Fifth Sunday of Lent: Meditation on the Entrance Antiphon

"Give me justice, O God, and plead my cause against a nation that is faithless. From the deceitful and cunning rescue me, for you, O God, are my strength." - Entrance Antiphon for the Fifth Sunday of Lent

Today begins the sacred two weeks of the year, formerly known as Passiontide, for within these last two weeks of Lent, the Church will turn Her attention exclusively to the Passion of our Savior. While we were rejoicing last Sunday, in order to be reminded of the Resurrection which will follow, now that we have been enlivened by those thoughts, we must delve into the mystery of our Christ's suffering, which will culminate in His sacrificial and saving death.

The Church gives almost a complete suspension to any signs of joy over these two weeks, with only a few exceptions. In addition to the Alleluia, Gloria, and Te Deum which have been suspended throughout Lent, the images and statues in a church may be veiled and it was formerly the practice to even cease reciting the "Glory be." These practices were all meant to turn our thoughts exclusively to the Passion of the Lord. Finally, before Easter arrives, the austerities will even further increase, but we shall consider those in their proper time. 

The words of the Entrance Antiphon, which we are about to consider will show well the thoughts of the Church during this time, for as noted, the thoughts are all caught up in the meditation of our Lord’s Passion, and the Church would have us walk these final two weeks of Lent with Him on the road to Calvary and the Resurrection. We may place these words in the mouth of our Lord during these weeks, for as the Liturgy has constantly been reminding us, the Pharisees and the leaders of the Jews were very desirous to put Jesus to death.

The final plot to put Jesus to death, however, shall begin today, for this Sunday, like the former two Sundays, has the option to use the readings for Year A, especially in coordination with the celebration of the Third Scrutiny, and the Gospel Reading for Year A is that of the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

While we shall not consider this raising from the dead in coordination with our meditation upon the Entrance Antiphon, it is important to note what comes from it. The passage after the resurrection of Lazarus is:

"Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him; but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council . . . . So from that day on they took counsel how to put him [Jesus] to death (John 11:45-47, 53)."

The raising of Lazarus was the final straw for these wicked men. While they had often desired the arrest of Jesus, Caiaphas, the high priest at the time of the council, prophesied the death of Jesus, and so that became their ultimate goal.

But let us now look at the prophecy of Caiaphas. He says, "It is expedient for you [the chief priests] that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish (John 11:50)." John then tells us, "He [Caiaphas] did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad (John 11:51-52)." With the thoughts of this evil council and this prophecy in mind, let us now move into consideration of the Entrance Antiphon.

If we place the words of this antiphon in the mouth of our Lord, it only makes sense that this is a prayer to the Father prayed within His Passion, through His humanity. Throughout this Lent, we have repeatedly seen the faithlessness of the Jewish nation, especially its leaders, those people who were supposed to be most ready for the coming of the Messiah! While many Jews realized Jesus was the Messiah, such as the man born blind whom we saw in last Sunday's Gospel, Jesus has constantly rebuked the chief priests for not recognizing Him as the one whom they await, e.g. John 9:39-41; Matthew 11:20-24, 23:29-36. The nation of Israel was once again faithless, as it had so often been throughout its history! Its leaders themselves are scheming to end the presence of Jesus among them.

Nonetheless, as we saw at Christmas, the moment of Christ's birth on earth had been decreed from all eternity, as shown by the chanting of the Proclamation of the Birth of Christ. Likewise, His saving death and Resurrection have also been decreed, and these events, while brought about by the Scribes and Pharisees, have not been chosen by humans, but by Jesus Himself as the means through which He shall save the human race. These wicked men plotting the death of our Lord, then, do not realize how powerless they are before the Almighty, however.

It is like this with all earthly powers. Their comprehension of their feebleness, nay their nothingness, before the face of Almighty God is always lacking. Those of earthly minds always believe themselves in control of the situation, and to an extent they are, for they only look to control the things of this earth, but in the grand scheme they have no power! God alone has full control of time and history, for He extends beyond it! He who looks towards the things of earth will only be led inwards, but he who looks towards the things of Heaven will be led to seek God, through Whom Heaven and eternal life may be attained.

This is the example Jesus sets for us. He places His life in His Father's hands. We see Him pray in Gethsemane, "Yet not what I will, but what thou wilt (Mark 14:16)." He does not attempt to fight as the men of earth do, with scheming and cunning devices, with endless hours of strategy and shrewd dealings, but He places all trust in God and gives the battle to Him, to Whom all power and wisdom belongs!

And does not God the Father bestow upon Jesus, His Own Divine Son, justice? Although Jesus was, "crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men," yet, "God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it (Acts 2:23-24)." While Jesus suffered injustice at the hands of the Jewish leaders and before the Pilate and the Romans, He received His justice from God, for He was not worthy of the sentence of death, and therefore could not remain dead, due to the perfect and harmonious justice of God.

But the justice bestowed upon Christ extends also to us, for by dying Christ has paid the ransom for our sin, granting us an inheritance in His own Divine life. We may consequently use these words as our own. We may pray that God will not doom us with this faithless generation, the "culture of death," in which we are now living as St. John Paul II was apt to call it. Instead, if we live our Christian lives in conformity with the Gospel, if we place our trust in God, we may have faith that He will provide for all our needs. He will not allow us to be overcome by death, but like Lazarus in the tomb, He will call us forth and through us, He will show the world His love!

In these final days of Lent, then, let us work all the harder to separate ourselves from our attachments to this world. While this is hard, for the things of this world are not evil in themselves, by cleaving to them, due to our fallen nature, we run the risk of forgetting God and wishing only to live in the world. By falling into this trap, we assure ourselves of everlasting torment, for we will receive that which we desire.

We must also remember that the enemy, the devil, Satan, wants us to fall into this trap. He tempted Judas to betray our Lord (Luke 22:3), and he wishes to do likewise to us. And we cannot underestimate him. He is deceitful and cunning and will use all the means at his disposal to trap us and lead us into perdition. Nevertheless, we may take confidence in the promise of our Lord:

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you (Matthew 10:16-20)."

If we give ourselves completely to our Lord and separate ourselves completely from the attachment to this world, we will then be living vessels of the Spirit of God within the world. God will be our strength and all of Satan's wiles and schemes will fail. He will be nothing more than a barking dog! And we, we shall be used, like the raising of Lazarus, "for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means," of us (John 11:4)!"