Palm Sunday - Year C

BEYOND WEEPING

On  this Palm Sunday, we begin the week called “Holy”.  Our intent during this week is to remember the suffering and death of Jesus.  Those sufferings were borne in fidelity to God and with total reliance on God’s help (Is. 50:4-7, 1st reading).  Those sufferings were embraced with a humility that accepted not only the human condition but also the position of a slave and even a disgraceful death on the cross (Phil. 2:6-11, 2nd reading).  Those sufferings were made all the more burdensome by the incomprehension of sleeping friends, by the denial of a chosen disciple, by the betrayal of another, by rejection of authorities and the mockery of the crowds (Lk 22:14 - 23:56,  Gospel).  Our interest in the sufferings of Jesus must never be primarily intellectual and speculative; they should always be practical.  It should become a way of life for us.  It should renew our sensitivity to the sufferings of others.

Jesus walked the way of the cross in Jerusalem “once and for all”.  But the way of the cross continues to be walked by more than 150 million street children throughout the world.  A good number of them are forced into the streets to eke out a meagre living for their families.  School is out of question for these young labourers who invariably become victims of violence, sexual exploitation and abject neglect.  Thousands of them live in sewers or under bridges.

According to the administrators of Human Rights Watch, Brazil’s street children are victimized by the nation’s Police force, which in one day alone, executed 27 children in a church in Rio.  In Colombia, the HRW estimates that at least six innocent children die per day at the hands of law enforcement officials.  As long as these situations persist, the way of the cross continues for Jesus’ least ones.

In today’s gospel we find women being moved to tears at the sight of Jesus carrying the cross.  Jesus’ words to them continue to speak their challenge to us: “Do not weep for me.  Weep for yourselves and your children”.  Today, this gracious gift of Jesus, “once-for-all” sacrifice prompts us to move beyond mere weeping to devoted work for the relief and well-being of his least ones.  Let us be their companions, care takers and defenders along the way.