Suy Niệm Chúa Nhật Lễ Lá - Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Suy Niệm Chúa Nhật Lễ Lá

Hôm nay chúng ta đã bắt đầu vào Tuần Thánh, Tuần này rất đặc biệt và là một tuần lễ quan trọng mà chúng ta bắt đầu tưởng nhớ. Đoạn tin mừng chúng ta nghe ở đầu Thánh Lễ đã ghi nhớ việc Chúa Giêsu vào thành Giêrusalem để tham dự Lễ Vượt Qua. Năm đó, Chúa Giêsu đã trở thành Chiên Con của Lễ Vượt Qua mới, Máu của Ngài đã đổ ra vì tất cả chúng ta và chúng ta đã được ăn chính Thịt của Ngài.
Phụng Vụ Lời Chúa hôm nay kết thúc với bài Thương khó của Chúa Giêsu mà Thánh Mátthêu đã tường thuật về việc Chúa Giêsu bị phản bội, bị bắt và chết trên Thập Giá. Thật là một câu chuyện đáng để chúng ta ghi nhớ một cách chi tiết như chúng ta đã được nghe,  Chúng ta nên suy ngẫm và ghi nhớ và ráng sống trong sự giáo huấn của Giáo hội và Lời Chúa hôm nay.
            Khi chúng ta đọc Kinh Thánh, Giáo Hội nhắc nhở chúng ta là chính Thiên Chúa đang nói với dân Người, với chúng ta và Chúa Kitô đang hiện diện trong lời của Người, như chính Chúa Ki-tô đang loan báo Tin Mừng” (Quy Chế Tổng Quát Sách Lễ Rôma #29).
Đây là một bài học quan trọng để học đặc biệt là ngày hôm nay khi chúng ta đã đọc và nghe chi tiết trọng tâm của Tin Mừng. Mặc dù việc Chúa Giêsu vào thành Giê-ru-sa-lem, bữa tiệc ly (bữa ăn cuối cùng), việc Chúa bị bắt giữ, bị giải qua các phiên tòa giả hình, bị đau khổ và bị giết chết trên Thập giá đã xảy ra cách đây 2.020 năm, nhưng những sự kiện lịch sử đó được trình bày cho chúng ta ngày nay một cách độc đáo và chân thực.      
Qua việc tham dự vào việc loan báo Tin Mừng này trong Thánh Lễ hôm nay, chúng ta được hiệp nhất trong nhiệm mầu với hành động cứu độ của Thiên Chúa. Và mặc dù đôi khi tâm hồn của chúng ta có thể lang thang, nhưng Thiên Chúa thực sự hiện diện với chúng ta nếu chúng ta biết lắng nghe và hướng nhìn về Chúa.
            Khi chúng ta bắt đầu Tuần Thánh này, chúng ta hãy cố gắng bước đi từng bước với Chúa Giêsu. Khi chúng ta sống trong qua những ngày của mình trong tuần này, chúng ta hãy cố hoàn thành các công việc thường ngày trong cuộc sống của chúng ta, chúng ta hãy nhắc nhở bản thân mình về sự thật trong Tâm linh vì Tin Mừng hôm nay gói trọn cuộc khổ nạn và cái chết của Chúa Giêsu đã được loan báo cho chúng ta hôm nay, nên Ngài hiện diện rõ ràng với chúng ta theo một cách đặc biệt.
            Vào Thứ Năm Tuần Thánh, chúng ta sẽ suy niệm về Hồng ân Bí tích Thánh Thể. Vào Thứ Sáu Tuần Thánh chúng được nghe Thánh Gioan.loan báo cho chúng ta biết rõ chi tiết về cuộc khổ nạn của Chúa Giêsu trong Tin Mừng của ông. Như vậy, tuần này chúng ta bắt đầu bằng việc Giáo Hội công bố Cuộc khổ nạn và Thương Khó của Chúa Giêsu và cuộc Thương Khó được kết thúc như là một cách lôi kéo chúng ta đi sâu hơn vào mầu nhiệm Hiến Tế hy sinh và công cuộc cứu độ nhân loại của Chúa Kitô.
