The forty-day celebration of the Nativity concluded with the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple; the forty-day Great Fast concludes with his Entrance into Jerusalem. In both cases, the Lord comes to his people in a posture of sacrifice; in both cases, he is received with joy. Once he who is enthroned upon the cherubim was borne in the arms of the righteous Simeon; now he who rides on the wings of the wind is carried by the foal of an ass. Once he was hailed by two wizened prophets and elders as a Light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of his people, Israel; now he is greeted by all of Jerusalem as the expected Messiah. But whereas he once escaped the rage of Herod, now he will be given over to death at the hands of Pontius Pilate by the very people who today exclaim, “Hosanna in the highest.” But this is all in accord with his plan: he desired to die so that his kingdom could be revealed, the kingdom where he reigns in those who are saved by his Passion and bought by his Blood.
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