Today we are in the middle of a paradox.
On the one hand, we are filled with joy.
As Jesus enters Jerusalem, throngs of people rejoice. The promised Savior has finally come! The Messiah is here! Redemption is at hand!
But then, on the other hand, we are sorrowful. We hear proclaimed the sorrowful narrative of our Lord’s Passion—his rejection, his suffering, his death.
Today is full of so much joy and sorrow—much like the typical to Christian life—the life of the ordinary Christian is filled with both isn’t it? Sorrow and joy—defeat and victory.
For Christ: what seems to be his defeat on mount calvary, the cause of overwhelming sorrow, is actually his victory. His passion is the victory of everlasting love.
"A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends" That's what Jesus taught, and that's what he did in his passion: to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that his love for us has no limits.
He entered the world in way similar to the way he entered Jerusalem. At his birth, angels sang "Glory to God in the Highest" when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and now the people sing, "Hosanna in the Highest" as Jesus enters Jerusalem.
Both entrances were motivated by God's love. Out of obedient love he became man, and out of that same love he is obedient to the Father even to the point of death—to save us from our sins.
The source of our sorrow is sin, our sins; in one sense, the cause of Christ's suffering is our sins. Christ’s blood is on our hands, all of our hands. In another sense, the cause of Christ’s suffering is his love. He suffers because he loves; thereby showing us the true face of love. True love is not a storybook romance; true love is the cross. He suffered for us, to open the gates of heaven for sinful man.
We have solved our paradox. There is sadness because of sin, but there is joy because of Christ’s selfless compassion, his unselfish love. By his death he has obtained for us a redemption that is eternal.
Today is the beginning of the holiest week of the year, the week we call Holy Week. During the first Holy Week, two thousand years ago, Jesus achieved victory over sin and evil. During this Holy Week, he wants to extend that victory into the parts of our lives that still need it conversion, those parts of our hearts and lives we have kept closed to the redeeming power of Christ. Those selfish, unloving parts of us, we need to bring to the cross to be transformed.
May we make this week different by turning off the radio and television more often than usual, by spending more time in prayer than we do on the internet, and joining in this week’s liturgies, praying, worshiping, contemplating, receiving the Sacraments and the transforming power of grace this Holy Week for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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