Fr. Bob Hilz, TOR

Mark 11:1-10; Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalms 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24; Philippians 2:6-11

This Sunday begins the saddest six days in the life of our savior Jesus Christ and his church. St. Paul’s second reading today gives us a short history of God’s plan. God sent his Son to set aside his radiant glory to take on our human nature, except sin. He was born of Mary and the power of the Holy Spirit in Bethlehem. In his three years of public life, he showed us in countless and awesome ways how much God loves us. He mapped out a new life God has for us following him.

To end his human life, Jesus took on himself the sins and disobedience of the entire human race. Jesus died in our place. God our Father showed us that he accepted the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus on the cross by raising him from the dead. Jesus appeared some 13 times over the next 40 day before he went back to heaven. This is the short form of his story.

Jesus opens our ears

Isaiah 50 explains that Jesus would speak beautiful words that would awaken us to a new reality. Daily Jesus wants to open our ears to hear his messages. Let us not rebel. Jesus is still teaching us in the New Testament and through his church.

The gospels on Palm Sunday each year have us read one of the Passion accounts of Jesus’ last days. After reading those each year, watching the “Passion” movie and studying the Shroud of Turin, I get very sad and at times depressed. Eventually, God focused me more on the resurrection stories of Jesus to understand the next stage of his overall plan.

How to comfort Jesus

Is there a way we can comfort Jesus during these suffering days? As God in his glory in heaven, he really does not need our weeping in sorrow. Perhaps what we can do these days is spend some time in prayer away from worldly distractions and the TV.

Jesus gave us powerful devotions in the 1930s, in Poland, with the Divine Mercy messages to Sr. Maria Faustina, now St. Faustina. He asked us to pray for 9 days a new Novena from Good Friday to the next Saturday. Each day we ask God to pour out more of his love on a particular group of souls in our world. He also gave us a simple Chaplet of Divine Mercy to pray on our rosary beads that only takes about six minutes. Jesus promised great graces with these two simple prayers.

Call for revival

The daily news show us great suffering in the world, which many believe is the result of so many satanic forces trying to take religious views and symbols out of our country and the world. Could it be that these fires, storms and disasters are punishments of God for so many turning away from him? Let us personally repent and beg forgiveness. Let us commit ourselves to turn back to God and pray intensely for him to pour more of his merciful love upon all of his children throughout the world. Would you join me and thousands of other committed Catholics, Christians and others of good faith in praying for a great “revival” in our land and the world?

Have a good Holy Week and wonderful Easter.  God’s blessings,

• Fr. Bob Hilz
  (© 2018 Fr. Bob Hilz, TOR)