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The Easter Cycle
Quinquagesima Sunday
The Mass
In the Gospel of today’s Mass the Church reveals the mystery of the approaching lenten and
paschal seasons. “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things shall be accomplished, which were
written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man. For He shall be delivered to the Gentiles,
and shall be mocked and scourged and spit upon; and after they have scourged Him they will
put Him to death” (Gospel). The apostles, even St. Peter, whose church is the stational church
today, “understood none of these things, and this word was hid from them.” Nevertheless they
bravely accompany Jesus to Jerusalem.
In the liturgy of the Mass which we are about to celebrate, we go along with Christ to Jerusalem
and to the Calvary of the altar. There the mystery of which Christ spoke shall be re-enacted
before our eyes. We join ourselves to the offering of our great high priest, and accompany Him
on the path that He has chosen. That path will lead us through strife and struggle to victory, to
the eternal Easter. So we pray with our Savior in the Introit, which represents His journey to
Jerusalem: “Be Thou to me a God, a protector, and a place of refuge to save me.” With these words
we enter prayerfully with the Church into the arduous struggle of Lent. It will be a struggle against
our passions and temptations, against the solicitations of the world and hell. Lord have mercy
upon us. “Guard us from all adversity, who have been loosened from the bonds of sin” (Collect).
Renunciation, sacrifice, and heroic struggle: that is our program for Lent. These difficulties
must be borne patiently and in the spirit of love. Our works and sufferings will be to no avail
unless they are performed with love. For this reason the Apostle in the Epistle speaks of love
in such glowing terms. It was love that drew Christ to Jerusalem to offer Himself up for us. It is
His love that makes Him share with us the fruits of His suffering and death. With gratitude we
acknowledge in the Gradual: “Thou art the God that alone dost wonders; Thou hast made Thy
power known among the nations. With Thy arm Thou hast redeemed Thy people, the children
of Israel and of Joseph.”
Love must rule all our actions also. With love we accompany Him; with love we offer with
Him; with love we offer all we have, our bodies and our souls, our time, our health, and
all that we possess. In this spirit we join with our Lord in the Offertory procession this
morning. We are prepared to share His suffering with Him, to be reviled, to be scourged,
yes, even to accompany Him to death. “Teach me Thy justifications” (Offertory). Heal us
of the blindness that makes us fail to appreciate the mystery of the cross, the mystery of the
sacrifice and death of our high priest, and give us the grace to understand Him, to follow
Him, and to live with Him. Through death to life! “He that loveth his life shall lose it; he
that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” ( Jn 12:25). If we offer ourselves
with Christ in the Offertory, life will be given to us in Communion. “They did eat and were
filled exceedingly” (Communion). St. Peter, in whose house we are assembled, leads us along
the way we must follow. At first he, too, failed to understand the word; but love opened his
eyes. It obliged him to follow his Master and to share His crucifixion. Love opened to him
the door to life and to the eternal Easter.
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