We gather today on Palm Sunday in anticipation of Holy Week. We hear two Gospel readings today. At the beginning of our liturgy, we receive palm fronds as we commemorate Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The multitude of Jesus’ disciples began to praise God aloud with joy for all the mighty deeds they had seen. They proclaimed: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.” However, the joy of his procession into Jerusalem turns into a harsher reality as we hear the prophet Isaiah foretell of the servant who will be condemned and betrayed, as we hear hear the Psalm, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”, and we read the passion narrative from Luke’s Gospel. We begin the Mass with cries of Hosanna. Then in the passion narrative, the crowds shout to have Jesus crucified.
The juxtaposition of these different emotions at Mass today say a lot about our human condition. We want to be a part of the crowd that welcomes Jesus into his holy city of Jerusalem with great joy and triumph. We want to do good on our journey of faith, but we can find ourselves turning back to sin. Some of the crowd who welcomed him into Jerusalem may have been some of the same ones who wanted to see him punished and put to death. St Paul expressed the struggle he had in his letter to the Romans: “What I do, I do not understand.
For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate…For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” We have the example of the crowds who want to have Jesus crucified, but we also have the example of the good thief who has compassion for Jesus, knowing Jesus has done nothing wrong, who pleads with Jesus in a spirit of repentance: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Let us imitate the compunction of the good thief this Palm Sunday and this Holy Week, that we may rejoice in the fullness of Christ’s redemption and resurrection on Easter Sunday and beyond.
I learned a lot of Martin de Porres when I was a missionary in Ecuador, as the African Ecuadoran community where I served had a very strong devotion to him. I have this little statue of St Martin de Porres that I purchased outside of the Metropolitan Cathedral of St James in the city of Santiago, Chile, when I studied there in the summer of 2002. Born in Lima, Peru in 1579, less than 50 years after the Spain arrived in South American and had conquered the Incan empire and had brought Christianity to that land. Martin de Porres very much reflected the colonial era of South America, as his mother was of African and indigenous ancestry and a freed slave, and his father was the illegitimate son of Spanish nobleman.
I think of how Jesus was derided and scorned, yet came as a servant to bring us salvation and redemption. Martin de Porres was derided and discriminated against because of his ethnic background. He had little opportunities because of being mixed race, compared to the opportunities open for the Spaniards. At the age of 15, he joined the local Dominican priory as a lay volunteer, because as a person of mixed race, he was not allowed to join the order as a full member. He performed all of the menial tasks at the priory, which is why he is usually portrayed with a broom in his hand. Martin helped out where he could: in the kitchen, doing laundry, and cleaning. He would take his broom with him when he visited the sick, cleaning out their living quarters as an act of love and service. Due to his humility, patiences, and compassion, he was in charge of the infirmary at the priory for 25 years until the time his death This quote is attributed to St Martin de Porres: “Everything, even sweeping, scraping vegetables, weeding a garden ad waiting on the sick could be a prayer if it is offered to God. After 8 years of Martin’s humble service, the member of the priory allowed Martin to take vows as a member of the third order of St Dominic. He was able to wear the habit of the Dominicans.
Martin also had a great love for animals. He and his sister started a refuge in her apartment for animals who were sick or who were abandoned. A story is told of how Martin was told to get rid of the mice and rats that had overrun the priory. Martin was seen leading the mice and rats out into the garden, where he promised them he would feed them once a day if they stayed out of the priory. That solved there problem.
We see a lot of people in our world reacting to their reality out of anger and frustration, out of vengeance and violence. Yet, we have the example of Martin de Porres, who lived a life of service and humility. His reputation as a saint was well known by the Dominicans and the people of Peru when he died in 1639. He was canonized in Rome in 1962 by Pope John XXIII. He is the patron saint of social justice, of the country of Peru, and of people of mixed race. He is also the co-patron saint of the Diocese of Biloxi.
