ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Friends in our Lord Jesus Christ,

On Ash Wednesday, at the beginning of Lent, we resolved to follow Jesus in His journey to the Cross. It was the last and most important journey of His life, a journey to the place where He would be crucified and die.

Today, Palm Sunday, is a very special moment in this journey because Jesus has reached Jerusalem. We have had the blessing of the palms, and we have proclaimed the Gospel of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. It is a triumphant arrival, it is a victorious moment for Jesus. He came to the city in which He was to bring everything to completion. And so today, for us as Christian people, as followers of Jesus, it is a very important moment in our lives, because we are with Jesus in Jerusalem. And, during Holy Week, we will follow Him in all the different moments of His Passion and Death.

Today we have the great blessing of reading the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, which anticipates for us so many of those moments—from the time that Jesus celebrated the Last Supper, from the moment that He was arrested and led forth, and finally that moment on Calvary. And we know, as we read all the details that were presented to us, that once Jesus was arrested in Jerusalem, a profound silence enveloped Him.

Today we follow Jesus in silence and, at the same time, we listen to His words. Actually, once the arrest took place, He spoke only three times. Jesus spoke before the High Priest to assert His identity, to make His claim that He was the Son of God, that He was the Son of Man, that He was the Messiah sent by the Father. And then He spoke before the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, to acknowledge that He was indeed the King of the Jews. And finally, He spoke on Calvary, where He uttered a number of His inmost thoughts—we call them “the last words”.

There were two of them, in particular, that were so extraordinarily important, because they revealed the identity of Jesus. As He hung on the Cross, Jesus spoke to His Mother, addressing her as “Woman”, acknowledging her as the woman of all salvation history. At the same time, He proclaimed her the Mother of His disciple John and the Mother of His Church. And, after speaking to His Mother, He spoke to His Father. He spoke to His Father in heaven and acknowledged that He was not only the Son of Mary, and thus true Man, but He was also the Son of the Eternal Father, and thus true God. And He said to His Father: “Into your hands, Father, I commend my spirit.”

These words of Jesus are extremely important for us, because they introduce us into the real mystery of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Mary. We have to realize, as we prepare for a week of prayer and reflection in the sacred liturgy, that everything Jesus is doing in Jerusalem, every detail of His Passion and Death, is motivated by love.

He is dying, because He loves His Father and it was the Father's plan, the Father's plan for us, that Jesus should offer up His life in sacrifice and so redeem us. This is the reason Jesus is dying. He is going up to Calvary, motivated by obedience, the love of obedience for His Father and the Father's plan. He is dying also to redeem His Mother. Redemption will touch her in a very special way through the anticipated privilege of her Immaculate Conception. Nevertheless, Mary, like the rest of us, needed redemption because she too, although sinless, was a descendent of Adam. And Jesus is dying out of love for us, out of love for us His people. He is giving up His life to destroy our death. And every single act of His Passion and Death is an act of love for His Church. He loved us to the end. -->

During the week ahead of us, we shall continue to follow Jesus in all His activities. We must arrive at Calvary with Him, and we must remain there. We must share His lot and we must pray as we see Him hanging in pain but also in freedom. Jesus hangs on the Cross only because He freely accepted to do so. He will not die until He has once again indicated His absolute consent to His Father's will.

And that is why, on Good Friday, Saint John will tell us in his Gospel that there is one more detail for Jesus to accomplish before He dies: He must bow His head. And on Calvary, Jesus does bow His head. It is his last symbolic act, indicating that He is performing everything freely and out of love.   And then, when He has bowed His head, He will entrust His spirit to His Father. The act of redemption will be consummated. But in the mystery of Christ and His Church, we know that there is yet one more aspect that we must concentrate on. Although the Passion and Death of Jesus are totally accomplished on Calvary—and there is nothing lacking—yet Saint Paul will say mysteriously that there is something lacking. He is speaking about what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ in His Body, the Church. And this explains to us the mystery of how Christ, our Head, actually draws us into His redemptive act.

  Christ shares with us His Passion and His Death. This explains to us the value of Christian suffering, the value of what is taking place in so many noble souls in the world, in so many people of this Archdiocese. We think of how the suffering of Christ continues in the sick and in the person of our Holy Father Pope John Paul II. For so many years he has proclaimed the value of suffering together with Christ, and now with supreme patience and love he bears the heavy burdens of physical infirmity. We think of the suffering of Christ that is taking place in the lives of so many people who suffer for justice, so many people who are suffering because of sin, because of the sins of others, because of sexual abuse especially by a priest, a spouse, a parent or a friend; or because of unjust accusations, just as Christ, who was innocent, suffered for the sins of the world. We think of so many Christians who are persecuted for their faith. We also prayerfully recall once again the suffering of so many innocent victims of the recent tsunami and of other natural catastrophes.

And we realize that, yes, even in our own lives, the hour will come, the time will strike when God will give us, each one of us, a share in the Passion and Death of His beloved Son. This is Christian living, and Jesus has gone before us, as our Head, to strengthen us for what lies ahead. Today, Palm Sunday, Jesus enters Jerusalem, ready to face suffering, but a suffering that will end in victory.

And then, next Sunday, on Easter, we shall celebrate the final chapter of the Paschal Mystery—the culmination of the offering made by Jesus to His Father. Then the Father will accept the offering, ratify the Sacrifice of Jesus and raise Him to life in the flesh.

This is the great mystery, the great reality of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Resurrection of Christ, like His Passion and Death, is destined to be ours. And in this final chapter of the Paschal Mystery, we, as God’s people—through the love of Jesus that brought Him to the Cross and through the love of the Father that accepted the Sacrifice of Jesus and raised Him from the dead—are brought to eternal life together with Jesus, the Son of God.

This, dear friends, is our journey to Jerusalem and a journey together with Jesus, together with one another, together with all those who are suffering. It is a journey to Calvary and then finally to the empty tomb, where we will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is victorious over sin and death. Amen.