In the Gospel for PALM SUNDAY (Matthew 26:1-27:66), we have the scene in the Garden at Gethsemane. Jesus has returned from wrenching prayer, to find his favored Apostles asleep. Jesus knows what is about to happen; He has fully accepted His Father's will ("Not my will, but Yours be done"). Jesus says, "ARISE, LET US BE ON OUR WAY."(26:46). What lay ahead was rejection, isolation, denial, mockery, suffering, spit, crucifixion, and death. Jesus does not turn back nor run away. He goes the 'way' that His Father-God has given Him. Yet, Jesus believes that this way and only this way will lead to true and lasting life.
Each time we pray "The Apostles Creed", we say, "He(Jesus) was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again and...." The word "hell" is not an accurate translation. Jewish people of Jesus' time believed in SHEOL, a "place of shadows." The place where those who had died had some sort of vague existence. In the view of the Church, this was the "Hell" of the Apostles Creed. The Church taught that since God expelled Adam and Eve from Paradise, that the gates to heaven were closed. All those good people since the beginning of time: Abraham/Sara, Isaac/Rebecca, Jacob/Rachel; Moses, Samuel, David; Isaiah, Jeremiah,Ruth, Daniel, Ezekiel; Joseph-all these were in that "hell" waiting to be released and allowed to enter heaven.
And so, I thought of Jesus descending "into hell", coming before the throng of those holy people and announcing, "Arise! The darkness is over; death is no more; the gates of Paradise are open. Let us be on our way." To Mary Magdalene and Martha, Stephen, Peter and the others, Paul; Lawrence, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Agnes, Agatha; Augustine, Origen, Jerome; Patrick, Cosmas and Damian; Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure; Benedict and Bernard; Catherine of Siena, Clare, Francis of Assisi and Francis de Sales; Thomas Becket and Thomas More; Isaac Jogues and the North American Martyrs; Charles de Foucauld and the martyred religious of Algeria; Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day,Oscar Romero, and Cesar Chavez; to the priests and religious murdered in Iraq, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, and Guatemala; to the millions of silent, forgotten, faithful followers of the Lord; to your parents, spouses, siblings, godparents, grandparents, and mine: It is Jesus Christ who proclaims this message of hope and confidence, "ARISE! LET US BE ON OUR WAY to..GLORY, PARADISE, HEAVEN....HOME."