            Trọng tâm của câu chuyện kể về cuộc Khổ nạn của Chúa Giêsu là biểu hiện của một tình yêu không giống ai. Một tình yêu mà chúng ta được chứng kiến trong tuần này là một tình yêu trong sáng, vị tha, hy sinh và biến đổi đến mức không thể hiểu nổi. Một tình yêu mà chúng ta đã chứng kiến là một tình yêu trong đó Thiên Chúa cho phép chính Ngài bước vào sự sỉ nhục đắng cay nhất chưa từng thấy. Cũng chỉ vì yêu thương chúng ta nên  Ngài đã làm điều này để Ngài có thể gặp chúng ta trong sự thấp hền, tội lỗi và sa ngã của chúng ta, và Ngài muốn nâng chúng ta lên tới đỉnh cao cao nhất có thể tưởng tượng được.
            Khi chúng ta bước vào Tuần Thánh này, chúng ta hãy biết rằng đó là hơn một tuần suy ngẫm. Đó là một tuần để giúp chúng ta cùng tham dự vào mầu nhiệm tình yêu thuần khiết và hoàn hảo của Thiên Chúa dành cho chúng ta. Khi chúng ta suy ngẫm về tình yêu này, chúng ta hãy để tình yêu này đối đầu với chúng ta. Hãy giữ lấy nó trong tâm hồn và trái tim của chúng ta trong suốt cả tuần thánh và hy vọng cả đời của chúng ta. Chúng ta hãy để cho tình yêu đó, tình yêu mà Chúa Giêsu đã ban cho đan Chúa cách đây khoảng 2.020 năm, được trở nên thực sự hiện diện trong chúng ta để chúng ta sẽ hiện diện trước mặt Chúa Giêsu Ki-tô Chúa và tình yêu của Ngài dành cho chúng ta nhiều hơn nữa.
            Lạy Chúa là Đấng cứu độ của chúng con, Chúa đã bước vào tuần Thương khó này với lòng can đảm và quyết tâm. Chúa đã tự chọn lấy mọi sự đau khổ và mọi sự sỉ nhục để Chúa có thể bước vào cuộc sống của chúng con một cách trọn vẹn hơn. Xin Chúa hiện diện với chúng con trong suốt tuần này và giúp chúng con không chỉ suy ngẫm về mầu nhiệm tình yêu của Chúa mà còn gặp gỡ tình yêu đó một cách thực sự và biến đổi hơn nữa..
 
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion (Year A) Holy Week Made Present Today
The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road. The crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.” Matthew 21:8–9
Holy Week begins. What an important week that we begin to commemorate today. The Scripture passage above comes from the Gospel that is read at the beginning of Mass to commemorate Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem for the fulfillment of the Passover. That year, Jesus was to become the new Passover Lamb Whose blood was shed for us all and Whose flesh we now eat. Today’s Liturgy of the Word concludes with Matthew’s version of Jesus’ betrayal, arrest and death on the Cross. Since we are blessed to read this narrative in full detail today, it is helpful to call to mind the Church’s understanding of the Word of God.
“When the Sacred Scriptures are read in the Church, God himself speaks to his people, and Christ, present in his word, proclaims the Gospel” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal #29). This is an important lesson to learn, especially today as we read the heart of the Gospel in detail. Though Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, His last supper, arrest, mock trial, suffering and death on the Cross happened 2,000 years ago, those historical events are made present to us today in a unique and real way. By participating in the proclamation of this Gospel at Mass today, we are mystically united to this saving action of our Lord. And though our minds might wander at times, God is truly present to us if we listen and see. 
As you begin this Holy Week, try to walk through it with Jesus every step of the way. As you go about your days this week, fulfilling your normal duties in life, remind yourself of the spiritual truth that because the full Gospel of Jesus’ passion and death were proclaimed to you today, He is manifestly present to you in a special way. On Holy Thursday, we will ponder the Gift of the Most Holy Eucharist. On Good Friday, we will hear Jesus’ passion proclaimed from the Gospel of John. Thus, this week begins with the proclamation of the Passion and ends with the Passion as a way of drawing us more deeply into the mystery of Christ’s saving Sacrifice.
At the heart of the story of the Passion of Jesus is the manifestation of a love like no other. The love we witness this week is a love that is so pure, so selfless, so sacrificial and so transforming that it is beyond comprehension. The love that we witness is one in which God permits Himself to enter the deepest humiliation ever seen. He does this so that He can meet us in our lowliness, sin, and fallenness, and raise us up to the highest heights imaginable.
