Welcome to Finding God in Our Hearts. The following production Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is a weekly program of deep spiritual insight on Scripture, revealing the indwelling presence of God. Monsignor Fisher is a Catholic priest, a member of the Diocese of Dallas, and founder of the Pastoral Reflections Institute, a nonprofit in Dallas, Texas, dedicated to to enriching your spiritual journey. We appreciate your listenership and if you find this program valuable, please subscribe and share with your friends. This program is funded with kind donations by listeners just like you make your donation@pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com. Today we celebrate Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord.

We begin with an opening prayer. Dearly Beloved, since the beginning of Lent until now, we have prepared our hearts by penance and charitable works. Today we gather together to herald with the whole church the beginning of the celebration of the Lord’s paschal mystery, that is to say, of his passion and his resurrection. For it was to accomplish this mystery that he entered his own city of Jerusalem. Therefore, with all faith and devotion, let us commemorate the Lord’s entry into his holy city for our salvation following in his footsteps, so that, being made by his grace partakers of the cross, we may have a share also in the resurrection and the life. Amen.

A Reading from the Old Testament from the book of Isaiah, 50th chapter 4:7 the Lord God has given me a well trained tongue that I might know how to speak to the weary, a word that will rouse them morning after morning. He opened the ears that I may hear, and I have not rebelled, have not turned back. I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard, my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. Lord God is my help, therefore I’m not disgraced. I’ve set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame. The Word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? A Reading from the New Testament from St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians 2:6 11 Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness, and found in human appearance. He humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this God greatly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name that is the name of Jesus.

Every knee should bend of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess. And that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The word of the Lord. The verse before the Gospel, Christ became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every other name. The Gospel for Palm Sunday this year is taken from St.

Matthew. While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to his disciples and said, take this and eat it. This is my body. Then he took a cup, giving thanks, gave it to them, saying, drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you, new in the kingdom of my Father. Then after singing a hymn, they went to the Mount of Olives.

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane. And. And he said to his disciples, sit here while I go over and pray. He took along Peter, the two sons of Zebedee, and began to feel sorrow and distress. Then he said to them, my soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch with me.

He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer, saying, my Father, if it is possible for this cup to pass from me yet not as I will, but as you will. When he returned to his disciples, he found them asleep. He said to Peter, so you could not watch with me even for an hour. Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Withdrawing a second time, he prayed again, my Father, if it is not possible for this cup to pass without my drinking it, your will be done.

And returned once more and found them asleep. They could not keep their eyes open. He left them and withdrew again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing again. Then he returned to his disciples and said to them, are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand when the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners. Get up.

Let us go. Look, my betrayer is at hand. Jesus stood before the governor, Pontius Pilate, who questioned him, are you the King of the Jews? Jesus said to him, you say so? He went as accused by the chief priests and elders. He made no answer.

Then Pilate said to him, do you not hear what many things are being testified against you? But he did not answer him one word, so that the Governor was greatly amazed. Now, on the occasion of the feast, the governor was accustomed to release to the crowd one prisoner whom they wished. At that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had assembled, Pilate said to them, which one do you want me to release to you, Barabbas or Jesus? The called Christ.

For he knew that it was out of envy that they had handed him over. While he was still seated on the bench, his wife sent him a message. Have nothing to do with that righteous man. I suffered much in a dream today because of him. The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas but to destroy Jesus. The governor said it in reply, which of the two do you want me to release to you?

They answered, barabbas. Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with Jesus? Called Christ. They said, let him be crucified. But he said, why, what has he done? He only shouted the louder, let him be crucified.

And Pilate saw that he was not succeeding at all, but that a riot was breaking out. Instead, he took water and washed his hands. And in the sight of the crowd, saying, I’m innocent of this man’s blood. Look to it yourselves. And the whole people said in reply, his blood be upon us and upon our children. Then he released Barabbas to them.

And after he had Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. And the soldiers of the governor took Jesus inside the praetorium. They gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped off his clothes, threw a scarlet military cloak around him, weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on his head and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, hail, king of the Jews. They spat on him and took the reed and kept striking him on the head.

And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him off to crucify him. As they were going out, they met a Cyrenian named Simon. This man they pressed into service to carry the cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means place of the skull, they gave Jesus wine to drink mixed with gall. But when he had tasted it, he refused to drink. After they had crucified him, they divided his garments, casting lots.

Then they sat down and kept watch over him. They placed over his head the written charge against him. This is Jesus, the king of the Jews. Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right, the other on his left. Those pressing by reviled him, shaking their hands and saying, you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourselves if you are the Son of God, and come down from the cross. Likewise, the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him and said, he saved others.

