Only This I Want

     Today is Palm Sunday.  This was the Sunday that Zack used to love the most when he was little because he liked that they handed him a "toy" to play with when he got to Mass.  Most kids (and some adults!) love playing with the palms during Mass and they often make crosses out of the palms that they were given as they entered.  Adults however know that this is the week for "the LONG reading!"  They know that their kids might be occupied by the palms, but they can already feel their back hurting from standing so long and they begin dreading this Mass as soon as they realize it is near.  Me, however.....I love it.  I absolutely love Palm Sunday!  Why?  Because I want so desperately to know my Lord.  I want to join in His suffering, so I can fully appreciate the sacrifice that He made for me  Just like the song that we sang today says, "Only this I want but to know the Lord, and to bear His cross so to wear the crown He wore." 

     During Palm Sunday Mass, we read the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We read every moment that led Him to the cross.....from Gethsemane to Calvary.  I love taking this journey with Him.  Along the way, I place myself in His place.  How does my current life fit into the Passion of the Lord?  I want to be a part of His journey, not just to read about it.  So when we are reading this in Mass, I am thinking of my own life and uniting my life with His. 

     Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.  He cries out to His Father asking Him to let this cup pass from Him.  He is  filled with fear and begging His Father to help Him, but He also knows that it is about His Father's will not His.  My life is filled with fear right now.  I feel like I am on my knees in the Garden asking God to save my father.  I am not just asking God to heal my dad, I am begging Him.  Is there something in your life causing you fear?  Are you on your knees, like Jesus was, begging for God to help you?

Jesus- you felt the fear, but you trusted anyway.  Help us to be as strong as you were, Jesus.  Help us to accept God's will even when it is hard to do so.

     Many times during His journey, Jesus was failed by the people He loved the most.  His apostles fell asleep, Peter denied and Judas betrayed.  The crowds mocked Him  and soldiers beat Him.  Things were not going Jesus' way and there wasn't anything He could do about it.  He felt alone and abandoned.  My life doesn't often go the way I plan.  Things don't always go MY way. Especially right now, I feel alone and abandoned by God and I wonder what His plan is for me.  What in your life isn't going as you had planned?  Do you feel alone and abandoned by God too?  Are you wondering what His plan is for you?

Jesus- Help us not to lose hope when life doesn't go our way.  Help us to realize that you are never far from us and that you love us unconditionally.  Help us to understand that your will is greater than ours.

     These are just a few of the ways that I joined with Jesus today as the Passion was being read in Mass.  I joined my life with His.  I made the journey with Him.........I walked with Him and prayed TO Him for help.  So tonight, I ask that you do the same. If you did not read the Passion this way today, re-read it!  Journey with Him, walk with Him and pray To Him for help.  For it is in joining Him on this journey that we begin to truly know Him.  

And I know for me............"Only this I want but to know the Lord, and to bear His cross so to wear the crown He wore."