Homily for Palm Sunday: April 9, 2006

Given by the Most Reverend Stephen E. Blaire at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton.

Holy Week begins with the glorious entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem as Messiah and king. He is the anointed one of God. And the week ends on even a more glorious note with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the glorious Son of God and Redeemer of the world. However, I suspect you noticed that the liturgy of the Palm Sunday Mass shifted abruptly from the glorious procession to the suffering and death of Jesus. To come to glory Jesus had to be faithful to the will of His Father and accept death, even death on the cross, for the salvation of the world. He had to give himself completely out of love. There was no holding back. “Greater love no one has than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

In our own lives we have many glorious beginning moments. A couple on their wedding day deeply in love begin their marriage. A man totally committed to the service of God is ordained a priest. A catechumen who has walked the journey of faith is baptized into the Church. One is promoted to a higher position of importance in employment and begins a new career. One celebrates one’s fiftieth birthday and takes a new look at life. Every beginning brings a challenge of perseverance. There is always the next day. And there are few days without some anxiety or difficulty or pain. The challenge is always to persevere faithfully.

In Psalm 51 we pray these magnificent words: “A pure heart create for me, O God, put a steadfast spirit within me.”

Every year in the Easter Vigil I observe the joy of those baptized. It is a high moment of grace and inspiration. But soon afterwards the ordinary every day reality of faith sets in.
Most of life is routine. Some people relentlessly pursue an exhilaration of pleasure lest they be come bored. Others make the mistake in thinking that religious faith will make every day a rose garden of life. Not so, because it is only the cross that leads to glory. The cross is to persevere in faith day in and day out and seek to live our ordinary lives extraordinarily well. The great Church father St. Gregory Nazianzen put it this way: “We must sacrifice ourselves to God, each day and in everything we do, accepting all that happens to us for the sake of the Word” – the Word being Jesus Christ – “imitating his passion by our sufferings.”

I like to use the words of St. Paul who speaks about living for God in Christ Jesus. The cross is to be faithful to God in all the daily circumstances of life. If we are faithful we will come to glory – the glory that is to come. Holy Week gives us the symbolic opportunity to walk with Jesus in his sufferings to the glory of the cross and resurrection. We suffer with Christ and we model our lives in imitation of Him by living in total fidelity to God.

Last Update April 3, 2006