{"id":1064,"date":"2020-03-31T14:55:30","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T14:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=1064"},"modified":"2020-03-31T14:55:30","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T14:55:30","slug":"reflection-5-april-2020-a-passion-sunday-palm-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=1064","title":{"rendered":"Reflection 5 April 2020 (A) Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Reflection and Dialogue with Questions of the Day:<\/strong><em> The gentleness of\nChrist urges us on<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today\u2019s readings present ample\nmaterial for reflection. For the greater part they are so clear that they\nhardly need to be explained. The application of the message of the readings to\ncircumstances of our own day can also be rather easily done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The\nfirst and second readings for the Mass itself present the figure of the Servant\nof the Lord, presented as an example to be imitated. He has been given a\ndisciple\u2019s tongue. He can speak from the experience of one who has come to know\nthe human condition. He has learned from what he has suffered and experienced\nhimself, and because of this is in a <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>position to address the wearied.\nThere is today a certain reluctance to endure any suffering, even that which is\npart of the human condition. In certain quarters and countries we hear of the\n\u201cquality of life\u201d as a determining factor in decisions, this \u201cquality\u201d at time\nimplying absence of suffering, as if life had no meaning without such absence.\nThis can in some quarters be advanced as ground for ending life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Another\nlesson coming across from the first reading and the Passion narrative is the\ngentleness of Christ, and its call on all to be kind to one another. Pope\nFrancis has recently stressed this aspect of the Christian, and the Church\u2019s\nmessage, and his approach has been greeted by the media. The Servant of the\nLord, and Jesus meek and humble of heart, have still a message for our own day.\nLet us pray that the message of Jesus, as presented by Pope Francis, and of the\nChurch, may be listened to in our world of so many divergent voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(<em>For\nreflections on the Sunday and Feast Day readings <\/em>see Martin McNamara\u00b8 <em>Sunday Readings with\nMatthew<\/em>, Dublin, Veritas, 2016)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reflection and Dialogue with Questions of the Day: The gentleness of Christ urges us on Today\u2019s readings present ample material for reflection. For the greater part they are so clear &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1064"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1065,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1064\/revisions\/1065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}