Palm Sunday Year C - A 2nd Gospel Reflection

 

            As a child, the Gospel reading on Palm Sunday was one of my least favorites. My distracted mind much rather preferred to focus on things completely irrelevant to the drama of our Lord’s Passion unfolding before me. As the years have gone by, it can still be difficult to fully understand and follow, as there is so much there. This is the climax of the Gospels, of the story of our salvation. So, as a child, even if I had tried to pay attention, the depth of it all still probably would have gone over my head. I would not have been able to grasp the meaning, or at least, the meaning that is comprehensible to us, insofar as our natural human understanding will permit. But as we mature in age, do we begin to understand what our Lord was doing? Will the significance of His sacrifice become clear? I do not think that age is the determining factor. We can be just as distracted at ninety as we were at nine.

            I think that, in a sense, we have to remain children. Not physically, but spiritually, especially when we are faced with distraction or spiritual dryness. For a child, love and appreciation come first, understanding then follows. Throughout Lent we have been walking with our Lord, offering to Him our prayers, penances, and almsgiving. Now, on Palm Sunday, as we are approaching the Easter Triduum, we can take our place beside Him as children. Reread today’s Gospel: place yourself there as a child; watch with the sorrow and the wonder of a little one. Do not try to understand things that may be beyond our intellectual capacities. Rather, watch Jesus with admiration and love, sorrow and compassion. Then you will understand through the degrees of faith and love.