Palm Sunday - Passion Sunday "St. Faustina"

 

 

Our readings today help us mediate on Jesus’ passion. Just one example is today’s Psalm 22. Although written 1000 years before Jesus, it foresees many details in Jesus’ passion: being mocked in a way similar to what Jesus endured on the cross, casting lots for His garment, and piercing his hands and feet-- even though the Roman Empire which used crucifixion as its capital punishment for non-citizens did not even exist at the time of this Psalm.

To help us meditate on Jesus’ passion, here are some statements from Jesus to St. Faustina in her diary:

Jesus said to St. Faustina: “My daughter, meditate frequently on the sufferings which I have undergone for your sake, and then nothing of what you suffer for Me will seem great to you. You please Me most when you meditate on My Sorrowful Passion. Join your little sufferings to My Sorrowful Passion, so that they may have infinite value before My Majesty. (Diary of St. Faustina 1512)

“There is more merit to one hour of meditation on My sorrowful Passion than there is to a whole year of flagellation that draws blood; the contemplation of My painful wounds is of great profit to you, and it brings Me great joy.” (#369)

“Consider My Sorrowful Passion in all its immensity. Consider it as if it had been undertaken for your sake alone.” (1761)

“There are few souls who contemplate My Passion with true feeling; I give great graces to souls who meditate devoutly on My Passion.” (737)

“At three o’clock, implore My mercy, especially for sinners; and if only for a brief moment, immerse yourself in My Passion, particularly in my abandonment at the moment of agony: This is the hour of great mercy for the whole world. I will allow you to enter into my mortal sorrow. In this hour, I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of Me in the virtue of My Passion.” (1320)

Jesus is stating here that He will refuse no prayer requested of Him-- in virtue of His Passion and that we can obtain everything, if what we ask for is compatible to His will.

As we reflect on Jesus’ Passion, we remember the crowd on Palm Sunday waving palm branches expecting Jesus to win a victory. Jesus won a victory, not as they hoped, but infinitely better, the victory over death. We too can say Hosanna, which means “Save us,” by asking Jesus to save us by the fruits of his Passion: “Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world. For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.” (476)

A Divine Mercy Novena begins on Good Friday. It’s in the bulletin. Everyday during the Novena, especially at the 3 o’clock Hour, the Lord invites us to think about His sufferings on the Cross, and to pray for the needs of others.