Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius · 62 of 80

Mysteries: Palm Sunday

PALM SUNDAY Matthew, Chapter 21 [1-12]. First Point. First: The Lord sends for the ass and the foal, saying: “Loose them and bring them to Me, and if any one shall say anything to you, say ye that the Lord hath need of them, and forthwith he will let them go.” Second Point. Second: He mounted upon the ass, which was covered with the garments of the Apostles. Third Point. Third: They went out to receive Him, strewing in the way their garments and the branches of the trees, saying: “`Save us, Son of David, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord: Save us in the heights!’”

Insight

Palm Sunday is the staged inversion the gospel keeps pressing on. The crowd hails a king, and the king mounts an ass. Zechariah’s prophecy is precise about the animal (humble, riding on a colt, the foal of an ass) and Matthew highlights the fulfillment to make the point visible: this king is not the one anyone expected. Ignatius places this contemplation right before the Passion sequence begins, and the contrast is doing the work. The retreatant is being prepared to feel the trajectory: hailed today, crucified Friday, both events composed of the same people. Buddhist teaching on the eight worldly winds (gain and loss, praise and blame, fame and disrepute, pleasure and pain) names the same volatility, and Christ’s serenity through both ends of the wave is the disposition the retreatant is being asked to taste.