This Week
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
29/3/2026
Tell me angel, what turned you away?
The slaughter of the sheep or the life of the Lord?
The death of the sheep or the type of the Lord? The blood of the sheep or the spirit of the Lord?
(Homily of St Melito of Sardis on the Pascha)
I start this reflection, brothers and sisters, with these questions posed by St Melito of Sardis, about the angel of death, and the Lamb. The angel that took the first born from the Egyptians on the night when the children of Israel were liberated from slavery in Egypt.
This event that happened on that night is recapitulated every time we receive the Lord in the Eucharist. That he has become the one true Lamb, the ultimate sacrifice, so that we may escape the grip of death and have a new life in him.
St Melito of Sardis put it beautifully because he says that God gives his first born, his only begotten to ransom us from death. In other words the tomb is not the physical tomb, slavery is not a physical one even though all those things are very real, but in this case the Lord wants us to celebrate the Passover with him so that we can experience his victory over all our fears. Christ is the New Moses that comes to liberate us not just from physical death and physical slavery, but from the fear we are put in all our lives that we are alone.
The Israelites had to see the mighty Hand of God, when he parted the Red Sea. What is the Red Sea in your life? What is the impossible thing for you now.? Christ wants you to celebrate the Passover with us. He wants to give us the life of Grace which this Easter promises us. Let us not live this time as another Easter and another ritual but let us rejoice that Christ is Victorious and promises us that we can be free to love like him
Let us pray also at this time for the Holy Land, and for all the Christians there, that Christ will celebrate the Passover with them. Through their great tribulation, Christ will cover them with his blood as he will do with us if we open our hearts to his plan.
Have a beautiful Holy Week,
Fr Axcel
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