|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fair Weather Friends?
Apr
1
Written by:
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Palm Sunday
Pastor's Column
April 1, 2007
There is an intimate connection between Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, and Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. Traditionally, palms from the previous year are burned to make the ashes of Ash Wednesday. In the same way, the ashes of penance and sacrifice give way to cries of Hosanna on Palm Sunday and the joy of Easter a week later.
We all know that the gladness we hear from the crowds on Palm Sunday is short-lived, for soon other voices will be crying out for the Lord's death. Christ wishes us to embrace his will, to grant the King and entrance to our heart in both the times of penance and suffering-ashes-and the time of great joy and gladness when everything is going our way-the first half of Palm Sunday. Both realities are present in the gospel of Palm Sunday.
Palm Sunday mirrors life very well. Our lives, like Christ's, are a mixture of the best and the worst of times. In all these times, we strive to please God by embracing his will. We are not fair-weather friends like the fickle crowds of today's gospel, who are willing to hail Jesus as king only when he gives them what they want, but turn on him at the first sign of trouble. No, we strive to be true friends that the Lord can count on in all the times, circumstances and events God may permit. Our love for Christ, then, is based on the reality of His love, the love that went to the cross for us. Palm Sunday, then, is our time to resolve never again to be only a fair-weather friend of Jesus.
Father Gary
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|