Sunday, March 24 : Saint Bede the Venerable

Towards the Lamb of God arise the hosannas of the people: all those pressing round him in the crowd praise him with one and the same confession of faith: “Hosanna to the son of David!” (Mt 21,9). This praise already echo the choir of saints, singing: “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb!” (Rv 7,10). He goes up to where day by day he will give his last teaching (Lk 20,47). It is there he will accomplish the sacrament of the Jewish Passover, faithfully observed hitherto. He himself will bestow a new Pasch on his own when, having left for the Mount of Olives, he will be put to the test by his enemies and, the following day, set on the cross. Of such is the paschal lamb, see him draw near today to the place of his Passion and fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah: “Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers” (53,7). He desires to enter his city five days before his Passion: by this he proves that he is indeed the lamb without blemish who comes to take away the sin of the world (Jn 1,29); he is indeed the paschal lamb who, when sacrificed, will set the new Israel free from its slavery in Egypt (Ex 12); it is truly five days before his Passion that his enemies irrevocably agree on his death. Today he shows us by this that he is going to redeem us all by his blood (Rv 5,9). As from today he enters God’s Temple amongst the joyful jubilation of those who surround him (Mt 21,12). The “Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus” (1Tm 2,5) will suffer for humankind’s salvation – that indeed is why he came down to earth from heaven – and today he wills to draw near to the place of his Passion. Thus it will be clear to all that he bears his Passion of his own free will and by no means by force.
Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team