�When he returned to the monastery, he recounted the whole story of her life and the wonders to which he had been an eyewitness. Thus the Lord glorifies repentant sinners. St Mary is also commemorated in the Fifth Week of the Great Fast. The Church holds her up before the faithful in these days of the Fast as a model of repentance. She entered into rest in about the year 530.

Palm Sunday

 

 

 

"The next day the large crowd that had come to the Passover Festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm, trees and went out to meet Him, shouting, "Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel Who comes in the name of the lord" (John 12:12-13). On Palm Sunday, the Sunday before the Resurrection (Easter) the Church commemorates the triumphal entry of our lord into the city of Jerusalem.

 

A Prophecy Come True

 

A well-known prophecy among the Jews was fulfilled with the Lord’s calling. The prophecy is from Zechariah and was written many years prior to the Lord's Birth. Zechariah wrote, "Rejoice, rejoice, people of Zion! Shout for joy, you people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you! He comes triumphant and victorious, but humble and riding on a donkey - on a colt, the foal of a donkey" (Zechariah 9 -.-9).

 

On Palm Sunday, we unite together in worship to publicly proclaim Jesus as King, and once again wave our palm branches and pussy willows as we receive them in Church. We will sing the Hosannas and the praises. These praises of glory certainly belong to Palm Sunday, but it is also a time to reflect and sincerely acknowledge Christ's kingship in our personal lives and to renew our supreme allegiance to Him as Lord and Master.

 

A True Test Of Loyalty

 

The real test of this kingship and allegiance comes on the Good Fridays of our lives. The genuine test comes as we follow Him into the Garden of Gethsemane where He suffers alone in His Passion. Will we stand beside Him as He stands alone in Pilate's great large judgment hall where His Divinity is questioned? Will we share in the ridicule which Christ endures before cruel Herod and his clan? Will we help the Savior carry His heavy cross as He crawls along the Via Dolorosa towards a cross-crowned Mt. Golgotha?

 

On Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, two parades come to mind: the Palm Sunday Parade and the Good Friday scandalous charade. Participation in the jubilant Palm Sunday parade is easy, for Christ marches into the city of our hearts. We, with great ecstasy, can warmly welcome Him and proclaim Him king in our lives. But He doesn't reign supreme in our hearts for long. Good Friday arrives, and it finds us indifferent- to the Crucifixion, to the sufferings and the tortures which Christ endured willingly. The apostles and the people whom He cured, and all those who loved Him, are not the only ones who will forsake Him in His hour of need. We will desert Christ in other ways, through our cold indifference, cowardice, selfish endeavors and sin. The most cruel type of Golgotha Christ must face today is that of our short-lived promises and irreverent conversions. The agony of His defeat on that infamous mountain is not so much physical as it is moral, through our sin of simply not caring enough to stand by Him closely on Palm Sundays and on Good Fridays.

 

Christ's coming to Jerusalem signified that He was ready to suffer, to give up His life and to die on the cross. Publicly he proclaimed Himself to be the Messiah! The residents of Jerusalem honored the Son of David with cries of adoration! He was their Savior and Lord and King of all. The intense ardor of the people would cool on Good Friday, and their cries of "Hallelujah" would turn to repugnant cries of "Crucify Him"! The ecstasy of triumph and victory would soon sour into the bitter agony of defeat. How many times has this scene been duplicated through the centuries? The unstable sentiments of people are. Conveniently transformed, and their convictions laid aside. Human weakness raises its ugly head and “mobocracy” rules supreme.

 

More Than Waving Branches

 

The significance of Palm Sunday is not just the picture of a triumphal religious procession of waving palms. It is much more! It is more than celebrating spiritual victories. The price of victory is creative suffering which is a supreme inconvenience. Sacrifice is the price of moral victory. The triumph of Palm Sunday is spelled out in our victories over inordinate passions, inclinations to evil and sinful habits which separate us from Christ the King. The basis for spiritual triumph is self-discipline, constant struggle and the eradication of evil. The real enemies of a personal Palm Sunday in our lives are all those things which keep us from an intimate relationship with our Lord. The Sunday Divine Liturgy instructs us to "lay aside earthly cares that we may welcome the king of all, invisibly escorted by the angelic hosts."

 

The unfaithful Christians who wave their palms and pussy willows soon find that wither, fade away and turn into thorns that crown the head of the One Whom they worship as their Messiah. We observe Good Friday every year and recall the Crucifixion of Christ, the crime of which is repeated today in the sins of apathy by those who will not submit to the sacrifices demanded by His teachings.

 

Bearing the Cross

 

With pride they will cheerfully wave the palms and wear the crosses depicting Christ crucified, but they will not bear the cross during the Lent of their lives. Therefore, not knowing or living the sacrificial life of Good Friday, they cannot fully enjoy and comprehend the glorious victory of Christ’s Resurrection. The very palms in their hands become the instrument of Christ’s Crucifixion, the Cross which they reuse to bear. Without the Cross, there is no Resurrection. The glorious abundant life which Christ brings through His Resurrection escapes them, and they cannot truly experience its joy and gladness.