{"id":712,"date":"2019-05-10T11:42:47","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T11:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=712"},"modified":"2019-05-10T11:54:40","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T11:54:40","slug":"14-april-2019-c-palm-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=712","title":{"rendered":"14 April 2019 (C) PALM SUNDAY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A. The Bible as\nGuide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue: <\/strong>The gentleness of\nChrist urges us on<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nprocession<\/em> (Luke\n19:28-40). Jesus enters Jerusalem.\nBlessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord.<\/em> This passage on Jesus\u2019\nentry into Jerusalem is found in all three of the Synoptic Gospels. The event\nhad Jesus\u2019 followers recall and understand the prophecy of Zechariah (9:9-10)\non the coming of the great king, the Messiah, humbly to Jerusalem, riding on a\ndonkey — although no mention is made of this prophecy in Luke\u2019s text. One\ncould get the impression that the finding of the donkey and the ease with which\nits owner parted with the animal were all miraculous, and possibly this is what\nthe text intends to say. However, it is also very possible that Jesus already\nknew the owner. The Mount of Olives, Bethphage and Bethany were all near\nJerusalem and we know that Jesus had friendly relations with at least one\nfamily there. A noteworthy feature of this present reading is that Jesus no\nlonger wishes to hide his calling as messiah, king of Israel. His followers\nrecognize his status and render him due homage, which he does not reject.\nLuke\u2019s special presentation of this event merits comparison with the same\nevangelist\u2019s account of the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem, and the heavenly voice\nof angels. As the angels brought the shepherds good news of a great joy which\nwould come to all the people (Luke 2:1), so too on the Mount of Olives the\nwhole multitude of disciples began to rejoice and praise God for all the mighty\nworks that they had seen, just as the shepherds at Bethlehem returned to the\nflocks glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen (Luke 2:20).\nBut there is more that this. Mark (followed by Matthew) end the crowd\u2019s\nacclamation with the words: \u201cHosanna in the highest\u201d.  Instead of this Luke has: \u201cPeace in heaven\nand glory in the highest\u201d, recalling the voice of the heavenly host at\nBethlehem (Luke 2:13-14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading <\/em>(Isaiah 50:4-7). I did not cover my face against insult \u2013\nI  know I shall not be shamed.<\/em> This\nis the second of the Four Servant Songs (as they are called). (The others are\nIsaiah 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 52:13-53:12.) It is not quite clear what person or\ncommunity the poet prophet had in mind when he first composed these poems: is\nhe speaking about himself, in the person of God\u2019s chosen people Israel, or of\nsome person, from his perspective, as yet to come.  From the Christian point of view, and ours,\nwhat the poems say of the Servant of the Lord has been fulfilled in Christ, in\nhis life, death, resurrection and glorification. In today\u2019s reading the Servant\nhimself describes precisely and beautifully Christ\u2019s person and mission. He had\nreceived from God the gift how to suffer patiently and to understand those who\npersecuted him, and to bring a message of comfort to the wearied. He suffers\npatiently, knowing that the Lord will come to his help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial Psalm <\/em>(Psalm 21[22]). My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Reading <\/em>(Philippians 2:6-11). He humbled himself, but God raised him high.<\/em>\nThis reading is probably and old Christian hymn, which Paul re-uses Christ. The\nhymn seems to contrast Christ the Second Adam with the first Adam in the Garden\nof Paradise. Adam, though human, in human form, succumbed to the temptation to\nbe like God (Genesis 3:5), with the disaster for humanity that followed.  Jesus, on the contrary, although \u201cin the form\nof God\u201d, although his state was divine, humbled himself, even to death on a cross.\nThe glorification and the name bestowed on him is \u201cLord\u201d. This simple term as\napplied to Christ is pregnant with meaning. The single word \u201cLord\u201d means Jesus\ncrucified, risen from the dead, at the right hand of the Father, and as\nglorified, who sends the Holy Spirit on the Church \u2013 all this \u201cto the glory of\nGod the Father\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gospel<\/em> (Shorter Form) (Luke 23:1-49). The Passion of Our Lord according to Luke. <\/em>The full Passion\nNarrative of Luke\u2019s Gospel for today\u2019s Mass is about twice as long as this shorter\nform on which comment is made here. This shorter account begins with the trial\nof Jesus before Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea and Jerusalem. At Jesus\u2019\nearlier trial or questioning before the Jewish supreme council, the accusation\nagainst him was one of blasphemy. In the present trial before Pilate, with the\nrequest for the death sentence, the accusation is of a political nature:\ninciting the Jewish people to revolt, opposing of payment of tribute to Caesar,\nclaiming to be a king. Herod Antipas, ruler or tetrarch of Galilee, who was in\nJerusalem for the Passover feast, would have known of Jesus\u2019 activity in\nGalilee. Here there is no need to go into details of this Passion narrative. We\nmay profitably, however, pay attention to some of Luke\u2019s special emphases.\nDante was accustomed to give Latin or Italian brief descriptions of his heroes\nand icons. He describes Luke as Scriba\nmansuetudinis Christi, <\/em>the scribe of the gentleness of Christ. Luke\nstresses Jesus\u2019 gentleness and kindness. We have three examples of it in this\nshort reading. On the way to Calvary Jesus tells the women weeping for him, to\nweep not for him but for themselves, given the disaster soon to overtake their\ncity. While being put on the Cross he asks his Father to forgive those responsible\nfor this, making the excuse that they do not know what they were doing. On the\ncross he tells the penitent thief that on that very day he be with him in\nParadise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue: The gentleness of Christ urges\nus on<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

            The\nfirst and second readings for the Mass itself present the figure of the Servant\nof the Lord,  presented as an example to\nbe imitated. He has been given a disciple\u2019s tongue. He can speak from the\nexperience of one who has come to know the human condition. He has learned from\nwhat he has suffered and experienced himself and because of this is in a\nposition to address the wearied. There is today a certain reluctance to endure\nany suffering, even that which is part of the human condition. In certain\nquarters and countries we hear of the \u201cquality of life\u201d as a determining factor\nin decisions, this \u201cquality\u201d at time implying absence of suffering, as if life\nhad no meaning without such absence. This can in some quarters be advanced as\nground for ending life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A. The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings) B. Reflection & Dialogue: The gentleness of Christ urges us on The procession (Luke 19:28-40). Jesus enters Jerusalem. Blessings … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunday-readings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712","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=712"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":713,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712\/revisions\/713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}