Palm Sunday Homily

Well, our first “parking lot Mass” is done and in the book as a success.  I want to thank those whose imagination and energy made it possible: Franz Klein, Brian Brueggen and his boys: Phillip & Presley, Arnie Klinkner, Dennis Cummings, and Roger Cummings.  We had a full parking lot and into the village lot behind.  But fear not!  There is still the handicap lot next to the church so if you’d like to participate in the Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday & Easter Sunday there is still room for you.  The homily for Palm Sunday follows:

Thusly we begin Holy Week.  A number of people have commented on how very “lenten” this Lent has been.  I’m glad to hear that God’s good providence, that is, His ability to bring good out of evil, has not been wasted on us.  But let us dive a little deeper into what the present crisis gives to us by way of opportunity to be more closely united with Christ.

In the Passion, which has been proclaimed from the Gospel According to St. Matthew this year, we see our Lord’s Agony in the Garden, His Passion, and Death.  I dare say during these past few weeks of corona virus induced isolation each of us has experienced our own agony, passion, and possibly even death, and in these we have been given a choice: will my suffering and death be without meaning, simply the way things are now; or, will I unite my suffering, challenges, isolation, my passion to the suffering of Christ?

I know from talking to a number of you and from social media that your own feelings run a pretty wide gamut: from too busy to really worry about the virus all the way to seriously depressed by the sense of helplessness or by the isolation this crisis has brought into our lives.  I had an experience of this this past week as my seminary class decided to get together online since they couldn’t get together as they do each month south-east Michigan.  This wasn’t an entirely bad thing as it allowed us who don’t live in Michigan to join them.  Some of us are keeping busy and have been impacted by the virus in the sense that our busy-ness has taken a new form.  Others are bordering on depressed because of the isolation this has necessarily brought into lives.  Yet again, some are even fearful for the toll this virus may bring to us and our communities.

Our Lord understands our anxiety and our pain.  He underwent anxiety in the Garden of Gethsemane.  But His trust in the Father allowed Him to move forward and bring about our salvation through His suffering, passion, and death.  Some years later, the Apostle Paul would reflect on the thorn that was a constant presence in His life, a rod of Satan which continually battered him.  Like our Lord, he asked God three times to remove it.  Our Lord’s answer: “My grace is enough for you.”  Many others of the saints have had the same experience.

In our Christian way of looking at things, God’s way of looking at things, we recognize that this time of trial is also a time of grace.  As you continue now through this Holy Week of the Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection, embrace the cross that has been given you and unite it to our Lord’s.  Re-read the passion account we heard today from the Gospel of St. Matthew – from the Last Supper through to our Lord’s burial.  Reflect on His passion and recognize in your passion, first of all, the invitation that has been extended to you to unite your passion with His; second of all, begin to reflect on how His passion and yours have meaning because of His resurrection; and then finally, embrace the share of His passion that has been offered to you in this time of crises.

Let us remember in prayer our Holy Father and our bishop as they lead and guide us through this time.  If you missed the Holy Father’s “Urbi et Orbi” message it is readily available online – read it.  Let us also pray for our civil official, that they may be focused on the common good and not on their own personal or party agendas.  Let us pray for the healthcare workers who have risked and sacrificed so much to care for those who are sick.  And let us pray for all of those who have been affected physically, psychologically, spiritually, and economically by this crisis.

God bless you all!  Make the choice!  Embrace this time as a time of grace.  If you are isolated embrace your isolation as an opportunity to delve more deeply into the mystery of our Lord’s Paschal Mystery, His passion, death, and resurrection.  Pray the Rosary daily, reflect on the Stations of the Cross, pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and if possible: stop in at church.  We have been offered a gift in the midst of crisis; let us receive it with joy.