On the Sufferings of Life: Palm Sunday

       One of my ministries here at St Michael’s is helping people which are going through the process of divorce. I’m a marriage advocate for the marriage tribunal of the archdiocese of Baltimore, and I also participate in the St Michael’s Divorce Survivors group.
      That is a long way of saying I have talked with a lot of people who are in the midst of their divorce.
      It is my experience the vast majority of people who find themselves in this situation live in a state of shock. I listen to them and their stories and I hear the same words again and again:
“I never expected this to happen! I was/am in complete shock”. And it seems that the more unexpected their divorce is to them, the more pain and despair they experience and the higher the sense of betrayal, confusion, fear and loss.
      Those who have gone through this experience will tell you how life shattering it could be. The reality is divorce not the only event in life which will sent you into this tailspin of emotions:

• The unexpected death of a friend or loved one
• The betrayal of a friend
• The serious diagnosis of a life threatening disease

      All these events are like lightning strikes on a clear day. One minute we are happy and content and the next we find ourselves  in the middle of a storm. The fact is, in life no one is immune to these experiences. Everyone has one and there is no assurance they will not happen again.
         You might be wondering what does all this have to do with Palm Sunday?  Well, if you listen to the readings today there is just such a shocking transition in the story. In a matter of minutes we go from Jesus' glorious entrance into Jerusalem to his crucifixion and death. It is as if we are not given time enough to breathe.
         I wish I could tell you that you will never go through a life shattering experience. The truth is I cannot. The only thing I can say is this. The reason why we are here today celebrating Jesus entrance into Jerusalem. The reason why we celebrate Holy Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Easter is to remind us that we never suffer alone. God himself suffers with us because he suffered as one of us. And it is because of His suffering we can make sure our suffering is not wasted. How? By seeing our pain in His pain.
        So, I invite you, during these holy days, to meditate in the sufferings of Christ, and how they reflect your own sufferings. And the hope his death on the cross gives to each one of us. God Bless you.

NOTE: This is a paraphrase of what I said during the Palm Sunday mass homily. I tried to keep it short because it is  a long mass.

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Palm Sunday

    A few weeks ago I got a very strange text message from one of my daughters. She wanted me to tell her what color was the dress in a picture she was sending me; Maybe you know the picture and the dress I’m talking about. … and perhaps your own family like mine spend a couple of days arguing about “It is white and Gold...No it is Blue and black!”. The thing is...Regardless of what color this dress was, every one who saw it saw something completely different although they were all looking at the same picture of the same dress.
  Just now as we do every year, we heard the passion story as it was told by the Gospel of St Mark. I would venture to say that, today, like when that white and gold and blue and black dress almost break the Internet, each one of us heard a different story. For some this was the same long, boring story we have to endure every Palm Sunday. For others this story brought to mind images from the many movies they have seem about the passion of our Lord. Perhaps;  others, when they heard these words, might have remembered images of long gone Palm Sundays, from a time in which Churches presented Passion Plays with real Romans costumes and a real Cross.
  Regardless of what was our reaction to this long reading, today I would like to issue a challenge to all of you: Do you think you are brave and strong enough to, during this Holy week, especially during Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, to voluntarily forget all those tired images we recycle every year, and really pay attention to what will be happening  these days?  How about if we make a effort, this year to really enter into this story with all of our senses, all of our mind, all of our heart? Starting today lets really make an effort to hear the readings, to smell the incense, to see the fire in the candles and tapers, to really taste the wine and the bread. Let us make a conscientious effort to live these days like Jesus and the apostles lived then. Who knows, maybe we will discover new meanings for the institution of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday, for Jesus death on the Cross Holy Friday, for the new birth of baptism by those joining the Christian Church on Holy Saturday, for Jesus resurrection on Easter morning.
   If there is one thing that, sometimes white and gold, sometimes blue and black, dress proved is that usually we settle for the first thing our senses perceive and end up seen what we want to see. How about if this week we force ourselves not to settle, and make an effort to discover the true meaning of Holy Week?  Again I challenge you… are you strong enough?

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