Passion Sunday 2014

13 -4-2014

Theme: Solidarity with the suffering savior

1^st Reading Is. 50:4-7 Attentive servant of God listens to God’s promptings!

2^nd Reading Phil 2:6-11 Jesus emptied himself of his divine powers so that as a man among men he could raise men up to God.

Gospel Mt:26: 14, - 27::66  Passion narrative according to Mathew.

In our lives we hear people using this word often. What do people mean by the word?

Passion in religious sense is extreme physical pain.

Here sufferings of Jesus as a human being.

Passion is also used has a negative meaning i.e., temptation against the flesh.

Why does church use the passion of our Lord Jesus? Here the word is use in the positive sense of suffering.

The extreme physical pain used through a descriptive narration by St. Luke.

Usually the popular knowledge of many is that Luke was a physician.

He could understand the extreme pain Jesus.

The suffering during the whole journey between the garden of olives to the mount Calvary the whole episode is picturesquely depicted in detail by the author.

Of course on Palm Sunday people in the church are more worried about the long ceremony.

The reading of the passion is very long.

It is not easy for us to be used to the long reading and concentrate and remain alert.

One has to be extremely interested in spiritual growth of oneself only then can one profit from the whole reading.

If we are not motivated to spiritual excellence, the whole celebration becomes an agony to us that becomes our passion.

This year I invite all you to go through this meditation to accompany me to the Sunday Eucharist so that we participate in the whole Palm Sunday liturgy with devotion and complete concentration. This will enable us to appreciate the suffering and death of Jesus which has allowed us to experience his grace.

He has chosen each one of us as his disciples and so we can be happy of God’s invitation to each one of us.

Jesus as a human being had all the feelings of a human being.

The whole passion narration reveals this aspect of Jesus.

When he goes to the upper room he participates with his disciples the last meal.

The feeling of a farewell is uppermost in his mind.

Disciples are insensitive to his suffering.

Some of them even fall asleep while he requests their prayer.

All the feelings of a suffering human Jesus are revealed and recounted descriptively by the author.

Let us attentively go through the whole episode and try to experience that pain so that our love for the master becomes authentic and real.

In union with the divine word,

Fr. Juze Vaz svd