OMELIE / Omelie EN

10 apr 2022

10/04/2022 – Palm Sunday - year C

10/04/2022 – Palm Sunday - year C

(LK 19,28-40) Reading 1 IS 50,4-7 Psalm 21/22 Reading 2 PHIL 2,6-11 Gospel LK 22,14 - 23,56

Today we look at Jesus solemnly entering in Jerusalem as the biblical king, accompanied by His disciples: they are celebrating Him and show Him their joy, coming from the certainty that He will finally begin the Kingdom of God. However, they do not know what the Kingdom of God will be: they are still thinking of it as similar to the earthly kingdoms! The olive branches, or other trees’ branches and leaves, we are holding in our hands, are helping us walk in the street as if we were present and taking part in that celebration. Today we are showing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, sent by the Father in order to let us in His kingdom, where we all will be brothers and sisters. And right away, already prepared by the cold welcome, not to say rejection, reserved for Him by the Jews, we listen to the story of His passion and death. The prophet Isaiah and the Psalm 22 are helping us: so we are listening to the different steps of the trial and tortures on Jesus not as a consequence of failure but as the mysterious fulfilment, by the hand of sinners, of the Father’s will of salvation for all humanity.

The apostle Paul is helping us understand the scandal of Jesus' death on the cross not as humiliation, but as a voluntary act of love, despite requiring a lot of humility. Being a perfect love, it shows us the beauty and greatness of the God of love. From this stage His exaltation begins, which we are taking part to by calling His name not only respectfully but also with adoration and the desire and will to listen to Him and obey Him. In this way, the palms will remain in our houses as a symbol of Jesus' greatness, but also as a memento and remainder of our willingness to welcome Him. We will continue to declare Him Lord with all our life!

The story of the passion according to Luke begins with the last supper, of which are highlighted and recorded the words said by the Lord on the unleavened bread and the cup. He is thanking the Father for that bread and that wine by talking about “my body” and “my blood”. So Jesus gives thanks to the Father for the offering of His life through death: this makes sure His person becomes nourishment and support for the believers, establishing communion among them, freedom from the worst of all evils, which is sin. We will pay attention to all Jesus' teachings, the way in which are highlighted His prayers and His love for everyone, thieves included, the way in which He dies without leaving any reason for resentment, pride, enmity. In particular though, we will live our involvement in the communion of the Body of Christ with a more attentive spirit and with the mindset of those who are offering themselves every day to fulfill God’s plans.

If we can, let us schedule next week in a way to make it a Special week, in which every passing day finds us busy in a pause for personal reflection, and every day let us take part in a community moment of prayer or celebration. The whole Church is becoming holy by taking part in the love lived by Jesus in His passion. The whole Church needs it, the whole Church is so realising its being the Body of Christ, beginning with me.