He cannot save himself, so is he the king of Israel. Let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusted God. Let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, I am the Son of God. The revolutionaries who were crucified with him also kept abusing him in the same way.

From noon onward, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’, clock, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Some of the bystanders who heard it said, this one is calling Elijah. Immediately, one of them ran to get a sponge. He soaked it in wine, putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink. But the rest said, wait, let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.

But Jesus cried out in a loud voice and gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks were split, tombs were opened. The bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming forth from their tombs after his resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many. The centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly when they saw the earthquake in all that was happening.

And they said, truly this was the Son of God. The Gospel of the Lord. Satan. Foreign. The celebration day marks the beginning of the most important liturgical week in the church year. It’s the time we review, look at as deeply as possible the fullness of the mystery of God in man made manifest in Jesus.

You hear me talking all the time about this union that we are destined to have with God. Our humanity and divinity made for each other. They’re not at odds with each other. There’s anything I could free you with, at least something that I got stuck with in my own background of training in my. In my faith. It was that God looked down on my humanity instead of seeing it as I really do believe.

He now sees it. I see it as that thing that is the greatest gift I have, that unique thing that I am, that you are, that we need to be in order to be the vehicle of making the abundance of God clear to people. When we love like he loves, that’s. That’s when we are at our peak, at at our best. And so this, this Sunday that goes through the. The passion and death of Jesus has so many beautiful images in it about this mystery of divinity and humanity.

And I want to focus on just a few. Number one, I love the way in the book of Isaiah do we hear this whole notion of God is the God who comes into our life that wants to open the ears of those who can’t hear, to make people who didn’t know exactly where to go, where their help is. Because this God comes to the weary. It’s like, listen to him, the God that comes to save. He’s there. He’s the one you trust in.

He’s the one you believe in. He’s your help. That wonderful name, Jesus. God saves, God heals, God loves. So the first reading sets us on the path of recognition, of a mystery that we must believe in. We must have it somehow in our DNA that we fall back on it when we fall into all the traps that we have in our human nature of regression and keeping things unconscious when they need to become conscious.

And then Paul, in the next reading, he’s so filled with an awareness of this wonderful thing that God has brought into the world through this man, Jesus. And he’s trying to say something. Remember, remember, he said that he looks just like us. Do you see? He’s God and he looks like us. That means God looks like us.

It means that unity that we’ve always felt was strained by our humanity is not as far apart as we think. Think about his life. Think about how he rejected this God man and now he finds him as the source of life. I mean, he went through a transformation that he longs for people to go through. And what he wants everyone to be so aware of is that name again, that name Jesus. He saves us.

Not only his name, but his life. He was like us. He struggled like us. He had weaknesses like us, yet he was still divine. One of the things that I want to focus on most primarily from this Gospel of Matthew, you’ll notice I took a little lead way in picking different parts. But the thing that I want you to focus with me on is the night, the night before this nightmare started for Jesus, he just spent time with his disciples, giving them the greatest gift that I believe he’s ever given to any believing community.

His presence, his body, his likeness in us, his spirit in us. His blood. He’s saying, I want you to eat my body, drink my blood. Because you have to do something in this world that is so hard for human beings to do, to surrender to things that you can’t accept and to believe in things you can’t understand. And you can’t do that on your own. I know what humanity is like.

Jesus is saying to us over and over again, I am the son of man. That phrase that he uses over and over again is so interesting. It means human being. Do you know that Jesus is made reference to in the Gospels, the Synoptics and all. Well, all the Gospels, 83 times, son of man, Son of man, Son of man. Why would he stress so much his humanity unless he was trying to say, don’t you see a miracle’s happening to me?

I am surrendering to a world that I didn’t necessarily choose, Certainly one that I’m not necessarily pleased with every part of it. But I surrendered. I surrendered. I gave in. I gave in and look what it did. Look at the explosion that you see in the Gospel.

That explosion that it was earthquakes and thunder and a curtain that separated divinity from humanity in the temple, ripped apart. It’s explosive. What happens when someone surrenders? So I love looking at the garden because it’s so much about Jesus, humanity. He knows what’s happening. It’s too late.

He knows what’s happening. He knows what’s coming. So what does he do? He turns to God and he said, father, I need to talk to you one more time. Please listen to me. But he didn’t do it alone.

So he took Peter, James and John. Remember, they were the three that he took on the second Sunday of Lent up on a mountain to say, you are going to see something that affirms your faith that Jesus is not just another prophet. Did it last? Did it penetrate? Did they have the capacity to understand what it meant? And did they believe in it completely?

