Homily for Palm Sunday

When I am weak, that is when I am strong.

The last shall be first and the first shall be last.

Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.

Unless you lose your life, you will not find your life.

Unless the grain of wheat dies, it will produce no fruit.

Take up your cross, the Master said, if you would my disciple be.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly.

 

I could go on and on with Scripture citations that show that God’s ways are not our own.  But nothing quite describes the paradox of Christianity than the Scriptures of Palm Sunday.  On Sunday there was the certain glory of being recognized as King, the long awaited Messiah with shouts of “Hosanna.” Then on Friday rejection and hate fill the day now called Good Friday with shouts of “Crucify Him!”

   

It is a law written on the hearts of all the baptized that what looks to be absolutely terrible is used by the Lord for something more wonderful than the human mind can conceive.  There is another law written on our hearts: that comfort, success, fame, fortune, and pleasure are not the paths to the fullness of life.  Rather, the path to the fullness of life is the way of the cross.

 

No one really matures unless there is some profound difficulty to face.  Just as a rose bush needs to be cut back for there to be new rosebuds, so must we allow ourselves to be pruned by the vine grower so that we may bear much fruit.  Just so must we interpret every difficulty in our lives as pruning by the divine vine grower.

 

Trials, failures, sins, scandals, sickness, and even death are the moments when we are most open to the transforming grace of God – because in moments of desperation, we know, like at no other time in our lives, that we need the grace of God.  When we are weak, that is when we are strong – because in our weakness we know our need for God.  In our own agonies in the garden we find the power of God at work in those who believe.  

 

When all goes well, when we abide in success and wealth, when we triumphantly achieve our goals and conquer every interference, then we are more than likely to attribute such deeds to our own doing.  In doing so we have begun to worship a false god, the god of self, or the god of success, and such idolatry brings on ruin.

 

The triumph of the cross is the true path to true life.  In following our Lord and Master, we will inevitably wind up at the foot of Calvary.  Even if it is not until the last moment of our lives, every one of us will come to know the cross.  But if we have not been schooled in the way of the cross, we can lose our way along the way.  If we reject the discipline of the disciple, if we avoid at all costs the painful truths of self-denial and compassion, then we will not come to know the love of the Lord Jesus who is the ultimate proof that the way to life is by the way of the cross.

 

During this coming Holy Week, I implore us all not to waste the grace offered during this week.  Come to the Lenten Penance Service on Monday night; let us confess our sins so that we may know in our own specific lives how the Lord forgives us.  Come to the Holy Thursday and Good Friday services and then rejoice with Holy Church throughout the world as we recall that day when hope conquered all.