PALM SUNDAY 28 March 2021, GOSPEL PASSION OF MARK
Title: Simon of Cyrene / On the Way.
[__01__] There is supposed to be a procession at the beginning of Palm Sunday Mass which we are not doing this year, to simplify the liturgy for the sake of our special circumstances of the pandemic.
But, nevertheless – the procession.
What is a procession?
A walking-in, entering. We process
into our homes via the threshold and front door. Or we process into Penn
Station on our way to the train, we process every time we walk.
And, we welcome the procession of
Jesus walking into church. We stand up
at the beginning of Mass, not because Father
_____, Father ____, or Father ____ is walking up the center aisle, but we stand
up because Jesus our Lord and Savior is here. We stand up for the procession at
the start of Mass.
I encourage you to read the procession
Gospel which we would normally read, because I am sure that each day you try to
welcome Jesus walking into your life that he is processing, walking to us and walking with us.
That’s the procession.
I’d
like to discuss the “procession” [P]
as….
-
[P] of some Sixth Graders
-
[P] of
Simon of Cyrene.
And,
the connection to the [P] of our Savior.
[__02__] This
is the procession of the Sixth Graders (i.e., kids in Grade 6 in school.). Recently,
a friend of mine shared with me an incident about "listening to
instructions” and what
happened
as a result of the instructions. It is also
about his particular hesitation and reluctance to listen. Sometimes, we are all
reluctant.
We were in grammar school in Grade 6 - sixth
grade. After school, in the afternoon, one day, my friend, and and some other
classmates did a “procession” of
bicycles in the neighborhood on a busy street.
No one was hurt, no no one was injured. Absolutely
nothing bad happened except for the intentionally caused traffic jam in the neighborhood,. They were
intentionally trying to stop traffic.
As a result, one of the neighbors called the
school office and Principal to report this dangerous incident. The school
principal, rounded up the usual suspects and brought all of them to the
Principal's office. My friend was one of them.
The principal's solution was to make each of
them listen to her, listen
to
her instructions about their bicycle “procession” which had caused the traffic jam.
And each of my classmates was instructed to call his parents from the principal’s
office
from the “land line” as we say.. Each had to explain what they did wrong.
And, to this achieved two things immediately (1)
responsibility taken by each young person and (2) message transmitted
to
the parents. The principal did not have
to wonder if the young person actually told his parents or not. And, the principal did not have to send a
letter or note home.
My friend was watching the clock
carefully as they went
around
the room and took turns at the telephone. The time on the clock was
important.
When my friend’s turn came around to pick the
phone, he picked up the phone and called the number which he had memorized by
heart - the . telephone number of the local
Pizzeria,
pizza shop. The time on the clock was
important because he was not sure if they were open yet or not. Fortunately,
for him, the restaurant and pizza shop was open and they picked up the phone
and allowed him to play out this role and charade and pretend to speak to his
mother, and he told the pizza counter
person of his offense and the traffic jam.
He did not try to order pizza.
[__03__] I bring this incident up only because
in a general way, it illustrates something about INSTRUCTIONS and a ROLE and
RESPONSIBILITY
In
this incident, the principal was playing her role, as the giver of instructions
and protector of the children and as the connector to their parents.
The principal played her role perfectly and I
remember
her
very fondly
My friend, however, had
found
the equivalent of a IRS tax loophole in her
instructions and was able to avoid telling his parents. They only learned about
this “phony phone call” a few years ago… more than 30 years later. That call
was really late in coming.
He also played his role perfectly. He
should have won an Academy Award for acting.
[__04__] What is the role of Simon of Cyrene in the
passion? Simon of of Cyrene is the person at the 5th station in
Stations of the Cross and he is at the Passion Gospel. Remember Simon of Cyrene is the person who was
pulled - against his wishes (not his idea) - from the crowd. Simon of Cyrene
was instructed by the strong Roman soldiers
to help Jesus carry the cross.
One possible view of Simon of Cyrene is that
he is the perfectly cooperative and loving and devout - and eager - assistant or carpenter’s helper picking up one end of the wooden cross.
He was young, strong, capable and he
could get the soldiers out of their own traffic jam and congestion / tie-up. The “procession” and
walk of Jesus had stalled stopped, from
exhaustion. The soldiers could not leave
Jesus here. They had to complete the “procession” and way of the Cross on time.
Simon was the solution…
What role is Simon of Cyrene playing? Is he
really taking responsibility?
Some
of us might say Simon of Cyrene is the paragon or epitome of discipleship. We see Simon of Cyrene as the opposite of
Simon Peter the Apostle who had denied
Jesus
3x and cannot relocate from the neighborhood fast enough.
Yet, we might recall that Simony of
Cyrene is really not given much of a choice. He does not really volunteer. He
starts out on the Gospel Way of the Cross, all Simon of Cyrene is play the
role" and do his part.
Simon of Cyrene may not want to do this. He
may wish he were not there. However, the Roman soldiers would have or could
have overpowered him into this task of carrying.
At this point, Simon of Cyrene is only
playing a role.
[__05__] Nevertheless, because he played a role, a
significant role role, Simon's name is recorded in the Gospel – and even his
family is remembered by name in the Gospel -- , we might imagine that he goes
through some conversion, metanoia,
some change of heart and that this affects, not only him but his family.
The roles we play - whether
as
a son or daughter, wife or husband, mother or father, friend or neighbor,
sister or brother may call us to do
things for which we feel unprepared or unmotivated. We may feel the timing is not right.
Hey,
sometimes, we are not "ready" and have to get ready along the way.
Have you ever studied for an academic test
at school in the car on the way to school in the car or on the bus? Or studied
for a test while on a plane, train or automobile or bus.
And we can get ready along the way, along the
way of a pandemic, along the way of a marriage along the way of being a
religious sister o brother or a priest, along the way of parenting, along the
way of a friendship,
We get ready … along the way of the Cross.
What Simon of Cyrene learns and we learn - is
that our
acts
of charity, goodness, honesty and
sacrifice
do draw us closer to
God
and to our neighbors, even
those
whom he can hardly know.
Simon
of Cyrene hardly knew Jesus in a when they were so "suddenly put on the
same team. And these acts of
sacrifice
change us from
playing
a role or pretending to make
phone
call - but to taking over to responsibility and receiving the call
hearing
the voice of Jesus to you and me.
[__fin_]
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