No. But there they were. Jesus had them there because he thought, these are the ones that will understand. These are the ones that will be there with me. It shows Jesus humanity of being in need of others. When he’s facing his ultimate thing.

He’s not going to do it alone. He wants his three best friends with him. It makes so much human sense to me. And then what happens? He has this dialogue with him and he goes into deep prayer each time. And in this Gospel of Matthew, we see it three times when he has these words that he said.

It’s not like he’s screaming at his Father as a human being saying, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do this. I can’t do this. Please, please. I say no. I say no.

I say, no, he doesn’t. He says it so gently and so interesting. Father, if there’s any other way. I know this is what you plan. I know I’m going to surrender to whatever you want, but is there any way we could change it? You could change it for me, postpone it, do something.

Not now. That’s all what I hear in his humanity. Crying out, but if it’s. And he always. Immediately, he said, I’m there for you, though. God, I’m not gonna.

I’m not gonna not do what you ask, but is there any way it could not be this? I love that. I mean, I used to think he was like, bring it on. I know in three days I’m gonna rise and it’s all gonna be great. So, you know, he wasn’t superhuman. He was fully human.

And he did that three times. And in other Gospels, it’s more detailed about the panic and the stress he was under. One of the synoptics makes it clear that he was sweating. He was sweating blood, and angels came to comfort him. It’s like his disciples weren’t there. But we trust in our friends.

We trust in the people around us. But do we trust enough in those other spiritual beings that are so powerful, that are there when we have to face something that we can’t stand the thought of it happening to ourselves or someone else? And maybe there isn’t any person there. People are not always good at comforting people who are going through some horrible thing. They often use phrases like, oh, it’s all going to be better. Don’t worry, it’ll all be.

You’ll adjust later, you know, trying to get us out of the pain. His disciples weren’t there to get Jesus out of his pain, but angels came and ministered to him. The other thing I love about the whole notion of this incredible, incredible feast is the way in which it seems so clearly to me to underscore the fact that there is this ability humans have to be so far beyond themselves. And what it takes is. Is something I keep going back to you and saying over and over again. It’s an evolutionary process.

It’s a growth in consciousness. It’s a beginning to see the reality, see with our eyes, hear what’s true with our ears. That’s the thing that this gift of faith is showing up in this passion account. I mean, it’s like he knew. He knew enough truth, but he still resisted the way it had to unfold. And to me, that endears Jesus to me so much.

And so it also endears me to one other very important aspect, and that’s me, my humanity, my weakness. I’m going to go back to one other image that’s in the scriptures and it’s today, and that’s that image of Barabbas. You know, that Jesus loved that image. Son of man. Son of man. Son of man.

I’m a human being. And the word Barabbas is interesting because it basically means son of God, Bar Abbas. And so I want you to look at the crowd for a moment and think about the world and the way the level of consciousness may be in the world. But it’s like the crowd represents this sort of mob mentality where everybody is. And it’s not always very reflective. It just picks up whatever the person next to them is saying.

They start screaming the same thing, that unconscious part of us that’s so dangerous. But what I love about this image is the unconscious, even though they don’t know it, have deep within them a seed, a light, a truth. And they all scream out, which is so crazy when you think of it. They’re all screaming out when they say, do you want to. Do you want to kill the Son of God, the one who claims to be the Messiah? And they’re saying, yes, yes.

Release the Son of Man. Son of God. Release the Son of God. Release the Son of God. Barabbas. Barabbas.

Barabbas. Amazing. There’s so much in this set of readings to give us hope. So much for us to now in these days of quiet and stillness, to ponder, to wonder about in our sheltered in place places. But do it. Open your heart to it, feel it, see it.

It’s as real as every single thing you’re dealing with every single day of your life. No, we’re not hanging on a cross every 20 minutes or so, but boy, there’s enough out there to irritate us and make us craz and give us a loss of peace. And each one of those is a time when we’re asked to do what Jesus did. If this is the way it has to be, I wish it wasn’t, but I accept it. The music in our program was composed and produced by Ryan Harner for this show, Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher. A listener support program is archived and available on our website, pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com and available anytime, anywhere and for free on our podcast, Finding God in Our Hearts.

You can search and subscribe to Finding God in Our Hearts anywhere you download your podcasts. Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is funded with kind donations by listeners just like you. You can make a one time or recurring donation tax deductible donation on our website pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com we thank you for your listenership and your continued support. Without it, this program would not be possible. Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is a production of the Pastoral Reflections Institute, a NonProfit in Dallas, Texas dedicated to enriching your spiritual journey. Executive Producer Monsignor Don Fisher produced by Kyle Cross and recorded in Pastoral Reflections Institute Institute Studios.

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