"Dear friends in Christ, for five weeks of Lent we have been preparing, by works of charity and self-sacrifice, for the celebration of our Lord's paschal mystery. Today we come together to begin this solemn celebration in union with the whole Church throughout the world. Christ entered in triumph into his own city, to complete his work as our Messiah: to suffer, to die, and to rise again. Let us remember with devotion this entry which began his saving work and follow him with a lively faith. United with him in his suffering on the cross, may we share his resurrection and new life." (Introduction to Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, Roman Missal 2d ed.)
On this Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, we begin again our immersion into the saving journey and work of Jesus. In our own lives, we are drawn into the suffering of the cross, there to begin again the joy of the resurrection. As Pope Francis reminded us this morning in his homily:
He does not ask us to contemplate him only in pictures and photographs, or in the videos that circulate on the internet. No. He is present in our many brothers and sisters who today endure sufferings like his own: they suffer from slave labour, from family tragedies, from diseases . . . They suffer from wars and terrorism, from interests that are armed and ready to strike. Women and men who are cheated, violated in their dignity, discarded… Jesus is in them, in each of them, and, with marred features and broken voice, he asks to be looked in the eye, to be acknowledged, to be loved.
"In instituting [the Eucharist], Jesus Christ changed bread into his flesh and wine into his blood. On this very day he became the living Bread come down from heaven to unite himself with us, to incorporate himself in us . . . He puts aside all the splendor of his divinity to take on the appearance of ordinary bread, an appearance that has no proportion to what it contains. . . The love of Jesus Christ for us led him to institute this divine sacrament in order to give himself entirely to us and to remain always with us. He knew that immediately afterward he would suffer and die for us . . . his body and blood to be for us in the ages to come a precious proof of the tender love he feels for us. . . Admire this holy institution; become worthy to profit from it by a holy life, and today pray to Jesus Christ, who comes to you to destroy entirely your own inclinations and spirit, so that you may have no other inclinations except his and may no longer be guided except by his Spirit." (De La Salle, Med. 26.2, 26.3 (Meditation for Holy Thursday)
What love Christ had for us, to offer himself to the Father fully and completely, that we might always have a model of how to love in our own lives, and to have Christ Jesus present within us, to strengthen us in our love for each other and remind us that ordinary appearances often mark the most extraordinary realities. In this love, may our own inclinations be put aside, so that we will truly see the marginalized, those truly in need of education, the students who suffer from brokenness in their personal or family lives, as Jesus Christ present to us daily.
"If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus." (From the Epistle for the Easter Vigil, Romans 6:8-11)
If we unite ourselves to Christ in his suffering and death, then we are united with him in his resurrection. So as we see the suffering and crucified Christ in the difficulties and tribulations of our students, we must, in our new life, be the agents of resurrection in their lives of education and faith, a human and a Christian education, for them. As Christians, as Lasallians, as an Easter people, it is not enough to recognize and walk where our students are. We must, even in the darkness, lead them to the light of new life, of new knowledge, of the joy of learning throughout their lives. During this Holy Week, may we be ever focused on the reality of the Paschal Mystery so that we may live it daily with the students entrusted to our care.
Live, Jesus, in our hearts!