March 21, 2016 – Monday in Holy Week

Scripture Readings for today’s Liturgy:

Isaiah 42:1-7

Psalm 27

John 12:1-11

The next three days are a kind of preparation for our entry into “The Paschal Triduum” the three most holy days of our Church year. This is a time for us to put aside our regular activities and tasks and focus on the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Yesterday we celebrated Passion Sunday – what we used to call “Palm Sunday” – and we had exceptionally large crowds of people in attendance at all the Masses. We gathered outside by the Lourdes Grotto where, to our surprise, there was a live donkey waiting! However, the pastor, didn’t ride on the donkey! What we did, though, was to make our way to the church by processing out from the parking lot and around half of our square-block plot down Bush Street and around Steiner to the entrance of the church. The choir was in the middle singing the verses and we all joined in with the chorus, “Ride on, Jesus, ride on!” The inside of the church was decorated with large palm branches along the main aisle so that there could be no doubt that we were celebrating Palm Sunday! I couldn’t help be think back to my days in Africa when we had truckloads of huge palm branches brought to the church. That’s when I found out that the people weren’t going to be satisfied with a little leaf of the palm frond. They all wanted the top 2’ of the branch so that they had something significant to wave! And that they did especially if the singing had the words “Hosanna” like in the Sanctus! In so many ways that congregation was acting out what the people in the time of Jesus did with their loud cries of, “Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna to the King.” Still, we also knew that these same people who tried to make Jesus their King would later be the ones shouting for his death, “Crucify Him!” This is why it is so important for us to look at yesterday’s celebration as being just the beginning of the story and how important it is to go through this week of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday with the Great Vigil of Christ’s triumph over death as we celebrate the resurrection. This is the liturgy that also welcomes new members into the Church. Yesterday we were told by our pastor that St. Dominic’s will receive more than 40 adults into full communion with the Church. This is why it is so important for us to look at yesterday’s celebration as being just the beginning of the story and how important it is to go through this week of Holy Thursday, God Friday and Holy Saturday with the Great Vigil of Christ triumph over death as we celebrate His Resurrection. We shouldn’t really let anything take precedence over our participating in these most solemn liturgies of our Church Year. We have to ask ourselves, “How important is our involvement with “church?” We need to act out our exuberance with the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem; celebrate His gift of His Body and Blood, and then, too, be the ones who shout, “Crucify Him!” but also stay around for the Resurrection. Three Holy Days that bring meaning to our own lives of faithfully following Jesus; stumbling along the way and experiencing deaths in one way of another and THEN celebrating “Resurrection!” We shouldn’t miss any part of this fundamental mystery of our faith. Amen!