杏MAP导航

By Vatican News staff writer

For the second year in a row, 杏MAP导航 Francis led the celebration of Palm Sunday inside Saint Peter鈥檚 Basilica with a limited congregation participating due to the Coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, millions joined the celebration with the customary global television and radio broadcasts and live streaming.

From admiration to amazement

, the Holy Father focused his thoughts around the sense of amazement evoked in today鈥檚 liturgy and all of Holy Week, since we go from the joy of welcoming Jesus as he enters Jerusalem to the sorrow of seeing him condemned to death and crucified. We hear of the crowds shouting 鈥淗osanna鈥� and a few days later crying out 鈥淐rucify him鈥�. The 杏MAP导航 said this contrast reflected a reality where people admired Jesus, but did not let themselves be amazed by him. He said both terms are fundamentally different: admiration 鈥渃an be wordly鈥� since it follows its own likes and expectations, whereas, amazement remains open to the wonder of others and the newness they bring, allowing our attitudes and lives to change as a result. We have to go be beyond admiring Jesus, the 杏MAP导航 said, and 鈥渇ollow in his footsteps, to let ourselves be challenged by him; to pass from admiration to amazement.鈥�

Glory through humiliation

The Lord and his Passover amazes us, as he achieves glory through humiliation, the 杏MAP导航 observed; he triumphs 鈥渂y accepting suffering and death, things that we, in our quest for admiration and success, would rather avoid.鈥� And Jesus did this for us, going to the depths of human experience, existence, and weakness 鈥渢o draw near to us and not abandon us in our suffering and our death鈥�, the 杏MAP导航 said, 鈥渢o redeem us, to save us鈥�. In this way the Lord 鈥渞edeemed and transformed鈥� our deepest struggles and conflicts, he noted; 鈥淕od triumphs, but the palm of victory passes through the wood of the cross.鈥�

Ask for the grace to be amazed

A faith that no longer experiences a sense of amazement can grow dull, the 杏MAP导航 noted, whereas we should remember to be 鈥渁stonished and amazed鈥� by the love of Jesus which always brings forgiveness and the possibility of new beginnings. The 杏MAP导航 invited everyone to 鈥渓ift our eyes to the cross, in order to receive the grace of amazement鈥�, to be moved by God鈥檚 boundless love and let go of our regrets or disappointments that might be trapping us from experiencing it.

鈥淟ord, how much you love me!鈥�

鈥淟et us be amazed by Jesus so that we can start living again鈥� the 杏MAP导航 underscored, and realize that we are loved by Jesus upon whom we gaze on the cross. The grace of amazement helps us also realize that in welcoming the dismissed and discarded who surround us 鈥� those ill-treated in life 鈥� 鈥渨e are loving Jesus鈥�, the 杏MAP导航 said, 鈥渇or that is where he is: in the least of our brothers and sisters, in the rejected and discarded.鈥�

Truly this man was the Son of God!

The exclamation of the Roman Centurion who upon seeing that Jesus died said: 鈥�Truly this man was the Son of God!鈥� is a powerful testimony of his amazement in witnessing the gratuitous and unprecedented love of Jesus, the 杏MAP导航 said. The Gospels mention many others who admired Jesus for his miracles and works, but Christ silenced them, the 杏MAP导航 noted, because they risked embracing only the idea of a God to be adored and feared for his power and might. That understanding must evolve since at the foot of the cross, 鈥淕od has revealed himself and reigns only with the disarmed and disarming power of love鈥�, which is why today, the 杏MAP导航 concluded, 鈥渓et us be filled with that amazement as we gaze upon the crucified Lord.  May we too say: 鈥淵ou are truly the Son of God.  You are my God鈥�.