Palm Sunday: Following on Christ’s journey
Homily
of Cardinal Justin Rigali
Palm Sunday Mass
Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul
March 16, 2008
Dear Friends in our Lord Jesus Christ,
As Catholics we resolved, at the beginning of Lent, to follow Jesus in
His journey to the Cross. This journey was the last and most important
journey of His life, a journey to the place where He would be crucified
and die, where He would be buried and rise again on the third day.
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
continue to follow Him in all the different moments of His Passion and
Death.
We have the great blessing today 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 His Death 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.”
Two of those “last words,” in particular, 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.
Jesus dies 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 descendant
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 intend 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, Jesus 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. 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 abuse especially by
a parent, a spouse, a priest 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 natural catastrophes in our own country and throughout the world.
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 culmination 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 culmination 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. It is 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.