Palm Sunday

We rightly honor those who go above and beyond the call of duty.
Whether on the battlefield, or in close family dealings, heroic service merits our respect.
We do this every year when we read the passion of Our Lord on Palm Sunday.
But his heroic sacrifice not only inspires us, it frees us from sin.
It's good for us, then, to relive it, as we do we every year on Palm Sunday.

Lazarus

Lazarus really came back to life.
In confession, we really come back to life.
Go to confession.

Haste makes waste

Haste makes waste. Friday morning was busy. We had several events in the parish this weekend and sneaking away for a quick swim was tricky. I had my goggles, my towel, my flippers, my wallet. So I jumped in the car and just as I was arriving at the Aquatic Center, I realized I forgot my swimsuit. Haste makes waste.

Easter Sunday is only three weeks away and Lent is more than half-way over. The Church encourages us to hasten toward that wonderful celebration which is filled with so much joy and hope and is the source of our strength, even in the toughest of times. But, as we remember, haste can make waste. And if we're not careful, sometimes we can neglect even the most important things.

The Gospel story is a great example of this. A man, blind from the day he was born, miraculously receives his sight and how to the Pharisees respond? Do they celebrate? Do they throw a big party for him and his family? Do they initiate prayers of praise and thanksgiving in the synagogue? No. Instead they throw him out. How could they be so neglectful of such an important thing as delighting in the glory of God? It's hard to say. But we can do the same thing if we're not careful. As lent moves quickly toward Easter, and as the Church encourages us to hasten toward that celebration, let's not overlook the key portion of our Lenten preparation. What are our key defects that need correction? What virtues should we strive to acquire? What vices should we uproot?

The vehicle for our hastening to Easter is the fulfillment of our Lenten preparation. Like the blind man who went directly to the pool of Siloam and washed, may we too hasten complete our lenten observance and so arrive at the joy of the resurrection.

nothing

The Redemptorist Missionary preached all the Masses.

let the sunshine in

There's more than meets the eye in this whole suffering thing.
The prospect of suffering has always been among the most confounding questions man has had to confront in his lifetime. From time to time it helps to put the whole question in the context of the eternal bliss God has planned for us from the beginning. God didn't make us to be miserable, he made us to be happy. And as long as he has anything to do with it, he's going to get his way.
Jesus just drops the bomb on Peter, James, John and the gang, that he will be taken out and killed and rise on the third day. They fail to grasp the meaning—how could they—of rising on the third day. So all they hear is that he's going to be killed. Naturally they're saddened and revolt. But Jesus nails them for their lack of perspective. "You're thinking not as God does, but as men do."
It's still all too much for them so six days later he takes three of them and proceeds to blow their mind with his Transfiguration on the mountain. Saying, effectively, "Next time I tell you that they're going to kill me and I'm going to rise, remember the mountain." Or, "I've got everything under control."
We've got to remember this when we encounter the confounding challenge of suffering in our life. Yes, "life's tough and then you die." But why has that cliche always ended there? There's more. Life's tough, then you die, then you rise from the dead never to die again, forever having conquered sin and death, free from what ails our poor, weak flesh this side of the grave.
Jesus wants his guys to be strong in the face of suffering so he gives them the vision of the Transfiguration.
He wants us to get strong, too. So, during our observance of Lent, our lenten penances draw us closer to that glory which will never end.

[image by Irish artist, Jim Gola]

Jesus' victory over the devil.

The temptation in the desert.
His victory helps us.
Jesus exposes the devil for who he really is.
Jesus reveals that we're in a spiritual combat.
Jesus strengthens our freedom.

"Get me to heaven"

I took the theme from the Gospel, viz. "Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of heaven."

So how do we enter heaven?

First of all we've got to want it. Second of all, we've got to ditch the superficiality and prove our desire with action. Third of all, we've got to prepare for the winds that will blow and floods that will come by imitating the love of Christ.

We fail to desire heaven sometimes because we're too contented with the things of this world. We forget we're not made for this world. We're made for something infinitely better.
First Illustration: imagine stumbling upon a Bald Eagle picking at trash and crumbs in the park with a bunch of pigeons. But that's how we are when we fail to consider own sovereign dignity as sons of God and instead think that this life is all there is to it.

Our Lord doesn't want to hear us all 'Lord, Lord' out of one side of our mouths, and see us spitting on our neighbor out of the other.
Second Illustration: Eliza Doolittle to Freddy Einsford Hill: "Never do I ever want to hear another word/There isn't one I haven't heard/Here we are together in what ought to be a dream/Say one more word and I'll scream. Don't talk of 'stars burning above'/If you're in love show me..."

Sure the going's gonna get tough, but if we're imitating the one who's love never fails, we'll be just fine.
Third Illustration: The Suffering, Death, and Resurrection of the Lord.