remain open until 10:00pm for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Our Knights of Columbus will, once again, lead an inspirational hour of adoration immediately following Mass.
On Good Friday, we will, once again, have an Ecumenical Good Friday Celebration at noon. It will be celebrated this year at the Wayne United Methodist Church, preceded by a procession of the cross from here; that begins at 11:45am. We will also have the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion at our own church beginning at 3:00pm. It will include veneration of the cross and communion.
Although commonly understood as lasting until before the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, Lent officially ends before evening prayer of Holy Thursday. At this time, the Easter Triduum begins, which lasts until the conclusion of evening prayer on Easter Sunday. Christ redeemed us all and gave perfect glory to God principally through his paschal mystery: “dying he destroyed our death and rising he restored our life.” Therefore, the Easter Triduum of the passion and resurrection of Christ is the culmination of the entire liturgical year. The Easter Triduum begins with the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday and reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. The Easter Vigil will be celebrated at 7:00pm next Saturday. This follows Church directives that the Easter Vigil not be celebrated at the time of day that it is customary to celebrate the Sunday Vigil Mass, thus setting it apart from every other Sunday. On Easter Sunday, we will add an 8:00am Mass to our regular Sunday 9:30 and 11:30am Masses. Those who receive communion at the Vigil may also receive at another Mass on Easter Day.
All of these liturgies provide us with the opportunity to share in this salvific event. It is important to recognize, however, that we are not just recalling what Jesus did for us in Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago. We are not just spectators of his great sacrifice. The liturgies of these days do not just take us back to the Upper Room or on the path to Calvary. The purpose of our celebrations is not to merely retrace or relive the last hours of Jesus’ life. Nor do we prepare for that chance to catch sight of Jesus emerging from the tomb at Easter’s dawning. These liturgies celebrate not only what once happened to Jesus but also what is happening among us now as a people called to conversion, called in faith and gifted with the Spirit of holiness. That is why it is so important that we all participate in these liturgies. It is not like attending a sports event, where a team will win or lose whether we are there or not. Nor is it like going to a concert, where others perform for our entertainment. Rather, we are all the people God has created through his Word and now recreates through the Word made Flesh as a community, broken like bread for the world, offered for the sins of humanity, and raised to new life in our savior, Jesus Christ. Come, let us die with Jesus so that we will also rise with him!