Hosanna: o Lord, Save Us Now!

We celebrate the Lord’s “triumphal entry” into our lives, and Hosanna continues to resound as a cry of hope, a necessary quest for salvation, and a blessing from on high. We say Hosanna, and our hearts fill with gratitude as we remember the prelude to the passion

and suffering of the One who would die on the cross to change the destiny of the hopeless sinner. Hosanna was a desperate cry whose echoes spread with the hammer blows driving the nails into the wood, so that the world might gain entrance to salvation. What a shame that we cry Hosanna only during these days!

One day we share the King’s table, and the next we look destitute. The crowd that celebrated His entry into Jerusalem and cried, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (John 12:13), was shouting, “Crucify Him!” five days later. Any resemblance to present-day reality? Last Sunday, on my way to church, I watched a crowd returning from Mass with fronds from guano palms and young coconut palms. Some carried more than one to distribute among relatives. Here, the “tradition” is to hang the frond behind the front door of the house until its leaves dry out, as though it bore a special blessing. Inevitably, I wondered: And what will they do tomorrow, Monday? Will they forget Sunday and return to their lives devoid of God? I ended my reflection by applying the same prescription to myself and asking the same question: What will I do tomorrow that is worthy of the Lord and is not limited solely to this week of passion, death, and resurrection?

I felt like Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son—crippled, dragging both feet behind the crutches of shame. The Lord taught me another great lesson, and an hour later I too joined the chorus crying, “Hosanna, Hosanna!” moved by the beauty of the praise.

This is a week that should invite us to Christian reflection, but with our hands nailed to the same wood as the Son of God. Reflection alone is not enough. Remembering merely for the sake of remembering is not enough either. People want deeds, not words… and so does the Lord. We need to feel the pain of the sacrifice in our own bodies—the spear in our side, the vinegar on our lips, the shame of the reproach, and the wounds from the crown of thorns—so that the world may believe that we truly are saved and that His death brought us true life, stirred hardened hearts, and left us the astonishing gift of grace to overcome the sin that was depriving us of the glory of God.

Hosanna means, “Oh Lord, save us now!” You and I know that the world needs the Savior, but given the way things are going, it seems that some time will still pass—unless Christ returns first—“before every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord.” And what are we going to do about it? We could pray, and it would be good to do so, but I believe that God’s will calls us, along with prayer, to take the courageous step of proclaiming His Kingdom. Have we not already decided to carry our own cross and follow Him? My prayer is that your life and mine may merge with Christ’s, joyfully cry Hosanna to our God for the lost world, and at the same time clothe ourselves as laborers equipped with the implements of the gospel in this vast field whose harvest is so urgently needed. God bless you!