APRIL 5, 2020
ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASS
In a court of law, there are rules of evidence that govern whether, when, how, and for what purpose, various forms of proof may be placed before a judge or jury for consideration. The factors that govern these rules are: relevance, privilege, witnesses, opinions, expert testimony, hearsay, authenticity, identification and rules of physical evidence.
The purpose behind all of this is to be fair to both sides, so that what comes up in court has a basis in provable facts.
We have just heard the reading of the Passion from St. Matthew’s Gospel. A story familiar to all of us, and as always, read for Palm Sunday ... at the beginning of Holy Week. And we will hear the Passion from St. John’s Gospel on Good Friday, at the end of Holy Week.
We have heard the story many times ... we know the facts ... and we believe them to be true.
The Opening Prayer for today’s liturgy speaks of the “example of humility” given to us by Jesus coming in the flesh ... and suffering on the Cross.
The word here rendered as “example” has a deeper meaning, namely, that of “a past event with such authoritative force that it transforms [those] who would imitate it.”
The prayer ends by referring to the “lesson of patient suffering” that might lead us to share in Christ’s resurrection.
The word translated as “lesson” can also mean “evidence.”
The testimony is there for us to judge. The evidence of God’s generous example of humility and Christ’s perseverance in fulfilling His mission to save humanity ... so that we might come to share in the divine life of the Trinity ... through the action of God’s grace, and God’s love, and God’s mercy.
There is less than a week left in Lent. We have now entered into Holy Week. Now is the moment for all of us to allow the evidence of Jesus’ perseverance in His passion to transform us ... to imitate the example of Jesus’ humility - the humility that overcomes sin and death ... the humility that can transform our lives ... so that we might share in the glory of His resurrection.
As we continue in this sacred liturgy, offering the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit ... let us embrace the humility of God as shown in this final act in the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. May His heroic example serve to transform us all, through God’s grace, so that we might provide evidence in our own lives of the transforming power of Christ’s resurrection.
