How to Relate to Jesus during this Unusual Holy Week, Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020

Fr. Roger J. Landry
Palm Sunday
April 5, 2020
Lk 19:28-40, Is 50:4-7, Ps 22, Phil 2:6-11, Lk 22:14-23:56

To listen to an audio recording of today’s Mass, please click below:

The following text guided the homily: 

The meaning of Holy Week

We have now begun the week that the Church calls “holy.” It’s holy, first, because of all Jesus Christ did during these days, from the triumphal entry into his city at the beginning of this Mass, to his teaching in the Temple, to the Last Supper, to his prayer in Gethsemane, to his arrest, torture, crucifixion, preaching and death on Good Friday, to his rest in the tomb, and his glorious resurrection on the third day. It’s also called holy because it’s meant to make us holy, if we live this week the right way, if we enter into the mysteries we celebrate, if we internalize all Jesus won for us during these most holy of days. Holy Week is supposed to be our most faith-filled week of the year, but that requires our choosing to make it the most faith-filled week of the year.

That’s obviously going to be more challenging to do in 2020 because of the various restrictions that have been placed on public worship due to the coronavirus. The liturgies of Holy Week are so powerful that, when we show up and are attentive, the palms, prayers, readings, music, homilies, smells and bells will normally bring us into the heart of the mysteries. Prioritizing the time to be present already predisposes us to receive what God wants to give and just entering into a Church filled with believers is a choice to leave the profane and enter the sacred. Such settings cannot be replicated. But this Holy Week we’re summoned to do the best we can. To live it well will require taking responsibility to give greater than normal cooperation with God’s grace, more focused prayer, and far greater interior and exterior preparation to accompany Jesus well, and allow him to accompany us, during these days. For most people, that will mean celebrating at home. In St. Matthew’s Passion we just heard, Jesus told the disciples to go to find a certain man in Jerusalem and say, “My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.” This week Jesus says those words in a particular way to all of us. He wants to celebrate with us our domus ecclesiae, in our domestic Church.

How do we do so well? Right before the passage of today’s second reading from the Letter to the Philippians, St. Paul tells us to have in us the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, who humbled himself to the point of death on the Cross. Holy Week is meant to help us enter into the mind and heart of Jesus. Today in the Gospel at the beginning of Mass and in the Passion we just recited, we see five different ways we’re called to enter into Jesus and respond to him with faith this week so that he through these sacred mysteries may fulfill his desire to save and sanctify us.

Welcoming Jesus

The first thing we learn is how to welcome Jesus.

There was great expectation as to whether Jesus was coming to the feast. Many thought he wouldn’t because they had heard the rumors that the chief priests and the Sanhedrin were trying to arrest Jesus and have him executed. But Jesus came anyway. And we see how the people responded. St. Matthew tells us, “The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road. The crowds preceding him and those following, [especially the young people,] kept crying out, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” There was tremendous excitement. People came out of their homes. They laid down their clothes on the road, something they would do only for a king. They saw him riding on a donkey, just as David had Solomon do when he made him a king (1 Kings 1:33, 38). They recognized that this was the fulfillment of Zechariah’s Messianic prophecy, “Say to daughter Zion, ‘Behold your King comes to you, meek and riding on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

Their attitude shows us the type of exhilaration we should have to welcome Jesus this Holy Week. We should be running out of our homes. We should be praising him with our words, with our gestures like waving palms, with our clothes, and with our whole mind, heart, soul and strength. Our life should change as we seek to come out to welcome Jesus as he during this week seeks to rescue us from sin and death and make eternal life possible.

If we’re looking for an even deeper image of how we’re supposed to welcome Jesus and live this Holy Week we can turn to the donkey that Jesus used to enter into the Holy City. Jesus had sent two disciples ahead of him, saying, ““Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tethered, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them here to me. And if anyone should say anything to you, reply, ‘The master has need of them.’ Then he will send them at once.” And that’s precisely what happened. We’re called to serve Jesus like that donkey. The Master has need of us this week.

