Homily:
Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday) – Cycle C
In April of 2015 I had the
blessed opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. It was an opportunity for me to give thanks
to God for the abundant blessings that had come to me throughout the first
three years of my priesthood and especially for the gift of healing from cancer
that I had received five years earlier.
For me, it was a personal pilgrimage, so I didn’t lead a group, but
rather tagged onto a group that was already traveling so I could truly
experience the Holy Land as a pilgrim.
Of the numerous biblical sites
that we visited, one of the more powerful was walking the “Via Dolorosa” or the
“Way of Sorrows”, more commonly known to us as the “Way of the Cross”. There, in the heart of the old city of
Jerusalem, is preserved the 14 stations of Jesus’ passion so that pilgrims can
walk the “way” that Jesus walked to his crucifixion, death, and burial. In fact, the “stations of the cross” that are
common in nearly every Catholic church and chapel today are there because of
these stations that had been preserved in Jerusalem for pilgrims.
Once the Moslem Turks had
taken possession of the Holy Land, pilgrims were not allowed to follow the
stations and so, eventually, in the 17th century, Pope Innocent IX
allowed stations to be erected in religious houses outside of the Holy Land and
he attached the same indulgence to following them as he did to making the
pilgrimage in the Jerusalem. Then, in
the 18th century, Pope Benedict XIII extended that indulgence to all
the faithful and his successor, Benedict the XIV, instructed pastors to erect
stations in every church, where possible, so that this devotion could spread
widely. All those details aside,
however, you can probably imagine that it was truly something special to walk
the original stations in Jerusalem.
We began our prayer at the
praetorium, where Jesus stood before Pilate and was sentenced to death. We celebrated Mass there in a church erected
just beside the location where the “trial” of Jesus took place. Then we set off on our journey, down the
streets of Old Jerusalem, to the hill of Calvary. What immediately struck me was that, while we
were walking down these streets, piously trying to pray and meditate on our
Lord’s passion, people were going about their daily business. In fact, many vendors were calling out to us
trying to sell us souvenirs along the way.
At first, I was put off by it; but then I saw a connection.
You see, when Jesus was
condemned to death, it was on the Friday afternoon before the Passover (which
began at sundown). In Jerusalem there would
have been thousands of people bustling around preparing to celebrate the
feast. Some of these folks probably had
no idea who Jesus was or why he was being condemned. Some, perhaps, had heard the “hosannas”
during his entrance but thought, “Here’s another ‘flash in the pan’, purporting
to be ‘king’”. Thus, as Jesus walked
along the streets, carrying his cross, many probably shook their heads and
sighed in resignation then went back to whatever it was that they were
doing. Perhaps there were even vendors
who had some certain wares that they tried to get “execution gapers” to buy as
these processions took place.
Regardless, it’s clear that Jesus’ conviction and execution didn’t cause
the world around him to stop, even though its fulfillment would change the
world.
Thus, Holy Week challenges
us. Unless you’re a priest or work for
the Catholic Church, your week this week probably isn’t going to revolve around
the coming Passion of Christ. Nevertheless,
this week must somehow be different for us.
We each have to be intentional about breaking our routine to notice and
enter into the events leading up to the mysteries that we celebrate at the
end of this week: the Last Supper, the Passion and Death of Christ, the silence
of the tomb, and, of course, the Resurrection.
Perhaps you can take time to read through the Gospel passages for each
day’s Mass this week (found on usccb.org and other websites) or to stop and
make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament each day (all of our churches are open
throughout the day for you to make a visit).
Whatever you may choose, choose something that, while you go through the
routine things that your week demands of you, will cause you to step back and
notice the thing that is happening: the great mysteries of our salvation
that are being re-presented to us. My
friends, if you can do this this week, you’ll have finished Lent well; and the
joy of Easter—the joy of feeling resurrected with Christ—will be yours.
Given at Saint Mary’s Cathedral: Lafayette, IN – April 14th,
2019
