The forty-day period of lent has almost reached its culmination and each day the voice of God keeps ringing in our ears through the writings of the prophets, the evangelists and so on. The Church offers its faithful various mediums and platforms to walk in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, the way that which Christ the Messiah walked. Be it through the Lenten observances, the retreats, Way of the Cross, recollections, confessions and the daily Eucharist, etc.
According to the Goan tradition some of the Parishes have the depiction of the sorrowful mysteries called Santos Passos, on a Sunday and the fourth mystery (The Carrying of the Cross) on the given day of the parish. Some parishes have it on even weekdays. These are our rich traditions which our ancestors have kept us to get into the rhythm of the Passion of Christ with a willful purpose in mind and that is to return to the Lord by way of repentance – to turn away from our sins and accept the daily crosses of our life offering it for my salvation and the salvation of souls be they living or dead.
The Palm Sunday, likewise called Passion Sunday, is the last Sunday of Lent and the beginning of the Holy Week. It is the day when we recall and commend the victorious appearance of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem as Saviour and King. I remember as children and even now in some of the villages on the Palm Sunday Mass, people bring their woven palm branches to be blessed and wave the palm leaves. These blessed palms are kept in the house on the altar or tucked behind any holy picture as the reminder of the Palm Sunday. This sacramental is also used in times of difficult situation – Faith is all that matters.
Every year we commemorate the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus with much devotion, sacrifice, mortification and prayer. But do these practices make a true disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ or just a follower who keeps practice of 40 days fast and then get back to same old ways? I am reminded of a homily where the preacher gave the example of a priest who questioned the theologians while giving a talk on a recollection day. The priest asked a simple question. How many types of Religious are there? ‘Two’ was the given reply. He continued – could you please say what the two types are called? It was interesting to hear the replies given. But the right answer was, one – who wears the habit and the other – who keeps the habit, meaning lives according to the norms – practice what you preach. Certainly, as Disciples of Christ we are called to keep the habit whoever I maybe – a Christian, a Catholic or a Religious/Priest.
The culmination of the Lenten observance should give us an Abba experience (the Fruit), where we experience the Lord intimately having gone through all the ordeals, pain and discomfort of our day-to-day life. Where one might describe the feeling of the Abba experience as ‘just like boarding a flight and sitting in it’, then viewing it in the sky from the balcony.
May the special grace of the Holy Week enable us to introspect whether I am a true disciple of Our Lord Jesus Christ or just a follower who practices all devotions and fail to obey the teachings of Christ.
