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Today on the traditional calendar marks Passion Sunday and the beginning of Passiontide. Many Churches will veil statues and images with violet cloth beginning today. In a time where we are drastically turning our focus toward the Passion of Our Lord and His crucifixion, many wonder why we would then cover the crucifix and hide it from our viewing. The reason we veil statues on this day are not to “hide” the saints from us, but rather to hide their shame, disbelief, and tears as they witness the horrific crime of the passion. Their shame reflects the horrible sins committed by creation against its own Creator. This Sunday moves our focus away from self-preparation for Easter Sunday and to meditative preparation. We must meditate on the soul mystery of our faith. The Paschal season is the summit of the Christian year. It is here that we encounter the mystery of Our Lord’s willingness to be attacked, mocked, and killed by His own creation, simply to gift himself fully to us. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us there are two reasons for this self-gift. First that God allows this treatment to His Son to show us just how grave sin is, but also to win our hearts through our own witnessing of the death of the Son of God. John’s Gospel tells us that "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). How great is the love of God then, to allow His only Divine Son to be killed. This act is God’s perfect revelation of His absolute love for His creation. This truly is something we do not think about enough. We all know that God’s love is mysterious and we cannot fully comprehend its extent, but when was the last time we tried? When was the last time we pondered just how much God loves us? God gives us outpourings of grace is our lives that we fail to recognize due to our ignorance of the greatness of His love. We cannot fail to recognize what Christ calls us to do with His love. In Second Vespers for Passion Sunday, we read from Paul’s Epistle to the Phillipians. “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5). Paul tells us we must give the same act of complete self-denial as Christ in our own relationships. We are called to give up everything we have for others, in the same way Christ gave His life for us.
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