PALM SUNDAY: Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Mk 11:1-10 (Procession); Mk 14:1–15:47 (Holy Mass)

Some years ago, a book was written by a noted American historian entitled “When the Cheering Stopped”. It was the story of President Woodrow Wilson and the events leading up to, and following World War I. When that war was over, Wilson, the 28th president of the United States was an international hero. There was a great spirit of optimism abroad, and people actually believed that the last war had been fought, and the world had been made safe for democracy. On his first visit to Paris after the war, Wilson was greeted by cheering mobs. He was actually more popular than France’s own heroes. The same thing was true in England and Italy. The cheering lasted about a year. Then it gradually began to stop. At home, Woodrow Wilson ran into opposition in the United States Senate, and his League of Nations was not ratified. Under the strain of it all, the President’s health began to break. In the next election his party was defeated. So it was that Woodrow Wilson, a man who barely a year or two earlier had been heralded as the new world Messiah, came to the end of his days a broken and defeated man. — It’s a sad story, but one that is not altogether unfamiliar. The ultimate reward for someone who tries to translate ideals into reality is apt to be frustration and defeat. It happened that way to Jesus. When He emerged on the public scene, He was an overnight sensation. On Palm Sunday, leafy palm branches were spread before Him and there were shouts of “Hosanna.” But before it was all over, a tidal wave of manipulated opposition had welled up that brought Jesus to the cross.

With Palm Sunday we begin Holy Week by remembering the Lord’s Passion. The word “Passion,” like the word “love,” is a used and abused term in our day. When we speak of Passion in the case of what Our Lord underwent there’s room for multiple understandings of passion. He shows us passion in all the facets we should live it.

The Suffering Servant in today’s First Reading shows Our Lord put up no struggle and went as a lamb to the slaughter (cf. Is 53:7). (If you get a chance to notice different animals being taken for slaughter you will notice that animals, like pig, would squeal and squeak when taken to slaughter. But a lamb or sheep would go silently to the slaughter).

Passion means suffering. In his Passion we see Isaiah’s parable of the Suffering Servant fulfilled. Passion meant having something done to you, and not necessarily something pleasant.  

In today’s Second Reading Paul reminds us that a passion for others is what drove Our Lord to empty himself by assuming human nature and undergoing the Passion. It was not a passion for honors; he already had them. It was not a passion for gain; as God, he already had everything and needed nothing. It was not a passion to excel; he was the Son of God in eternity before he was born of Mary. It was a passion for his Father and us.

Passion means emotion; in Luke’s account of the Last Supper, Our Lord expresses how ardently he desired to be with his disciples before suffering. The betrayal and abandonment by his disciples and the torture and ridicule he underwent made his passion intense.

Most importantly, Passion means love. People are encouraged today to be passionate about what they do.

The mystery of Christ’s Passion shows us that it is not so much loving what we’re doing as loving those for whom we’re doing it. 

We may not love the cross, but we take up our cross daily for those we love.  Jesus loves us through the Cross and undergoes the Passion to teach us what passion truly is.

As we follow Our Lord, step by step to Calvary, ask him to show us for whom he is suffering: You and me.

May this Holy Week help us to follow Christ passionately for the passion and suffering he endured for us.