He did it for me, he did it for you!

On Palm Sunday there is a final prayer. One that is noted as “optional.” It says: “Look, we pray, O Lord, on this your family, for who our Lord Jesus Christ did not hesitate to be delivered into the hands of the wicked and submit to the agony of the cross.” Dios y Padre nuestro, mira con bondad a esta familia tuya, por la cual nuestro Señor Jesucristo no dudó en entregarse a sus verdugos y padecer el tormento de la cruz. When I prayed it, or more likely read it on Palm Sunday, after a long and tiring Liturgy I was struck by the words. Looking at the people in front of me in the chapel of Saint Jude Vista Hermosa Estado de Mexico, I thought, Jesus did it for them. Jesus did it for me. It just seemed so overwhelming personal and real. Jesus had me in mind, Jesus had the people in front of me mind and he didn’t hesitate. “Should I go through this holy week for Patrick Keyes?” The washing of the feet, the agony in the garden, being brought before the Sanhedrin, Pilate and Herod, the crowning with the thrones, the beating, the carrying of the cross, three hours on the cross, the burial and the sorrow of his mother, all of it? Jesus’ looked at me and said, “yes!” Yes, I’ll do it for him. Jesus looked at the crowd I was sent to minister to that particular Palm Sunday and he said, “yes!” I kept that thought in mind as I went through the celebration of Holy Week this year!