Year A
Discover the deeper meaning and connections found in this week's readings, through these great commentaries written by our priests.
Explore this week's readings and hear what God is saying to us through His Word.
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Mrs. Pilate woke with a start and a loud gasp at 3.00 in the morning. She had had a nightmare .... about THAT man.
At least she had not woken up her husband Pontius, as they slept separately. Anybody in the palace who did not know about this aspect of their domestic arrangements would be able to guess from the fact that she had to send him a message about what had happened to her.
She had definitely had a nightmare. About the man. Particularly about the fact that the man was silent. She had heard he was always tying his adversaries in knots with fine words and cutting arguments, but now he seemed to be just spookily silent.
Pleasant dreams have pleasant conversations, urgent dreams have urgent messages, but nightmares have just confusions, distortions, or, worse still, a total eerie silence.
“I think we dream,” someone† would say long after Mrs. Pilate was dead, “so we don’t have to be apart so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time”.
Yes, but this is a nightmare, the nightmare of a separation, separation from someone who is present but absent, the little man and his impenetrable silence.
But of course the man does speak; “for those who have ears to hear”, there is wisdom. For those who do not, there is only a confused noise ... or silence.
If Mrs. Pilate had followed the procession out to Calvary just out of curiosity, she would have heard some of those words of the silent man. We hear one of those ‘Words’: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Not at all what one might expect; it sounds like its own sort of nightmare. But it was not.
So Mrs. Pilate turns away. And Pontius her husband washes his hands.
It is surprising that artists have not made more of this incident of Mrs. Pilate’s nightmare, which we find only in the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Dreams. We have to look to 19th. century Italy in fact, to see the painting “Behold the man”, by Antonio Ciseri. Pilate stands on the balcony of his palace in the morning sunlight and presents Jesus to the crowd beyond. But there is one woman who turns away and clasps the shoulder of her maid; it is Mrs. Pilate, still deeply disturbed after her nightmare.
We have the words, we have the presence – a disturbing presence – of Jesus in Holy Week. The question is: will we turn away?
† A.A. Milne, in “Winnie-the-Pooh”
The readings at Mass today set the scene for the coming week, Holy Week.
The first Reading from Isaiah invites us to enter the suffering experienced by the “Suffering servant”. We are shown how to face trial and suffering in our lives. Perhaps during today and this coming week, we can focus on those trials and difficulties we experience in our own lives. We seek to unite them with the suffering experienced by Christ in is Passion and death on the Cross which we hear in the reading of the Passion. Let us lay all such suffering, illness, family difficulties, economic worries at the foot of the Cross.
Perhaps we could focus on one character in today’s Passion reading and journey with them during the coming week reflecting on our own journey to the Cross with them. St Peter who denies Christ, Pilate who washes his hands of what is about to happen, Simon of Cyrene who becomes an unexpected close witness of Christ’s suffering, Mary mother of sorrows as she beholds her Son on the Cross, the weeping women who mourn for their sins. A practical way to do this would be to walk the Stations of the cross in your Church.
A suggestion! If you have not yet discovered “The Chosen” you can watch it free by using the special app https://watch.thechosen.tv/
Bidding Prayers:
Dear Lord, as today we ponder on your Passion and death we commend to you all who are terminally ill. Grant that they may receive all the care and love that they need in these final stages of life. Help them to reach out to Jesus their saviour and redeemer and unite themselves with Christ in his pain and suffering. Fill them with your eternal hope.
We pray for our world and all who endeavour to bring about the alleviation of suffering brought about by war, famine and natural disaster. May leaders of Nations strive to recognise the Dignity of every Human person and work with courage and determination to bring about true peace and harmony amongst all people.
These hymns have been chosen from various sources (see key below):
All glory, laud and honour (CFE17, L229, LHON113, TCH60)
Ride on, ride on in majesty (CFE623, L230 LHON593)
At the name of Jesus (CFE59, L762, LHON147, TCH207)
My song is love unknown (CFE503, L752, LHON487, TCH65)
O sacred heart sore wounded (CFE552, LHON552, TCH67)
Key
CFE - Celebration Hymnal for Everyone
L – Laudate
LHON – Liturgical Hymns Old and New (Mayhew, 1999)
TCH – The Catholic Hymnbook (Gracewing)
Do you have questions about the liturgy and how we are called to participate in it? Explore how the Church councils, saints, and popes have answered this key question and many more.
Every movement of the Mass is rich in meaning but we can become over-familiar with it. Rediscover the Mass and explore how it relates to the Exodus story, where many of its rituals come from, and how it makes Jesus present to us today.
