Homily: Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord – Cycle B
Each year, Palm Sunday invites us to enter deeply into that fateful week in which Our Lord fulfilled the Father’s plan to redeem us from sin and to conquer sin and death forever. In this week we follow literally in his footsteps as we watch, day by day, as events unfold leading up to his passion, death, and resurrection. Today, we preview what Friday will bring us by recounting our Lord’s Passion. In order to help us to enter more deeply into this experience of Our Lord’s Passion, I would like to share with you a reflection by Father Edward Steiner that was recently published in The Priest magazine. Fr. Steiner invites us to identify with various persons highlighted in this Passion account so that we might more deeply experience the profound power of God’s mercy, poured out in what Jesus—God’s only Son—suffered for us. Let us now consider his words.
(I have no desire to invite any sort of copyright complaints, so click here to read Fr. Steiner's full reflection, found on the Our Sunday Visitor website. What follows is what I added to his words at the end of my homily.)
But what about the woman who anointed Jesus with costly perfumed oil? Are we ever her, offering all that we have simply to honor Jesus for who he is and for what he has done for us? If we can see and admit our role in the crucifixion, then perhaps we can also acknowledge the chance we are being given to humble ourselves before the Lord and to anoint him with our praise and our service.
Therefore, this week, let us courageously humble ourselves before the Lord and let us acknowledge our role in his Passion and Death, so that we, too, might glory in the power of his mercy when we celebrate his Resurrection on Easter Sunday: the power that we receive, even now, in this Holy Eucharist.
Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – March 28th & 29th, 2015
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