As
soon as the Roman Emperor Constantine formally recognized the Church in the 4th
century, the Christian faithful in Jerusalem started to publicly re-enact the
solemn entry of Christ into their city on the Sunday before Easter. They held a grand procession in the streets
of Jerusalem in which they carried branches and sang “Hosanna in the highest”. We
follow in this same tradition of the Early Church today as we commemorate Palm
Sunday of the Lord’s Passion and the beginning of Holy Week. Besides the procession with palms or branches, the other notable ancient feature
of Palm Sunday from the Early Church is the reading of the Gospel of the Passion
on this day, which today comes from the Gospel of Mark. Holy
Week is a very special sacred time in our Church’s liturgical year. It is
a week full of sacred liturgy as we complete our journey with Jesus on his way
to the cross during the holy season of Lent, as Jesus journeys to his death and
resurrection and brings us the salvation we have in him.
This
past week, I was speaking to a man at the Sanctuary Hospice who is in his last
days. He had a large painting and
several smaller images of St Francis of Assisi in his room. He was telling me how he felt St Francis was
accompanying him in his last days there at the Hospice House, how St Francis
for him has been such a great example of faith. And
just this past week, on March 24, we marked the 35th anniversary of
the date in which Archbishop Oscar Romero from the small country of El Salvador
in Central America was gunned down by the military forces of his own country while
celebrating mass. The Vatican has
official declared Archbishop Romero martyr for the faith. Pope Francis has expressed his admiration for
Romero, supporting his cause for beatification and sainthood and calling him a holy
man of God. We have
a lot of great examples and models of faith in our Church throughout
history. However, in Mark's Gospel,
Jesus' disciples are rarely models of faith.
In the way they are depicted, we perhaps wonder how these disciples
would continue Christ’s ministry after his death. As we
just heard in the reading of the Passion, at the Last Supper, the disciples
insist that none of them would betray Jesus. Jesus
predicted that their faith would be shaken in the upcoming events of his way to
the cross. Peter and the other disciples
denied this. Yet
in his agony in the garden, while Jesus prays, the disciples sleep through the
night. Not
only does Peter deny Jesus, but in the Gospel account, it does not mention the
disciples being present at Christ’s passion and death. In
fact, only the women who had been followers of Jesus in Galilee are reported as
being present at the Crucifixion, although at a distance.
As we
commemorate the passion of the Lord today and recognize Christ’s triumphant entry
into Jerusalem right before his crucifixion, we might wonder: How are the
events of Lent and Palm Sunday and Holy Week going to have an impact on our
lives? I
have been very edified in the way I have seen our parishioners taking their
Lenten promises and commitments seriously, how many of you have come to
Stations of the Cross, daily mass, reconciliation, and the adoration of the
Blessed Sacrament during Lent to commemorate this holy time. Last
year during the Palm Sunday liturgy at St Peter’s Square in Rome, Pope Francis
asked the faithful some very direct questions that come out of today’s Gospel
reading of the Passion: How has your life of faith fallen asleep, just like the
disciples who fell asleep while they should have been keeping watch with Jesus? Are
you like Pontius Pilate in the Gospel, who, when he sees a difficult situation,
then washes his hands of it? Those
questions give us a lot to think about, don’t they? Hopefully we have looked at our lives and the
commitment we make to our faith during our Lenten journey, and hopefully the
reflections and conclusions we have reached will have an impact on the way we
live out our faith during the rest of the year.
We have
a lot going on all during Holy Week, and it is easy to put all the focus on the
many liturgies that are going on in our local parish here in Tupelo, but during
this upcoming week, I will join the other priests and representatives from all
the parishes of the Diocese to make the journey down to our Cathedral of St
Peter the Apostle in Jackson to celebrate the Chrism mass with Bishop
Kopacz. The Chrism Mass reminds us of our oneness in Christ through Baptism and our
holy anointing that we receive through our baptism: this is made possible by the
ministry of our Bishop and his priests in our Diocese. During the Chrism mass, not only
will the entire assembly renew its baptismal promises with the Bishop, but the
deacons and priests of our Diocese will renew the vow of obedience to Bishop
and their commitment to serve God’s people in the various parishes and
ministries in our Diocese. Also, during this liturgy, the
Bishop blesses the oils that we will use in the Sacraments that we will
celebrate this year. The Chrism mass is a very special
show of unity and loyalty to our Bishop and to our holy universal Church.
I really hope to see all of you at
our liturgies this Holy Week. Through these liturgies, we really
make sense of what our faith is all about. We have this beautiful renovated
church in which we are celebrating our liturgies this Holy Week. I really want to see our church full
during our Holy Week liturgies. And, as
your pastor, I would like to ask all of you to especially attend our services
of the Triduum – Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil Mass on
Saturday. All of these are beautiful
liturgies and all of them will help you grow in your faith as our Lenten
journey comes to an end. I know that we have busy lives, with
a lot of commitments and responsibilities pulling at us and demanding our
time. However, let us all make a
commitment to our faith this week as a community of faith to accompany Jesus on
his journey to the cross and the resurrection.
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