As we were processing today, we sang together the classic Palm Sunday hymn, “All Glory, Laud and Honor, which is a 19th century translation of a hymn that has been sung by Christians on this day for 1200 years. When the Anglican translator John Neale was bringing this ancient prayer into English, however, he intentionally omitted one of the verses because he thought during the Victorian era in Britain that to mention the English typical word for “donkey” — “jackass” or “ass” for short — would have negative consequences in people’s prayer. But in excluding that verse he also left out what we all can learn from the donkey. The Latin words were, “Sis pius ascensor, tuus et nos simus asellus. Tecum nos capitat urbs veneranda Dei,” which can be translated in lyrical English as, “Be thou, O Lord, the Rider and we the little ass, that to God’s holy city, together we may pass.” Jesus wants to enter the Holy City with us. He wants us to collaborate with him in this work of his salvation.

St. Josemaria Escriva, the great 20th century apostle of the sanctification of the laity, sought to imitate and help others to emulate this donkey in welcoming Jesus and assisting his work. He wrote, “There are hundreds of animals more beautiful, more deft and strong. But it was a donkey Christ chose when he presented himself to the people as king in response to their acclamation.” Jesus wants us, like a donkey, to be a docile, diligent, steady companion.  That’s the type of cooperation Jesus wants in all of us this Holy Week as we become that companion whether at home, here, or wherever we must be.

What’s Jesus worth? 

The second thing we learn is how to value Jesus appropriately.

At the beginning of the Passion account, Judas goes to the Chief Priests and the Scribes and asks, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Jesus over to you?” They gave him 30 pieces of silver, which likely meant the 30 shekels of silver that it cost to purchase a slave. One shekel of silver was about 3 days wages. And so Judas got the equivalent of about 90 days wages, or a quarter-of-a-year’s salary. For someone making $40,000 today, that would be about $10,000 in today’s money. Judas took the deal.

It raises the question for us as to how much we value Jesus. Would we take $10,000 to betray him? What about $100,000? What about $1 billion? What about an antidote for Covid-19? Do we have a price for betraying Jesus? The sad reality, we know, is that some people today betray Jesus not for 90 days wages but for one day’s wage, putting work above worship on the Lord’s day. Many account Jesus less valuable than an extra hour’s sleep on Sunday. Some sell him out for soccer practice. We need to be candid about these choices and the prioritized values they show.

If we’re going to live Holy Week — and life — the way God wants, we need to commit ourselves never to sell Jesus out.

We see an example of someone who would never betray Jesus in the scene that occurred right before the Palm Sunday procession in St. John’s account, which will be the Gospel tomorrow. Jesus was in the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus in Bethany. Mary came and anointed Jesus with costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and dried Jesus’ feet with her hair. Judas — who as Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said knew the price of everything and the true value of nothing — objected, “Why was this oil not sold for 300 days wages and given to the poor?” She wasted basically a full year’s salary anointing Jesus’ feet! Jesus, however, defended her, not because he wanted such attention, but because of the love that was behind her gesture. “She has done a beautiful thing to me,” he said. “She has anointed my body beforehand for burying and wherever the Gospel is preached what she did will be told of her.”

And we see that “the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” God would want to see each of our houses filled with the fragrance of what such oil symbolizes, a total dedication and devout love for Jesus. We need to ask ourselves the question: What are we going to do in anticipation of Jesus’ burial? Are we going to “waste” our time, “waste” our money, “waste” our lives on Jesus like Mary did, or are we going to say that Jesus isn’t worth it? Mary of Bethany was willing to spend 6/7 of her annual salary on Jesus. What sacrifices are we willing to make for him who made the supreme sacrifice for us?

Strengthening our Weak Flesh through Prayer 

The third thing the readings today teach us is how important it is to stay awake with Jesus in prayer.

