Friends:
As Lent ends, we prepare to live the Palm Sunday, the gateway to Holy Week. Cheers and a carpet of palms that will turn into insults and scorn. The liturgy of this day is very realistic and adult. It warns us that praises and “likes” are carried away by the wind and that defending noble causes creates enemies. The coherence Jesus invites us to is not an easy path, but it engenders Life that transcends death.
Can the Passion and death of Christ still be understood as Redemptive? Does God save me? Does Jesus save me? Does faith save or do works save? These are some of the questions raised in the new book by Fray Marcos:What do they have to save me from? Who has to save me? Available in usual bookstores and in the online store.
Gospel and Commentary on the Gospel
Matthew 26:14-27, 66. Then one of the Twelve, Judas Iscariot, went to see the high priests and proposed to them: How much are you willing to give me if I hand him over?
Miguel Ángel Munárriz Casajús: The decline of the Eucharist. What is not an option is to let it languish until death.
José Luis Sicre: Palm Sunday. Jesus’ prayer in the garden teaches us to discover something good behind something apparently absurd like suffering and death.
Enrique Martínez Lozano: What is salvation? understanding, fullness, unity. Once it is understood that the original sin never existed, the very idea of redemption becomes empty of content.
Fray Marcos: The texts do not say what happened in the Passion. They tell us what his followers thought.
José Antonio Pagola: Following Jesus leads to the cross. We are so familiar with the cross of Calvary that it no longer impresses us in any way. Habit domesticates and “reduces” everything.
Fidel Aizpurúa Donazar: That he is free if he loves him. God was never closer to Jesus than when he was on the cross, even if he did not feel it.
Magda Bennásar: The Passion. Our account of the passion begins with Judas’ betrayal for money, the money that the disciples reproached the woman for spending on perfume. That dynamic continues today, that struggle between the feminine and the logical, the warlike, the defensive, and the reasonable.
Selected Articles for the Week
RD/Efe: Trump to the Pope: “I do not want to call a ceasefire”. The President of the USA ignores Pope Leo XIV’s request for a truce and dialogue in the Middle East: “You do not call a ceasefire when you are literally leveling the other side.”
Carmiña Navia: Words of Life. At the start of this week that we call “greater,” this is my invitation: To serenely walk the path of Jesus and approach the core and truth of his words.
Koldo Aldai: “New walk”, ancient praise. Honoring the spirituality of our elders. I have wanted to honor that generation that did not rationalize and conceptualize so much.
Behind every penitential station there is a community of people who must learn to walk together.
Digital Religion: Leo XIV, against the “sowers of hate” who are “dragging the world towards barbarism”. “The poison of division and conflict tends to poison hearts and social relations,” he states during his meeting with the focal points.
Gorka Larrabeiti: ‘Bonhoeffer Moment’. Invoking Bonhoeffer at this moment is invoking resistance. For the Church to invoke resistance is historically rare: it transgresses while also drawing a line.
Digital Religion: Amador Marqués, to PP and VOX: “As a Christian, I say it clearly: faith is love, not a whip for exclusion”. Impactful parliamentary intervention by the socialist deputy, member of Socialist Christians, in the debate on the PP’s non-law proposal urging the Government to demand respect for religious freedom.
Leandro Sequeiros: Unlearning war as a path. Faced with warlike imaginaries, civil society must strengthen itself and pressure the powers to promote a culture of peace.
News of Scope. Cardinal Hollerich, in favor of female ordination: “It is not just a demand from some left-wing women’s associations”.
For more participatory and current Eucharists
Isaiah 50, 4-7. My Lord has given me a learned tongue to know how to say a word of encouragement to the downcast.
Philippians 2, 6-11. Have among yourselves the same feelings as Christ.
Florentino Ulibarri: Without that which is fashionable. Without trumpets or drums; only with the cry of the poor will our hearts awaken.
Vicky Irigaray: Palm Sunday. Show us the paths that lead us to be more You for others.
Anaphora: The Messiah Jesus. Jesus is not the Messiah they expected in the OT. We are called to know him well and to imitate him.
Benedictine Nuns of Montserrat. Palm Sunday.
Multimedia material
The radiant light of your Being. By Louise Hay. Look deep within, at the center of your heart…
Shavings. By Baruc 5, Luispo. On a day like the triumphant entry of Jesus on Palm Sunday, this beautiful song brings us closer to the intimacy of that family of Jesus, where the gifts and love were born and cultivated in the wonderful heart of baby Jesus. Precious, don’t miss it.
Salomé Arricibita: In the name of love. Jesus arrives in Jerusalem amidst acclamations. The same crowd that in a few days will ask for him to be crucified greets him like a king. That makes me think about where we do things from. What moves us to do what we do, to make our decisions? What the majority does? What doesn’t “clash with the rest”? What is least complicated for me? I hope (we) choose Love, even if it complicates my life.
My song is an echo. Presentation by Lenin Vladimir Cárdenas. Song by Lola Montes. “I am in each one and each one is in me, and we are all one and diverse in you”. A beautiful, joyful, and hopeful song, full of illusion, fullness, harmony, and unity, where every phrase is a meditation in itself.
Equipo Quiero Ver: Hosanna, crucifícalo. “Hosanna!” “Crucify him!” Jesus seems popular, special, someone worth believing in. It is easy to get enthusiastic when we see him strong, victorious, and everything seems promising. But when the path stops being comfortable, it becomes difficult, and following him implies surrender, discomfort, sacrifice. When our little “cross” appears, then the enthusiasm cools down. Trust, have faith, remain at the foot of the cross to contemplate the true face of God, and the true victory of his Son.
The King of Peace Enters. A song for Palm Sunday from a simple and profound perspective. Jesus enters Jerusalem without weapons or power, mounted on humility, bringing a different Kingdom: the Kingdom of peace, love, and surrender.
In the EFFA School we facilitate the link to the curriculum where all available talks and bibliography are located, for those who could not watch them or wish to review any. The link to access the latest uploaded videos may also be useful.
And, as I promised you, the letters will end with these three links: the letter of the week, the last week’s letter and letters from other weeks. If someone loses -or has not received- the email with the news, they can use an old letter to access the new one.
A hug,
Inma Calvo
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