DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Saturday, February 16, 2019

Then the disciples brought the colt to Jesus and placed their cloaks on it; and He sat on it.  Many people spread their cloaks on the road that entered the city of Jerusalem, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” – Mark 11: 7-10

In another context of time and place that shout, “Hosanna!” might have been scrawled on the city walls for it ii not only an expression of praise but also a plea to the Lord …”Save us!”  This excited crowd that lined the road were sensing that revolution was in the air and better days were ahead.  Jesus was not seen as a personal savior in their minds but rather a savior of the beleaguered community.  Times, they were a changin’; a new world was coming!

And indeed this grand entrance on what we now call Palm Sunday triggered events that would change human history forever.  The corruption of Herod’s Temple would be challenged, the Jerusalem Council would set in motion of plot to silence this popular messiah-to-be, Roman justice would be found wanting, a man would die, and His life resurrected into a new faith that one day be everywhere present in the world.

The excited crowd shouted, “Save us” and saved they would be … but in a way far different from their popular expectations.  And this is often the case with the ways of change … they usually follow a course and take a form quite different from  our expectations.  But after a lifetime I have gained confidence that the Lord’s chosen course and the Lord’s chosen way proves always wiser than my mortal expectations.  My faith trusts a wisdom greater than my own … and it is that wisdom to whom I turn for counsel.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz