Fr. Jorge Miró shares with Exaudi readers his commentary on the Gospel of this Sunday, April 13, 2025, entitled “I have ardently desired to eat this Passover with you.”

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During these holy days, we are going to celebrate the Paschal Mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ. We, too—you and I—are called to live the Paschal Mystery. To live it, not to remain as spectators watching from the sidelines, a spectacle that may be striking but, deep down, has nothing to do with His life.

We cannot follow Jesus from afar, as poor Peter does when Jesus is taken to the high priest’s house. We follow Jesus “from afar” when we don’t let Him be Lord of our entire life, when we flee from the cross, when we only listen to His voice when it suits us, when we set conditions for following Him…

We are not called to “be far away”; we are invited to sit at the table with Jesus: I have ardently desired to eat this Passover with you!

The Lord wants to celebrate Passover with you!

The whole life of a Christian is to live the Paschal Mystery. The whole Gospel is the Lord’s ascent to Jerusalem. And so is the whole life of a Christian. “Going up to Jerusalem” is much more than a geographical ascent; it is an existential ascent: it is taking up your cross and encountering the Lord there; living in obedience to God’s will and experiencing His victory in your life; seeing how the Holy Spirit makes your life new. It is living everything with the Lord.

The procession of palms visibly expresses our interior procession.

We are called to ascend with the Lord to Jerusalem to live the Passover with Him, who humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place… and let every tongue proclaim: Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

For one ascends to heaven by descending.

The second reading has spoken to us clearly. Two ways of living: Adam, being man, wanted to be like God, but without God, he wanted to ascend to heaven by “climbing,” and his distrust and disobedience brought us ruin. Christ, the new Adam, being God, emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, was obedient to the point of death, and brought us redemption.

And this is the daily battle: to follow Adam or to follow Jesus Christ. It’s up to you. Do you remain a spectator? Or do you accept the invitation to sit at table with Jesus?

Come, Holy Spirit! (cf. Luke 11:13).