by Fr. Victor Perez, Spiritual Director of the Houston Senatus
Today is Palm Sunday. Our Lord has gone up to Jerusalem. On many occasions they tried to kill Jesus, but His hour had not yet come. So now He has at last faced His hour. He goes to Jerusalem where He knows He will be arrested, judged by the Sanhedrin and condemned to death. He will be accused harshly and condemned for doing nothing. He will be declared innocent by Pilate and Herod also found Him innocent, but he will be chastised and scourged to placate the mob. This is total injustice.
As Legionaries we must see this injustice Jesus suffered. He didn’t complain. He took our sins upon Himself and so He wanted to expiate them. He wanted to suffer. The Legion calls St. John the Evangelist a special patron. A patron of Legionary priests because he served Mary just as the Legionary priest serves the Legion which is an image of Mary. We must pray for our priests that they may be led to the Legion and see in the Legion great value and see Mary in it.
And we, like Mary, must love, support and pray for our priests. Back to St. John. He will be our model this Holy Week, as St. John and Mary have their dispositions, their love for Jesus. Like St. John we need to lay our head on Jesus’ chest and listen to His heart beat for each person.
His heart is full of love. It is a purse heart. A heart that only wants to pour out love on us. His heart beats for the Father an infinite love. And so He washes the disciples feet. He wants to humble Himself and show us this way of humility, of self-emptying love.
St. John is a model for us to stay close to Jesus when others leave Him. John is with Jesus and sees His agony in the garden. He sees Our Lord sweating blood. Jesus shared with him how he is sorrowful even unto death. John went to Mary. And Mary and he went to the cross. Will you let Mary bring you to the cross?
In your prayer, will you accompany Jesus Holy Week? Will you stay with Mary and watch her son be pierced for our offenses? Will you nail your heart to the cross? Will you crucify anything that gets in the way of your relationship with God? Seeing the Godman so humbled on the cross, dead, will you allow your pride to die since you are just a creature? Will you see what your sins have done to Him? Will you see with Mary and John the great mercy of Jesus Christ and proclaim His mercy always?
Will you allow the blood and water from His side to wash you? Will you come to the sacraments with a living faith? Will your heart burn for souls since Christ died for all people?