In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
Today Christ enters the path not only of His
sufferings but of that dreadful loneliness which enshrouds Him
during all the days of Passion week. The loneliness begins with a
misunderstanding; the people expect that the Lord's entry into
Jerusalem will be the triumphant procession of a political leader,
of a leader who will free his people from oppression, from slavery,
from what they consider godlessness - because all paganism or
idol-worship is a denial of the living God. The loneliness will
develop further into the dreadful loneliness of not being understood
even by His disciples. At the Last Supper when the Saviour talks to
them for the last time, they will be in constant doubt as to the
meaning of His words. And later when He goes into the Garden of
Gethsemane before the fearful death that is facing Him, His closest
disciples, Peter, John and James - whom He chose to go with Him,
fall asleep, depressed, tired, hopeless. The culmination of this
loneliness will be Christ's cry on the cross, "My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken me?" Abandoned by men, rejected by the people of
Israel He encounters the extreme of forsakenness and dies without
God, without men, alone, with only His love for God and His love for
mankind, dying for its sake and for God's glory.
The beginning of Christ's Passion is today's
triumphal procession. The people expected a king, a leader - and
they found the Saviour of their souls. Nothing embitters a person so
much as a lost, a disappointed hope; and that explains why people
who could receive Him like that, who witnessed the raising of
Lazarus, who saw Christ's miracles and heard His teaching, admired
every word, who were ready to become His disciples as long as He
brought victory, broke away from Him, turned their backs on Him and
a few days later shouted, "Crucify Him, crucify Him." And Christ
spent all those days in loneliness, knowing what was in store for
Him, abandoned by every one except the Mother of God, who stood
silently by, as She had done throughout her life, participating in
His tragic ascent to the Cross; She who had accepted the
Annunciation, the Good Tidings, but who also accepted in silence
Simeon's prophecy that a sword would pierce her heart.
During the coming days we shall be not just
remembering, but be present at Christ's Passion. We shall be part of
the crowd surrounding Christ and the disciples and the Mother of God.
As we hear the Gospel readings, as we listen to the prayers of the
Church, as one image after another of these days of the Passion
passes before our eyes, let each one of us ask himself the question,
"Where do I stand, who am I in this crowd? A Pharisee? A Scribe? A
traitor, a coward? Who? Or do I stand among the Apostles?" But they
too were overcome by fear. Peter denied Him thrice, Judas betrayed
Him, John, James and Peter went to sleep just when Christ most
needed human love and support; the other disciples fled; no one
remained except John and the Mother of God, those who were bound to
Him by the kind of love which fears nothing and is ready to share in
everything.
Once more let us ask ourselves who we are and
where we stand, what our position in this crowd is. Do we stand with
hope, or despair, or what? And if we stand with indifference, we too
are part of that terrifying crowd that surrounded Christ, shuffling,
listening, and then going away; as we shall go away from church. The
Crucifix will be standing here on Thursday and we shall be reading
the Gospel about the Cross, the Crucifixion and death - and then
what will happen? The Cross will remain standing, but we shall go
away for a rest, go home to have supper, to sleep, to prepare for
the fatigues of the next day. And during this time Christ is on the
Cross, Christ is in the tomb. How awful it is that, like the
disciples in their day, we are not able to spend one night, one hour
with Him. Let us think about this, and if we are incapable of doing
anything, let us at least realise who we are and where we stand, and
at the final hour turn to Christ with the cry, the appeal of the
thief, Remember me, Lord, in Thy Kingdom! Amen.
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