Meditation for Palm Sunday
Christ’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
“And on the next day, a great multitude that was come to the festival day, when they had heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet Him, and cried: ‘Hosanna, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel,’” (John 12, 12-13).
First Prelude: Behold Jesus entering Jerusalem triumphantly mid the shouts of acclamation of the multitudes.
Second Prelude: O King, meek and gentle, subject my heart wholly to Thee that Thou mayest take full possession of it in Holy Communion.
First Point
Our Blessed Lord, Who loved humility, Who had always fled splendor and renown, nevertheless willed, five days before His passion, to enter Jerusalem triumphantly and to accept the tokens of veneration bestowed upon Him so generously. Jesus entered upon His passion, not only with patient resignation, but with a heroism truly triumphant, He embraced sufferings and the cross, to atone for our sins. A further cause of Christ’s triumph was the fact that He would give us the greatest proofs of His love by the institution of the Blessed Eucharist and by His death on Calvary. Such were the causes of His exultation.
How unlike His sentiments are those of the disciples! Believing that now the time was come when their Master would found an earthly kingdom, whose princes they fondly hoped to be, they rejoiced to see their Master thus exalted. How far above our petty human conceptions are the adorable thoughts of God! The disciples of Christ have nothing to await in this life but crosses and sufferings. With our Blessed Saviour, they must shoulder tribulations and hardships, must renounce much that flatters their sensible appetites and, in imitation of Jesus, cheerfully accept sufferings and esteem them as a mark of honor and renown. Thus acted the martyrs, who went to death joyfully, as it were, to a nuptial feast. Should it be impossible for us to shoulder sufferings courageously because we often feel a strong desire to evade them, let us in all humility acknowledge our utter weakness and pray the Lord to give us a truly generous heart. What are my sentiments? Are they the sentiments of my Blessed Saviour, Who eagerly longs for His passion? Or, do I, like the Apostles, then still weak and timid, seek honors and sensible gratifications?
Second Point
The joy and exultation of the populace at Christ’s triumphal entry is symbolic of the dispositions with which we should receive Him in Holy Communion. Has not the prophet said also to us: “Tell ye the daughter of Sion: Behold thy king cometh to thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass and a colt the foal of her that is used to the yoke” (Matt. 21, 5). Oh, that we recognized this King and the meekness and love with which He comes to us! Each one of us can truly say: Behold your King comes to you from heaven, to be your comfort, your help, your protection, but also your model and exemplar. Ah, not as did the people on that day of Christ’s triumphal procession, but with all our hearts, we will cast ourselves at His feet and surrender ourselves to His love.
Let us immolate to Him even our evil habits, our disordered tendencies, all expressions of self-will, our natural affections, and we, too, will be permitted to join in the triumphal procession bearing the palm of victory, and with the children and the multitude, sing the “Hosanna” with all the ardor of a love-inflamed heart. Our Divine Saviour longs to enter our hearts in triumph, to rule therein without force or severity, solely by love and the sweet influence of His divine presence. Oh, that the very stones of our insufficiency and hardness of heart would proclaim His praises! Let us silence His opponents and enemies, self-love, pride, vanity—the vast array of our passions—that He may reign as King, Redeemer and Bridegroom. Oh, may we never in the least have any part with the inconstant populace, who so shortly after the triumphal entry proved unfaithful! In what does my preparation for Holy Communion consist? Do I consider a few prayers a sufficient preparation?
Affections: O Divine Redeemer, King of Eternal Glory, even before the combat Thou wouldst celebrate a glorious triumph, to teach us that Thou wert by no means coerced to suffer, but didst go into death as to a feast of rejoicing, of Thy own free Will, for the honor of Thy Father and our salvation. Such was the power and might of Thy infinite love! Thou wouldst not enter Jerusalem in pomp and power, as an earthly monarch, but meek and gentle, as the Conqueror of sin and death, as the Prince of Peace, the Ruler of hearts, in which Thou wilt establish the kingdom of Thy mercy and grace. How good art Thou to the truly humble and obedient! How gladly dost Thou enter their hearts! Cleanse my heart, O Lord, of all sin and take from it every inordinate affection, that Thou canst fully possess it, and rule therein as Thou reignest in heaven and in the hearts of all the faithful on earth.
Resolution: I will frequently beg my Saviour to take full possession of my heart and impress on it His love of the cross.
Spiritual Bouquet: “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.”
Prayer: Soul of Christ . . .
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