PALM SUNDAY OF THE LORD’S PASSION A

FACE-TO-FACE WITH THE CRUCIFIED

How does it feel for a mother to stay at the bedside of her sick child who has been crying all night in pain?

What anguish goes on in the heart of a husband holding the hand of his dying wife for the last time?

Can you imagine the bitterness of Vanessa Bryant receiving the bodies of both her husband Kobe and daughter Giana after that fateful helicopter accident?

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to make you cry today…nor panic, in spite of the corona virus these days...

But isn’t there really a time in our lives that we’re sure we cannot just invoke “positivity,” “good vibes,” “chill,” or any such feel-good mantra, all because we need to confront the reality of someone who suffers.

Now, it’s one thing to suffer personally. It’s altogether different to witness another person suffer – especially if that person is someone we love.

It can be very painful. How we wish we have the power to remove that sickness. How we wish we can stop the tears. How we wish we can find the remedy to that heartbreak, disappointment or depression.

How we wish, it’s us, not them, suffering. If only we can assume their troubles.

Yes, most of us have a really good heart that feels for another; that understands another.

In these instances however, we are dealing with the suffering of people who cannot share their suffering with us. It’s their cross and how much we try to empathize we them, it still is their destiny alone.

Today, as we start Holy Week, as Christians we stand before the Cross.

We cannot avoid it now. In the silence, in the rituals, in the traditions, in our prayers, we behold the Cross of Jesus.

We see him bleeding, bruised, beaten. We see him crucified before us. He is dying right before our very eyes.

And we feel for him. We feel pity. We feel guilty. We feel remorse.

There is something different in this suffering, though.

While at times, we witness our loved ones carry their own cross, Jesus carries “our” cross.

He does not suffer for himself. He need not to. But he suffers “for us.”

In the case of our loved ones, we wish to take on their pain, but here Jesus suffers so that we will not suffer. He takes our sorrow. He bears our cross.

If you seriously take some time for sincere prayer, bible reading, reflection or silence this week, you will discover something very deep.

The Crucified is suffering for you, for me, for us…., so that:

We will no longer feel alone when we are afraid…

We will not feel abandoned when we are lonely…

We will live again in freedom when we feel burdened…

We will feel our guilt removed through his forgiveness…

We will feel released from our bondage to past sins, habits, vices…

We will experience life in a new way full of inner peace and real joy…

Let us thank the Lord for Holy Week. It is a time for us to stand face-to-face with the One who loves us and “gave himself up for us” (cf. Gal 2:20).

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