“On the Palm
Branches”
Lk 19:28-40; Is 50:4-7; Phi 2:6-11; Lk 22:14—23:56 (C
)
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord;
blessed is the King of Israel” (Divine Office)
Let us go together to meet Christ on the Mount of
Olives. Today he returns from Bethany and proceeds of his own free will towards
his holy and blessed passion, to consummate the mystery of our salvation. He
who came down from heaven to raise us from the depths of sin, to raise us with
himself, we are told in Scripture, above every sovereignty, authority and
power, and every other name that can be named, now comes of his own free will
to make his journey to Jerusalem. He comes without pomp or ostentation. As the
Psalmist says: He will not dispute or raise his voice to make it heard in the
streets. He will be meek and humble, and he will make his entry in simplicity.
Let us run to
accompany him as he hastens towards his passion, and imitate those who met him
then, not by covering his path with garments, olive branches or palms, but by
doing all we can to prostrate ourselves before him by being humble and by
trying to live as he would wish. Then we shall be able to receive the Word at
his coming, and God, whom no limits can contain, will be within us.
In his
humility Christ entered the dark regions of our fallen world and he is glad
that he became so humble for our sake, glad that he came and lived among us and
shared in our nature in order to raise us up again to himself. And even though
we are told that he has now ascended above the highest heavens – the proof,
surely, of his power and godhead – his love for man will never rest until he
has raised our earthbound nature from glory to glory, and made it one with his
own in heaven.
So let us
spread before his feet, not garments or soulless olive branches, which delight
the eye for a few hours and then wither, but ourselves, clothed in his grace,
or rather, clothed completely in him. We who have been baptized into Christ
must ourselves be the garments that we spread before him. Now that the crimson
stains of our sins have been washed away in the saving waters of baptism and we
have become white as pure wool, let us present the conqueror of death, not with
mere branches of palms but with the real rewards of his victory. Let our souls
take the place of the welcoming branches as we join today in the children’s
holy song: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king
of Israel.
From the discourse "On the Palm Branches"
by Saint Andrew of Crete (Divine Office)
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