As we enter this Holy Week, know that it is more than a week of reflection. It’s a week of participation in the mystery of God’s pure and perfect love for you. As you reflect upon this love, allow it to confront you. Keep it on your mind and heart throughout the week. Allow that love, offered some 2,000 years ago, to become truly present to you so that you will be more present to our Lord and His love for you.
My saving Lord, You entered this week of Your Passion with courage and determination. You freely chose to embrace every suffering and every humiliation You would endure so that You could enter my life more fully. Please be present to me throughout this week and help me to not only ponder this mystery of Your love but to also encounter that love in a real and transforming way. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
Opening Prayer: Jesus, thank you for dying to save me from my sins. Open my heart to hear your law of love and then write it on my heart.
Encountering Christ: 
1. Food for Disciples: Jesus and his disciples gathered for Passover, the Jewish Feast of Unleavened Bread. At the Last Supper, Jesus offered his own precious Body and Blood and became our feast of unleavened bread, the Most Holy Eucharist. Christ himself became our Passover: “For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Jesus not only provides the feast; he is the feast. Just as Jesus provided himself as food for his first disciples, he feeds his disciples today in the same way so that we might have the strength and virtue to carry out the new commandment he gave us at the Last Supper: “...love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (John 13:34). Love has become the law. When we love one another as Jesus commands, we fulfill the law of the new covenant.
2. Blood of the Covenant: The Blood of Christ is the seal of our new covenant with God. Jeremiah foretold this everlasting covenant, the laws of which would be written on human hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34). This covenant means that our sins have been forgiven through Christ’s death. St. Paul tells us, “When Christ came as high priest...he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption...For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant” (Hebrews 9:11-15). We live in a way that shows that this new covenant is written on our hearts when we are faithful and obedient and, most of all, by loving one another as God has loved us.
3. Stay with Jesus: What courageous love the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Mary Magdalene, and St. John showed when they stood at the foot of the Cross. Imagine the fear and grief they had to overcome to stand in devotion to Christ at his Crucifixion. They stayed with him through his death and followed his body to be buried, keeping vigil: “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary remained sitting there, facing the tomb” (Matthew 27:62). As we enter into this Holy Week, may God give us the grace to be loving, constant disciples. May we stay with Jesus as he travels from Bethany to Jerusalem to Gethsemane and Calvary. Finally, may we sit with the women, filled with hope, and bravely face the tomb.
Conversing with Christ: Jesus, please replace my stony heart with a new heart of flesh, and then write your law of love deep inside it. Holy Spirit, come to me that I can follow the law of love by loving others as you love me (cf. Ezekiel 36:26-27, John 13:34). Father, help me remain constant in my love for you, especially in this Holy Week.
Resolution: Lord, today, by your grace, I will strive to carry out your commandment to love others through my thoughts, words, and actions.
 
Palm Sunday Year A - Which Victory Are We Celebrating?
Today we hold in our hands palm branches. In the ancient world, palm branches were the symbol of victory. For the Israelites in the Old Testament, the elegance, strength, and simplicity of this tree became a symbol of the just man or woman, the one in whom God's law triumphed. It also symbolized victory for the Romans. Palm trees were not native to Italy. And so, when the Romans started conquering other nations in the Mediterranean, the generals brought palm trees back to Rome as souvenirs of their victories. So the crowds waving palm branches as Jesus entered Jerusalem were declaring his victory. 
Today, we echo them, we join them, and we declare and celebrate Christ's victory. But what victory is it? And how did Christ win it? It is the victory over original sin.  Original sin was mankind's disobedience to God and obedience to the devil.  It shattered God's plan, let loose the scourge of evil, and gave the devil a certain power over earthly society. Jesus, through his passion, death, and resurrection, reversed the disobedience of original sin by obeying his Father's will in spite of all the devil's attempts to thwart him:
The betrayal of Judas, the abandonment of his apostles, the false accusations, the condemnation, the humiliation, the scourging and crowing with thorns, the torture of crucifixion - all of these sufferings were the devil's attempts to get Jesus to say "no" to his Father, just as he had gotten Adam and Eve to say "no".
