This week we Lectio the Liturgy with the Collect for Palm Sunday.
Almighty ever-living God, who as an example of humility for the human race to follow, caused our Savior to take flesh and submit to the Cross, graciously grant that we may heed his lesson of patient suffering and so merit a share in his Resurrection. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
The prayer says that God “caused” Jesus to take flesh, but that doesn’t mean that He made Jesus do it. There were no orders or wrath to satisfy. Because while there are three Persons, there is still one God. Almighty ever-living God wasn’t sitting on a throne with His eyes covered so He didn’t have to see Jesus suffer, the Father, and the Holy Spirit, were in it together.
The “cause” was love. Out of love for the human race, Jesus, the Prince of Heaven, took on flesh.
When I rewrote the “who” phrase in my own words, this is what I came up with: When Jesus took on flesh and submitted to the cross, he gave us an example what it means to be humble and He wants us to do what He did.
Right after I said it, my thoughts turned right to the Holy Thursday service. In the Gospel of John (13:15), Jesus tells the disciples that if he’s washed their feet, they should wash another’s feet. This is his example, “that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
Somehow it’s a lot harder to imagine submitting to a cross for someone than it is to imagine washing someone’s feet or doing something kind for them. But maybe summiting to a cross doesn’t have to be as awful as it sounds. Perhaps submitting to a cross is our “lesson of patient suffering.”
Our petition of the prayer is that we would keep hold of this lesson of patient suffering so we can merit a share in his Resurrection.
In the Latin form of the prayer, for the word patient, we find the word patientiae which means the virtue of suffering. To make our suffering worthy of merit, it must be accepted and embraced and sometimes that’s harder than it sounds. But we need walk through accepted and embraced suffering through the feet of Jesus.
His suffering probably didn’t begin when he was scourged at the pillar. During His whole adult life, He was made fun of, He was doubted, and He was mocked. I also thought of all the times when Jesus saw the disciples as sons of God, and how hard it was for Him to see what they didn’t. All He could do was be patient, and wait, and pray.
This prayer is a good lead-in for Holy Week as it reminds us that every time we find we have to practice patience, we are practicing the virtue of suffering. We could also look at it another way. Every time we experience suffering, we are growing in the virtue of patience.
This week, as we prepare for extra liturgies and extra family, opportunities for suffering may arise. However, these opportunities will merit us a share in his Resurrection. The most remarkable thing about suffering is that when we remember that we can share it with Jesus, it actually becomes a joy that on this side of heaven gives us just a glimpse of the joy that awaits.