Palm Sunday Of The Passion of the Lord

“Lost and Found” by Greg Olsen. Used with Permission. http://www.GregOlsen.com

November 20, 2022

April 10, 2022

See video of this homily
GOSPEL READING STARTS AT 22:37
HOMILY STARTS AT 39:42

Luke 22:14 – 23:56
(Full Gospel reading for Palm Sunday available here.)

Homily

When I was in high school, I was popular, as all of you guys know – me being your favorite Deacon and everything. I got an opportunity to become President of our class. I had an opportunity to address the assembly of students a few times.

One of the times I felt really brave, and I decided to address some things without talking to our Administration prior to. And the students stood up and clapped because of the things that I had said. And I felt very, very good about the fact that I had addressed those things, until I turned to the wings of the auditorium, and there I saw this 6-foot-seven, 350-pound man who actually was our Principal. It doesn’t take much to take you from a very high place to a very low place.

Today, we see this. Today, Jesus, although He has had victories all through this, if you paid attention to the Gospel, a lot of His victories were for Gentiles – you and me. The Jewish people, especially the ruling people of the Jewish religion, were very much against Him. And so, He was never going to win them over. But the Jewish people, today, sing His praises. That’s what we just witnessed as we came around in this procession – such a beautiful opportunity to talk about Jesus.

The sad thing is, for me, the thing that hurts my heart really is the fact that He still has to go through what’s coming this week. And the reason He has to go through that is because people like me who are His legacy – people who are broken, people who continue to make mistakes, people who choose, sometimes, the easy path instead of the harder path which is following God.  

This coming week we’re going to have a dark period there. Triduum is a vey difficult time for us, especially as Catholics. Not every Christian faith follows what we follow. But I think it is very, very important for us to understand that we continue to be the reason that Jesus had to go to the Cross. And yet, He would have done it, not just once. He would have done it as many times as He needed to do. Why? Because He loves us. And what we have to do, during this time, is really understand the suffering that Jesus is about to go through. Here in the Passion, we hear it. If we don’t continue, or if we don’t at least try to love our brothers and sisters – if we don’t try to avoid what’s happening right now over in the Ukraine (and not just that – but there are other places in the world that are having wars). But if we can’t love our brothers and sisters, we will continue to nail Him to the Cross.