Commentary on the Gospel of

Paulson Veliyannoor, CMF - Claretian Publications Philippines - Victoria Sanchez - Teacher in Madrid

Passion with a Differential

Read:

The Servant of Yahweh “sets his face like a flint” and calmly suffers through the persecutions, because Yahweh has opened up his ears to a different music, and he has listened like a disciple. Paul presents the great theme of kenosis of God in the absolute self-emptying of Christ. We listen to the Lucan narrative of the Passion.

Reflect:

The Passion of Christ apparently looks no different from the various mythical stories of collective sacrifice by lynching, stoning to death, or casting off from the hills. However, a discerning reader can sense an extraordinary differential, a uniqueness unparalleled until then: This is the Passion of an absolutely innocent victim who, while seemingly a passive victim of the collective, is actually directing the entire story, having a purpose in mind; a purpose that has nothing to do with revenge but has everything to do with teaching us how to heal violence by giving us a model as to how to take in violence, transform it to energies of love, and return it as redemptive grace.

Pray:

Let us pray for the grace to forgive and to ask for forgiveness.

Act:

Reach out and mend a hurting relationship today.

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    Palm Sunday (Cycle C) - 10 April 2022 - "You say it, I am it".

This Sunday we commemorate Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on a donkey as a symbol of simplicity, meekness and humility. This presentation was foretold in the Holy Scriptures: "This victorious procession of branches is an Easter foretaste, a foretaste of the resurrection. It is the triumph of peace over human violence; the triumph of joy over human greatness; the triumph of love over human hatred; the triumph of God over human misery. For a moment Jesus was hailed as Messiah and King. "Listen, there are songs of victory in the tents of the righteous.... This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and exult.... It has been written. It is the day appointed for triumph. "

We hear the reading of the Passion of Christ so overwhelming and eloquent in itself, that silence is needed to meditate on it and live it in faith and love. The Christ that the evangelist Luke offers us in the Passion narrative is a close, compassionate and merciful Christ. He suffered great anguish, but was more concerned with the problems of others than with his own, which is why he listens, heals, consoles, forgives, even when he is going through the worst of times. He forgave the executioners, gave paradise to the thief, prayed to the Father and died with confidence, giving him the Spirit. His passion is an intense, dramatic, living story that never ends, human and divine, with much suffering, but with much feeling, and with a happy ending. The cross is an inhuman torment. Human pain is redeemed when Christ takes it upon himself, and love is the great message he gives us: he loved us so much that he gave his life for us.

Jesus is our friend, our brother, the one who lights our way, and so we have welcomed him today. This is the first word I would like to say to you: joy. Never be sad, men and women: a Christian can never be sad. Let us follow Jesus, because we know that he accompanies us, and in this lies our joy and the hope that we must bring to this world of ours (Pope Francis).

Prayer: Your life, Lord, given for all, is a challenge for us, we want to live, giving our lives as you did".

(Psalm 21) My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

"GOOD SUNDAY TO ALL".

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