But Jesus defeated the devil. He continued to love, forgive, and obey through it all. And so he, unlike Adam, unlike every other person in history, can say, "I have not rebelled" [first reading].
His obedience establishes a beachhead in this world that is under the devil's sway: Jesus' Passion is D-Day for the devil, and liberation for us. This is the victory we celebrate.
 
Saving the Man in the Pit
Jesus didn't save us from far away. He didn't crumple up the fallen world like a rough draft, throw it into the trash, and start again. No, he "emptied himself" [second reading], coming down into the mess of this sinful world. He took upon himself the suffering and pain that mankind had unleashed through its sins, even though he himself had never sinned. "I gave my back to those who beat me" [first reading]. Imagine a man carrying an important message through the jungle. Off the path he sees something moving through the trees. It shines like gold. He doesn't want to leave the path, because the message is urgent, and the jungle is dangerous - there are tribes of cannibals around.
But then he sees the flashing gold again. His curiosity is piqued. He wants the gold.  He abandons his mission, leaves the path, and goes after the gold. He follows it far from the path. Suddenly he feels the ground beneath him give way. It's a trap. He finds himself in a pit. The walls are too sheer for him to climb. They are too high for him to pull himself out. He is doomed. This is Adam. He had been given a mission by God, to fill and cultivate the earth. But lured by the devil, he had abandoned his mission and his God and had thrown mankind into the pit of sin. Now imagine another man finding the pit with Adam inside. He can't save Adam with his arm or with a branch, because the walls are too slippery and high. So he climbs down into the pit himself. Now the trapped man can climb onto his shoulders, reach the edge of the pit, and escape. But the second man has to stay behind.
This second man is Christ. He came among us and freely took upon himself our own sufferings, restoring our friendship with God and giving us a fresh chance to fulfill our mission.
This is the victory we celebrate.
 
The Symbolism of the Donkey
This victory is symbolized by the donkey that Christ rode into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday.
The first symbolic meaning of the donkey shows us how Christ won his victory over sin and evil: through humility. A donkey is a useful beast of burden, but not a glorious and impressive one. And that's exactly like the Christian virtue of humility, by which we lower ourselves in order to help raise up others, to serve them.  And this is what Jesus did, as St. Paul tells us in today's Second Reading: "...he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness... he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. God becoming man and taking up residence in this sinful world is the ultimate act of humility."  Just as Jesus rides the humble donkey into the city of Jerusalem, so he rides the virtue of humility through this sinful world in order to blaze a path for us into heaven. He humbles himself to save us out of love.
The second symbolic meaning is more directly connected to Christ's victory. In ancient times, military commanders who were engaged in battle and conquest would ride on the most efficient beasts for war: strong, fast, powerful warhorses. But after a battle was won, the victorious general would parade into the city riding on - you guessed it - a donkey. That is why the people shouted out when they saw Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.It was a sign for them; it meant that Jesus had conquered and was bringing the peace of his Kingdom (though they didn't yet understand what kind of kingdom it was). Everything in today's liturgy - even the humble donkey - shines brilliantly with the aura of Christ's amazing victory over evil and original sin.
 
Stay United to Christ
Today and throughout this week we should give thanks to God for the great things he has done, reflect on his saving love, and renew our commitment to follow him. But above all this week, we should stay united to Christ our Savior.
This week we should each be hooked up to Christ the way people in the hospital are hooked up to an IV.  We need his strength to come into our lives so we can have the courage to live as he wants us to live.  We need to let all the graces he wants to give us this week flow freely into our souls and renew us, bringing a spiritual springtime into our hearts. There are two things we can do to stay united to Christ, to stay hooked up to his grace.
First there is prayer.  We should spend more time in prayer this week, both in quantity and in quality. Come and sit with Jesus here in the Tabernacle. Take that rosary off the rear-view mirror and use it for what it was meant for. Spend some time reading the Gospels and meditating on them.
Second there is obedience. [Here you can make reference to the illustration you used: e.g. what good is it to say we believe in Christ, but then to let ourselves get drawn back into the pit?...]
Jesus is always instructing us about how to live, how to be responsible in our life's duties, and selfless in our relationships.   This week, let's pay special attention. Whatever he asks of us, let's say OK. Today is Palm Sunday, Victory Day. As Christ comes among us once more, let's renew our faith in the victory he won for us, and claim it once again as our own.