Palm Sunday

The beginning of Holy Week presents us with two dramas: the entry of Christ into Jerusalem and the Passion (taken from the synoptic gospels according to the liturgical cycle). The first makes me think of how much has changed since jesus was presented in the Temple as a babe in arms and when he questioned the teachers at about twelve years old. He was familiar with Jerusalem and wept over its fate. He could tell that a terrible war would destroy the city as the Jewish people set themselves on collision course with the Romans. For his part he sets himself on a collission course with the Jewish authorities by entering the city using the action prophesied in Zechariah. It is this entry to the city that brings the simmering conflict to a head. In the following days he will teach in the Temple and provoke the rage of the Jewish authorities such that they hand him over to the Romans to be crucified. If I was in Jerusalem, in the time of Jesus, whose side would I have been on? When I reflect on my attitudes and prejudices do I live my life as a Pharisee, a Saducee, a Zealot, a member of the crowd, a disciple of the Lord or who? The way I live now and treat others is an indicator of how I would react in such a situation not knowing, of course, that Jesus would indeed rise from the dead as he predicted. In this Year of Mercy can I think of an action or actions of mercy I have consciously chosen to react to this time of grace? If i can then I am aligning myself with the Lord and Our Lady - allowing my heart to be transformed so that I imitate Christ and not some of the other attitudes that will be on display in the drama that we are about to re-enact in the liturgy.