9781644135945

The Light of the World
sins of His fellow men. He is about to atone for the pride and the rebellion of men, for which
purpose He became obedient unto death, even to the painful and disgraceful death of the cross.
But death, disgrace, and humiliation are not ends in themselves; they are only the means of His
exaltation, glorification, and glorious resurrection (Epistle). For this reason the suffering soul
finds these words of the Gradual so consoling, “Thou hast held me by my right hand; and by
Thy will Thou hast conducted me, and with Thy glory Thou hast received me.” The Tract speaks
of the Easter light which shines in the darkness of tribulation.
And now we are shown the whole passion of the God-man. We see the accusers full of
injustice and wickedness, the unjust judges, Barabbas, the murderer who is to be pardoned,
and Christ, who is to be condemned. Deeply moved, we sink to our knees at the words, “And
Jesus, again crying with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.” We see now what man can do. We
hold the palms in our hands and proclaim that we are resolved to share the cross of Christ. We
resolve to die to everything that is not Christ, and to live for Him alone.
At the Offertory we who have resolved to die with Christ unite ourselves to Him. In the bread
and wine which we offer, we see a union of ourselves with Christ. We die to the old man and
enter into union with Christ in the Consecration, when He renews His death on the cross in
a mysterious and unbloody manner. But without death there can be no life; without the cross
there can be no salvation and no Easter.
We are joined with Christ in death when we receive Holy Communion. Then we seal our
agreement to die with Christ. He is the victim and He draws us to Himself so that we share in
His death and in His divine life. We are offered up with Him; we are crucified with Him, and
for that reason we live for Him. With Him we now know only one thing: to do the will of the
Father. “Thy will be done” (Communion).
Meditation
Today in the church of the Holy Redeemer (the Lateran Basilica) we gather about our Savior.
With our palms and olive branches in our hands we follow Him in His triumphal entry into
Jerusalem. He enters today the great city that is to be the scene of His conflict, His passion, His
death, His victory, and His resurrection. We know that we are one with Him, and we must not
let Him enter alone.
Christ the King of martyrs. Today the Church blesses the palms and olive branches and gives
them to us. “The branches of palms signify His triumphs over the prince of death, and the
olive branches proclaim in some way the coming of a spiritual unction” (that is, the fullness
of God’s mercy). Palm and olive branches signify “that our Redeemer, compassionating the
miseries of mankind, was about to fight with the prince of death for the life of the whole
world, and by dying was to triumph. . . . And we humbly beseech Thee, O holy Lord, almighty
Father, eternal God, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, that in Him and through
Him, whose members Thou hast pleased to make us, we may become victorious over the
empire of death, and may deserve to be partakers of His glorious resurrection” (Prayer for
the blessing of palms).
The palm in the hand of the Christian signifies his desire to share the martyrdom of
Christ. The Preface of the martyrs which is sung at the blessing of the palms, clearly declares:
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