Palm Sunday (24.03.2024)

1. Holy Week constitutes the heart of the Christian's faith and life and opens today with Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday, a seemingly strange Sunday, but interesting to experience because in itself it mixes joy and sorrow, celebration of life and drama of death. We can consider it as the trailer of an existential/spiritual film, which anticipates what will then happen in the Holy Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday will end dazzled by a burst of infinite light: the Resurrection of Christ and it will be Easter Sunday. Since the beginning of Lent, a film entitled 'Sound of freedom', in the Italian version 'Il canto della libertà' (The song of freedom) has been shown in many Italian cinemas. This is not fantasy, but the true story of Timothy Ballard, a former government agent fighting against the trafficking of underage human beings in Colombia. A courageous look at one of the darkest corners of society: the sexual exploitation of children. Having managed to save a child from ruthless traffickers, the protagonist, played by Jim Caviezel whom Mel Gibson called to be Jesus in his "The Passion of the Christ" (2004), sets out in search of his little sister who is still in the hands of her kidnappers and to save her he courageously embarks on a dangerous and impossible undertaking. Enormous and insurmountable obstacles, especially when he enters the Colombian jungle, at immediate risk of his life to free his little girl from a fate worse than death. A whirlwind adventure to good effect! 

Something much more important happens to us on this Sunday as we watch as in a promo the sad events of Christ's passion that will mark the days of Holy Week. From the triumph of the Messiah acclaimed as king, we immediately move on to the immense tragedy of his killing on a cross as a terrorist. The Son of God agreed to die in this way to save humanity enslaved by evil and sin. Unlike Timothy Ballard who manages to return home alive and victorious, Jesus ends up defeated and dies on the cross. But is it a real defeat? God is God, Lord of life and death, so that the momentary defeat of death on the cross is succeeded by the definitive triumph of the resurrection: that is, the death of death and our liberation from the power of Evil. 

2. The biblical texts that the liturgy offers for our meditation, start from the initial gospel that recalls the triumphal entry into Jerusalem festively welcomed by a multitude of people who spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread their leaves cut in the fields and all "shouted: 'Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!". Jesus, however, knows well that this is his last ascent to Jerusalem and it is the hour in which the shepherd disposes to give his life for his flock. The disciples were stunned by the announcement of his death even though he had spoken of it several times, but it was impossible for them to accept. And he, in an attempt to enlighten them and strengthen their faith, organises this solemn entry into Jerusalem by advancing on a 'donkey's colt' like a shepherd and a king in the midst of his people who acclaim him as king and prophet, and rightly so because Jesus is more than a prophet and a king: he is the Son of God. In a few days' time, however, he will take another path, instead of heading for the Temple, he will ascend Golgotha amidst people who offend and ignore him, despise and pity him, amidst so much unjustified hatred and even the abandonment of the disciples. In terrifying solitude!  No longer, therefore, as the king hailed by his people, but as a criminal condemned to the humiliating torture of crucifixion, reserved for the perpetrators of heinous crimes and terrorists. He will ascend carrying his cross alone, a heavy cross because it is laden with the sins of humanity of all times. The passion narrative according to Mark that we will hear today informs us that "the inscription with the reason for the condemnation read: King of the Jews. Little did Pilate know that Jesus is truly King not only of the Jews but of the whole universe. 

3. Let us allow today's liturgy to lead us to listen inwardly to the passion narrative that the Church only proclaims in its entirety on two occasions: Palm Sunday and Good Friday. It is an invitation to follow Jesus in these last days of his earthly life to reach Calvary with him. Here, at the feet of the naked and dying Crucified, we pause to reflect on the drama of the Cross, a perennial sign, etched in history, in imperishable memory of God's infinite love for all humanity. And it is not bad if we decide from now on to frequently reread the passion narrative that the four evangelists report, each with different details and all agreeing in showing the amount of suffering and contempt faced by our Saviour. Originally this was the Gospel and, as the centuries passed, the account of the public life and then the childhood years of Jesus of Nazareth were added, but the preponderant part of each of the four canonical gospels remains the passion and resurrection of Christ. Today, both the first reading, taken from the book of the Prophet Hosea, and the second reading, a well-known text from St Paul's letter to the Philippians, remind us that for the salvation of all humanity, Christ freely offered his life on the cross. When a sick person is reduced to the extreme and in danger, he needs blood transfusions and life-saving drugs. In the opinion of many, humanity is at risk of a terrible material and spiritual collapse: the only medicine that can save us are transfusions of divine love, and this is precisely what happened during Holy Week: Jesus descended into the depths of human despair and heals us, saves us by dying on the cross: terrifying solitude and anchor of salvation! He gave all his blood for us. However dark and threatening the darkness on the horizon of history, Christ is risen and lives! It is up to us Christians to raise to heaven a unanimous and unceasing prayer: Thou risen Christ, light of the world; Thou the life that conquers death, save us and drive out the darkness from our hearts with Thy Spirit of Light, Life and Love.

Holy Sunday + Giovanni D'Ercole