Liturgical Reflections
		Very Rev. John T. Myler, STD St. Mary Parish Belleville, Illinois

St. Mary Home Worship Finding St. Mary Sacramental Life Organizations Parish Staff Bulletin Board Coming Soon Contact Us			PALM SUNDAY / THE LORD'S PASSION (B) - APRIL 9, 2006
			THE WEEK OF THE LAMB
			Isaiah 50:4-7 Philippians2:6-11 Mark 14:1 - 15:47
			" 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" (from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah).
			" He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Philippians).
			" On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb … 'the Teacher says: Where is my guest room that I may eat the Passover with My disciples?'" (from the Passion according to Saint Mark).
			On Sunday…
			Jesus enters Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. By the next Sunday, He will have accomplished the will of His Father and become the new Passover Lamb for all the peoples of the earth.
			On Thursday…
			We will hear of the first Passover meal of the Chosen People, while they were still captives in Egypt. Each family's Passover lamb was to be slaughtered and some of its blood applied to the doorposts and the lintel of every Jewish house.
			On the same Holy Thursday, we will hear of the new Covenant in Christ's Body and Blood: "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes."
			On Friday…
			We will hear of the ancient scapegoat. "It was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured… like a lamb led to the slaughter" - Christ the great high priest who is also the Victim, the Lamb.
			In Saint John's Passion, one prisoner is released for the Passover - Barabbas, not Jesus. Blood and water will flow out of the side of Christ, the paschal Lamb fixed to the tree.
			On Saturday…
			All is still - until the blessing of the fire and the lighting of the Easter candle. At the moment of the Exsultet, the song will be sung: "This is our Passover feast, when Christ - the true Lamb - is slain, whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers!"
			In the Easter Vigil's second reading, we will hear again the story of Abraham and Isaac. The son of Abraham is spared ("As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its thorns in the thicket. So he went and offered the ram as a holocaust in place of his son").
			Yet - as we will hear at the same Vigil -- the one "Lamb of God" will have died for our life: "As to His death, He died to sin once and for all; as to His life, He lives for God."
			Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.
			This Holy Week is the perpetual moment of the Lamb of God!
			Then and now.
			New reflections will be published on: April 16, 2006 April 23, 2006 April 30, 2006	Previous weeks reflections: February 12, 2006 February 19, 2006 February 26, 2006 March 5, 2006 March 12, 2006 March 19, 2006 March 26, 2006 April 2, 2006
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