DOMINICA II PASSIONIS SEU IN PALMIS
25 MARCH 2018
PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD
The steps to the sanctuary of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis
photographed by Mark
HODIE INTROIMUS AD ALTARE DEI
TODAY WE GO UNTO THE ALTAR OF GOD with Christ, as he enters Jerusalem for the last time. We walk with God approaching God at the altar where it all began: Mount Moriah, the Holy Mountain, upon which Abraham was commanded to make an oblation of his only son. And towards this place, the Holy of Holies where God dwells, we walk with Christ, in the footsteps of those before him who had offered countless victims in sacrifice before the throne of the God of Israel. We come to witness the oblation to end all oblations: Christ, God made man, High Priest and Victim, approaches his Father to offer himself in sacrifice as the perfect atonement that reconciles man with God; ending the sentence of death passed upon Adam and his progeny, and throwing open the gates of heaven so that man might live in eternity in God's love, just as God had first created them to live.
And so, we enter the Holy City with Christ, with nothing of value to offer with him but the lives of condemned men, trusting that this mortal flesh of ours is of such infinite value to God that, having taken this flesh to himself in Christ, he would not forsake it in the act of oblation, but release it from the bonds of death to bring it into the eternal life of the Godhead.
Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, and we stand at the foot of the altar as the Mass of all Time begins. And with jubilant Hosannas we greet Christ who goes before us, the one who gives joy to our youth. And as the sacred mystery of our salvation begins to unfold, we pray, in the words of the Mass: "Deus, tu conversus vivificabis nos. Et plebs tua lætabitur in te. Ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam tuam. Et salutare tuum da nobis." ("Thou wilt turn, O God, and bring us to life. And thy people shall rejoice in thee. Show us, Lord, thy mercy. And grant us thy salvation.")
This holy week that we enter today, transcends time and space: from the historical events of two millennia ago, to our daily offering of that same sacrifice in the Holy Mass, and beyond, to the heavenly Supper of the Lamb, we stand today on the brink of eternity. And if we watch with the eyes of the heart, then everything will fall into place: how the historical steps of Christ this week are our own with him at every Mass, and how we walk them as his bride, the Church and all her saints throughout time and to eternity, who with us rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
Let us make ourselves ready, then, asking God, again in the words of the Mass in the prayers at the foot of the altar, to "Take away our iniquities, we beseech thee, O Lord, that with pure minds we may enter into the Holy of Holies. Through Christ our Lord. Amen." (Aufer a nobis, quæsumus, Domine, iniquitates nostras: ut ad Sancta sanctorum puris mereamur mentibus introire. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.")