Sunday, April 5, 2020, Palm Sunday

At today’s Masses, there are two readings from the Gospel: one at the beginning of Mass which tells of the entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem the week before his Death.  The other is the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Both readings are from St. Matthew’s Gospel.  The first Gospel reading takes place at the back of the Church or even outside of it, and is followed by the procession to the altar.  The altar is the Cross of Christ.  The priest, who is conformed to Christ the High Priest, advances to it in a solemn reenactment of the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, which ends at the Cross.  Members of the congregation hold palms and sing the hymn “All Glory, Laud, and Honor” as his followers, who welcome him.  The palm leaves signified triumph in the Mediterranean world at that time and were used to welcome rulers to a city and in celebrations of triumph after a war. All present welcome the Lord Jesus into their hearts as their victorious Lord.  This procession is also a sign to be fulfilled at the end of time, when the Lord comes again: “After this, I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. And they cried with a loud voice, saying: Salvation to our God, who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb” (Revelation 7, 9-10).  The “Lamb” is Jesus Christ, and the ones in the white robes “are they who are come out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and have made them white in the Blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7, 14).  The “great tribulation” is the present life, in which Christians must cling to their faith through all the temptations and afflictions which the world, the flesh, and the devil send against them.  Only the persevering Christians will be worthy of the magnificent sight of the victorious Christ in the court of heaven.  These will share in Christ’s victory as members of his Body: “They are before the throne of God: and they serve him day and night in his temple. And he that sits on the throne shall dwell over them. They shall no more hunger nor thirst: neither shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall rule them and shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Revelation 7, 15-17).

In this time and place, the churches are empty and silent.  It is a time of disease and death.  All the same, in perseverance in our faith in the Lord Jesus, we throw open the gates of our hearts and welcome him with psalms and prayers, with Bibles and rosaries, with hymns in our souls, with hope before our eyes, and with our lives rededicated to our Lord’s service.  By the grace of God we will fill our churches again and cry out to him with joy, in preparation for the day “when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him” (Matthew 25, 31).