
My Dear fellow believers!
The Word of God for this Palm Sunday has presented us with an abundance of spiritual food to contemplate in order to nourish ourselves. I would like to simply touch a couple of moments we find in the readings for this Sunday. They all tell us about Jesus’ freedom. The story which start unfolding before our eyes it is a story of a free person who isn’t forced to do the Holy Week. Jesus chooses to do that. We could hear it in the first Gospel when he was arranging his entry to the Holy City and we can see him free even when he is brought by Pilate before the crowd. If he wanted he could turn those people at the Pilate’s courtyard into dust but he chooses to continue the path of suffering for salvation of us people.
St Albert who was also an artist prayed and contemplated that moment. The outcome of his prayers is the picture called Ecce homo – This is the man. In the picture we see Jesus maltreated horrifically but there is one interesting thing. The rope which is used to tie the prisoners actually doesn’t tie Jesus up. On the contrary, it looks more like a necklace on him. St Albert wanted to express what he understood from contemplating the Passion of Christ: Jesus accepted his suffering and death freely. He didn’t need to be tied up and pulled to the Calvary. What was “driving” him to the summit of the mountain of the Crucifixion was his love for his heavenly Father whose will he wanted to fulfill and his love for us humans whom God loves so much.
My Dear Sisters and Brothers!
As you enter more deeply into the mysteries of Jesus’ suffering, death and Resurrection, please don’t feel sorry for Jesus. Rather pray for the grace so that faced with his unconditional love you may be brought to your knees to cry over yours sins, to feel sorry for your sins and so to obtain the grace of true repentance for your sins and the grace of gratitude for what Jesus did to save you.