Palm Sunday Reflection

 

The Masses went well at the Missions yesterday as we celebrated our Lord's entrance into Jerusalem and there it is, Palm Sunday, the gateway to Holy Week. The first part of the liturgy, with its blessing of palms and procession is jubilant, hosanna! Salvation rides into Jerusalem in fulfillment of prophecy to establish his sovereignty in the Holy City. 

I always feel this part of the liturgy, with its victorious joy, has the feel and tenor of Easter but the mood swiftly shifts to Good Friday as we hear the awful story of the Passion. Judas' betrayal and suicide, the weakness of Pilate, the mockery of Herod and his degenerate court, the brutality of the soldiery, the wickedness of the High Priests, and the torture and execution of Christ. Hosanna! has moved to Crucify! But note this.

Even the demons and the people they drive are forced to acknowledge Christ's kingship, in derision for sure but they do so nonetheless. Jesus is given a royal robe, imagine the sneers, a reed for a scepter, he's crowned, but with thorns, and his throne is a cross at the top of which reads a sign, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.

Even Hell in its twisted scorn calls Christ a king but the moment of Satan's seeming victory turns to utter defeat as Jesus rises triumphant from the grave, turning the Devil's mockery into the glorious regalia of kingship over death and Hell itself.

So we find ourselves back at the beginning, at Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem. If the crowds had known the unfathomable extent of his sovereignty they would have cried out all the louder, for the Savior had indeed arrived. 

He rides to us now, today, into the Jerusalem of our souls. Meet him with joy, spreading the garments and palm of our lives before him as we follow the King in humble repentance to the Cross so that in dying to sin we too, in Christ, will rise to everlasting life.

INRI,

LSP

Sunday Sermon - Christ Walks on Water

Christ walks across the water of the lake to the disciples' boat, which is being beaten by the waves. After rescuing Peter, who goes out to meet him and sinks, Jesus enters the boat, stills the storm and guides the ship to shore.

The imagery is powerful. Jesus, appearing in the midst of the turbulent water in the darkness of the 4th Watch. So too is the symbol. The ship of the church, the ark of salvation, is beaten by waves of disbelief, iniquity, and hate only to rescued by Christ.

This is true in every age, not least our own, but consider. As in the miracle, Christ saves his church. For example, he raises up El Cid and Charles Martel, and the False Prophet is driven from Spain and France. The Jihad is routed by Sobieski in 1683 and Vienna saved, the evil, satanic Nazis are utterly defeated and the Iron Curtain blown away like so much noxious smoke.

Point being, as surely as he came to the beleaguered disciples in the midst of the lake, Christ saves his Mystical Body from the tempest which rages against her. He will save the church in our age too if we remain faithful, even desperately so, and cry out with Peter, "Lord, save me!" That must be our prayer.

There, in the act of faith, shouting out in the darkness, against all the odds, lies the path to paradise. Christ catches Peter by the hand, restores him to the safety of the boat, and in the end, to Paradise itself, the far shore of the lake.

So take heart. Our lord and Savior is infinitely more powerful than the iniquity which rages against his Body the church and against us, his faithful.

Sermon over,

LSP