The hour of Jesus is the hour of glory. Through love and obedience, Jesus glorifies the Father and brings honor to his name. This glory is achieved simply by Jesus being precisely who he is meant to be and doing what he was sent to do. This is not an easy task because the human “self” wants to be preserved but it must be given away in love. Jesus is troubled by the challenge that is ahead for him. He prays to the Father, “‘Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour”? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name,’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’” (Jn 12,27-28)
What Jesus has accomplished by the sacrificial offering of his Body and Blood on the altar of the Cross, purifying the world of sin, we now may accomplish through faith. Faith cleanses and purifies the heart. Faith wins the battle for our heart. Faith unites our hearts to the heart of Jesus. Faith glorifies God and prepares us for an eternal weight of glory. What shines forth from the battle field of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a “love unto the end” that allows Jesus to accomplish his purpose. That divine love is available to us now as a grace so that we might believe in the love that the Father has revealed to us in his Son, Jesus, and in believing that we might have eternal life. Bringing that love to bear in faith allows us to be victorious in our interior struggle against sin and evil.
As Jesus “goes up” to Jerusalem and prepares himself for the final confrontation with sin, evil and death, his followers prepare a victory procession for him as he enters the Holy City. They sing out “hosanna” and wave palm branches to the hero who will conquer, the one who will soon be King. By entering Jerusalem in obedience to the plan of the Father, Jesus has already won the victory over his self. Jesus does not enter through the gates with a vast army, arrayed for battle, driving a chariot, glorifying himself. He enters on a donkey, clothed in humility, having come to glorify the Father. This battle will not be won by violence but rather by peace. Jesus evokes the image of the messianic king given by Zechariah: “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble,and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” (Zech 9,9) Jesus comes to bring peace to God’s people by his own sacrifice. He is our peace.
Through faith, we may enter triumphantly into this Holy Week and unite ourselves to Jesus as he lives his Passion. We pray that our love will be a “love unto the end” and that it will not fail in the hour of our testing. May our union with Christ Jesus allow us to suffer humbly with Christ in his Passion so that we may be glorified with him in his Resurrection to New Life at Easter.