Today’s Thoughts - Palm Sunday
In my homily today on television and the internet I reflected on a line in Matthew’s Passion that I never remember hearing or reading before. As I was preparing my homily many, many weeks ago I was reading Matthew’s Passion once again and when I came to this line, “But Mary Magdalene and the other Mary remained sitting there, facing the tomb,” (Mathew 27:61) I stopped reading and went back and read the line again. I could never remember reading or hearing that line in Matthew’s Passion or any of the Passions for that matter. I could not get that line out of my mind. If you watched the Passionist TV mass today you know that I went on to preach a little about that line. But certainly, many weeks later it has a little different meaning to me today given the events of our world and these unusual and difficult times. Perhaps in a way this one line in Matthew’s Passion, “But Mary Magdalene and the other Mary remained sitting there, facing the tomb,” has more meaning for us today then it did many weeks ago. In a way we are all Mary Magdalene and the other Mary today. We might not be sitting looking at the tomb, but we are sitting in front of our TV sets, computers, smartphone and wondering, waiting, hoping that life will change. That things will begin to get better. That life will return to normal. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary probably had many unanswered questions about the time they were in. Life has just changed drastically for them. They had lost a very important, special person in their lives. What was going to happen without Jesus? What would tomorrow bring? How were they going to continue to live on? Or maybe, they both had great faith. Perhaps they trusted in the words of Jesus that he would rise on the third day and they were just going to sit there and wait. My guess their feelings and thoughts were somewhere in between. They believe but they were still a little unsure, concerned, hopeful but cautious, faithful but full of questions and a few doubts. Perhaps just the way we feel these days. Yes, I believe we are just like the Mary Magdalene and the other Mary these unusual and difficult days. Faithful, hopeful but uncertain and with a few doubts about the future. Perhaps given the unusual circumstances of our times we have the opportunity like Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to sit and look at the tomb that life presents to us these days. We have to opportunity to question, to wonder, to doubt, to hope and to have faith in what lies ahead. Today, ss we begin this most holy of weeks, yes, we are reminded of Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem of a wonderful, “Hosanna” filled day, which becomes the starting point for the central story of all the Gospels, Jesus’ Passion, Death and Resurrection. Today, we reconnect ourselves to all those first gatherings of the Church as we listen to Matthew’s accounts of Palm Sunday and the Passion of our Lord. We remember the triumphant ride over the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem and the lonely walk to Calvary. We once again tell the story of triumphant, glory, hosanna, struggle, pain, sorrow, blessing, truth, giftedness, prayer and most importantly love. Like the early Church and all the centuries of Church that have gone before us, we are asked to remember, to believe, to have faith and to hope in the love of God as lived out by our Lord Jesus Christ. As we journey through this Holy Week, as hopefully we take the time to sit and look at the tomb that we will let “The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ Truly Be Always in Our Hearts!” Have a blessed, holy, safe and healthy Palm Sunday today!
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Fr. Paul R. Fagan, C.P. "Preacher on the Run"Just a few thoughts to help you on your journey through life...let me know from time to time what you think... Archives
April 2024
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