Palm Sunday (2023-04-02)

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 [__ver-03__]  ● April 2, 2023 ● Palm Sunday ●    ●  Isaiah 50:4-7 ● Psalm 22  ● Philippians 2:6-11 ●  Matthew 27 passion  ● 

Source(s)/Biblio:   ► Pope Benedict XVI (Josef Ratzinger), Dogma and Preaching (1973), San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2011.

[__01__]   The passion and death of Jesus our Lord – who goes to his death on the Cross without luxury and without celebration – highlights the meaning of St. Paul’s letter to Timothy:   “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out.”  (1 Timothy 6:7)

 [__02__]   Pope Benedict XVI  (B16) wrote that for you and me to understand the process of living …it is not just about learning stuff in school, or learning to invest money wisely, to eat right or even find perfect spouse or career.

          All of these things, but they are not the ultimate good.

“For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out.”  (1 Timothy 6:7)

[__03_(a)_] We are called to learn the connection between “living” and “dying”. And, dying is not just about what happens after our heart gives out and the death certificate – your passport out of here – is stamped.

          In other words, we are called to “die” each day.

          By acts of prayer, fasting and alms/charitable giving, and visiting a sick person, loving the person who either cannot or will not love us in return. This is “taking up our cross and dying each day.”

I want to be careful here. Lent and the 40 days of Lent and the Christian disciplines are not nuanced or subtle self-harm or self-inflicted wound.

          We are not asked to abstain from meat on Fridays and to make material sacrifices just to “make ourselves miserable.”

          In a similar way, God does not want any young person – or any person – to inflict harm on himself.

[__04_(b)_]        We fast and pray – and do these disciplines during Lent to unite ourselves to Christ and reminder that he is in charge, not me, not you.

          Are we not often reminded that we cannot “control” the world or universe. We may get stuck behind a school bus, or derailed by someone else’s sinfulness or our own sinfulness.

          Do you want to be in charge?

          I Do ..but this “I Do” is not the vow that Jesus is asking of us.

          So, when we say no to ice cream or to entertainment or to the tablet/video, this helps us in little ways to allow God to be in charge.

          And, we do this not simply to lose weight or get in shape, but to prepare our hearts to for love and to resist “giving up” when things get tough.

[__04_(c)_] How do I give up when things get tough? From my perspective, I can give in to bitterness and resentment.           After all, I am in charge – right?

          But this bitterness and resentment can be also the sinful source of “bad” anger. Not all anger is bad. Some anger is righteous. Jesus demonstrated righteous anger (cleansing of Temple, admonition of Peter, or somewhat angrily telling Peter and others “stay awake”, etc).

          But, anger allowed to run rampant is fatal, toxic, lethal. And, as we read, the Lord does not want the sinner to die but to turn to him and live.

          So, in acknowledging our anger, we are also learning not only about how to live but also how to suffer and die.

          When Jesus could have been really angry, he said, forgive them father they not what they do.

          When I get hurt or frustrated or injured by others or by myself, I often do not say this. I need “practice” to learn this, to learn about “dying” – in a spiritual and charitable sense. not just as a medical reality at the end of life, but dying to myself each day.

Death is not something that simply befalls us.

[__05__]    Our solemn observances and prayers of Holy Week remind us that Jesus has died and yet he also promises to return. This was mysterious even to his own apostles and also to us today.

          To children, it may be difficult to understand or at least hard to pronounce.  One of my cousins told me a story about her grandchildren who were learning and even singing of the Paschal / Easter mystery of faith. But because they had no place intellectually place this new vocabulary word for Messiah = “Christ”, they replaced Jesus’ title with a similar sounding word, whether in long or short grain style:

          [ Rice has died  - Rice is risen  -        Rice will come again.]

[__06__]    They were onto something, because Jesus –while not being “rice”-- is the grain who falls upon the ground and dies, but he is also the grain that bears much fruit in Holy Communion. (cf. John 12:24)

          You and I are called to accept death and Christ’s death for us and  “translate that fact concretely into his own existence” (Dogma & Preaching, p. 250), citing such examples as –

·       Humiliation / be humbled by failure or sinfulness –

·       illness of oneself or loved one

·       Decline in one’s mental ability.

[alt from ver. 1] The Pope writesof such examples as humiliation or being humbled by a failure or sinfulness. Have you felt humbled or humiliated lately?

So also is the illness of you face or the infirmity of a loved … or the decline in one's mental ability, mental or physical ability.

All of these are example of dying and surrendering to God. In this regard, death is not a “blind fate … [but a] training in true freedom .” (Dogma and Preaching, p. 251)

      Jesus’ life your life, my life has value beyond this world. Learning this and living this has an effect has an effect not only you, but on your children, grandchildren,  generations who come after you.    “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out.”  (1 Timothy 6:7)

But, we also trust that Christ, going before us in his Passion, shows us the value of traveling light and taking up our cross each day.  [__end__]