Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday)

  

How can we not hear the account of Jesus’ Passion and not be moved by it? Someone asked a young person, “What would you think of someone who didn’t cry while watching the movie: The Passion of the Christ?” The young person responded, “He would be evil.” That young person was so moved by watching the movie he could not understand why anybody could not be moved by watching the film. The Passion of Jesus moves us. It moves us because Jesus suffered. In the first reading today, we heard what we could describe as a prophecy of Jesus’ passion, that He would give His back to those who beat Him, His cheeks to those who plucked His beard, His face He did not shield from buffets and spitting.

The Passion of Jesus moves us because it is we, who have inflicted this suffering on Jesus. It was not just the Jewish leaders and the cruel Roman soldiers who brought this suffering on Jesus; it was our sins, that inflicted this suffering on Jesus. There is no past, present or future for Jesus; He is outside of time. The account of the Passion of Jesus moves us to flee from sin, to leave sin behind. That is why everyone goes to Confession before Easter. The Passion of Jesus shows us for what we are, sinners who have crucified Jesus, and in the Sacrament of Reconciliation we turn to Jesus again and ask for his mercy. And through the Passion of Jesus, we receive forgiveness, “through his wounds we are healed.”

The Crucifixion of Jesus was and will always be the greatest act of God’s mercy. God the Father could have destroyed the human race for killing His only Son, but He didn’t. Rather, His Son’s suffering and death and resurrection is what opened the gates of heaven. St. Faustina’s life and writings about God’s mercy is meant to stir our hearts to receive His mercy and to give His mercy. Our Lord said, the world will not have peace, until it turns with confidence to my mercy. After hearing all that Jesus went through, who could not appreciate the pain and suffering He went through, so that He could save us from our sins? Several years ago, very few people were able to receive the graces from Divine Mercy Sunday due to the lock-down. Perhaps, the world was not appreciating the Eucharist, the Mass and Confession as we ought, so God permitted that to happen.

To not go to confession, when understanding the depth of love revealed on the Cross, shows a lack of gratitude and appreciation for all Jesus went through. If we go to confession during Lent and receive Holy Communion, while in the state of grace, on the feast of Divine Mercy, the Sunday after Easter, all our sins and the punishment due to our sins will all be washed away in the ocean of God’s mercy. This once a year event is contingent us asking for His mercy in Confession, receiving absolution through a priest, and then receiving Jesus in Holy Communion. How simple is that for us? If we refuse His mercy, not knowing the day nor hour of our death, and if we die without receiving that gift freely offered, and if we are in the state of mortal sin, our judgment will not go well and we could very well burn in the fires of hell for all eternity.

Only Jesus can save us from sin, from hell and the punishment due to sin, and make it possible to be with Him forever. He wants us to be with all the angels and saints in heaven and forever experience peace, love and joy. Jesus, our only Savior wants to wash our soul clean and make it white as snow through the sacraments.

O Mother of Mercy, draw each one of us to the fonts of mercy, and obtain for us, a soul washed clean, and purified, as it was at the moment of baptism, and help us to be grateful for God’s infinite and unfathomable mercy, that flows from the Cross of Jesus on Calvary. Amen.