We see what happened with St. Peter and the other apostles. St. Matthew describes that when they arrived in Gethsemane, Jesus said to them, “This night all of you will have your faith in me shaken, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be dispersed.’” Peter said to him in reply, “Though all may have their faith in you shaken, mine will never be.” Jesus answered, “Amen, I say to you, this very night before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter forcefully retorted, “Even though I should have to die with you, I will not deny you.” St. Mark tells us all the disciples spoke likewise. But we know that within a few hours Peter three times denied knowing Jesus and all of the other disciples abandoned him as well. During the Last Supper shortly before, Jesus had said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” He could have save more accurately, “Amen, I say to you, all of you will betray me?”

But the question for us is why. Why did they betray the one they truly loved? We can somewhat understand why Judas treacherously betrayed Jesus. But why did Peter and the others? Jesus gave the explanation to Peter and to us in the Garden of Gethsemane. He brought Peter, James and John with him to a secluded place of the Garden to pray with him, but when he returned to where the three apostles were, he found them asleep. He said to Peter, “So you could not keep watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Peter’s spirit would never betray the Lord, but his flesh was frail and needed to be fortified in order to remain faithful.

As we enter into this Holy Week, Jesus wants us to come away with him and pray that we may not undergo the test, that our flesh might be strengthened to be faithful like our spirit wants to be faithful. Like Peter, we who have so often professed our faith in Jesus have fallen when the temptations have struck, temptations to hide our faith in him in the front of family members, or coworkers, or fellow students or the general public. We’ve failed to remain faithful when tempted toward various types of sins. We’ll be tempted again this week to focus on other things than to focus on the Lord Jesus. Jesus says to us, what he said to Peter, James and John, “Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. For the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” He wants to strengthen us through prayer to remain true to him under trial, as he was faithful all the way to the end.

Jesus asks us to come away and pray with him, however, not just to help strengthen our flesh to withstand temptations, but simply because he wants our solidarity. Back in 2012, Pope-emeritus Benedict said, Jesus “does not want to be left alone. … He wants at least three disciples to be near him, to be in a closer relationship with him. This is a spacial closeness, a plea for solidarity at the moment in which he feels death approaching, but above all it is closeness in prayer, in a certain way to express harmony with him at the moment when he is preparing to do the Father’s will to the very end; and it is an invitation to every disciple to follow him on the Way of Cross.” Pope Benedict concludes, “The Gospel accounts of Gethsemane regretfully show that the three disciples, chosen by Jesus to be close to him, were unable to watch with him, sharing in his prayer, in his adherence to the Father and they were overcome by sleep. … Let us ask the Lord to enable us to keep watch with him in prayer, to follow the will of God every day even if he speaks of the Cross, to live in ever greater intimacy with the Lord.”

Jesus wants us all to come away with him spiritually to pray during these holy days. He wants our company. He wants to strengthen us. Please make a commitment to come to be with Jesus so that he may strengthen and sanctify you this week as he wants to.

Choosing Jesus

The fourth thing today’s readings teach us is about the dramatic choice we’re called to make.

After Pontius Pilate recognized that Jesus was being framed, he wanted to set him free, but he wanted to do it in a way in which the crowd would take responsibility for his liberation rather than he take it, so that he wouldn’t be so vulnerable to retaliation if the Sanhedrin reported him to his superiors in Rome. So he proposed, according to custom at Passover time, to set free one prisoner, and he chose a “notorious” one he never could have imagined the crowds would choose over the innocent Jesus. And he asked, “Which one do you want me to release to you, Barabbas or Jesus, called Messiah?” Spurred on by the chief priests and the elders, only five days after they hailed Jesus saying “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” the mob in the praetorium shouted, “Barabbas!” Pilate, shocked, said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus called Messiah?” And St. Matthew tells us the crowd yelled, “Let him be crucified!” Pilate was aghast, saying, “Why? What evil has he done?” They only shouted the louder, “Let him be crucified!” And so Pilate, a true coward, assented.

We’ve heard the name Barabbas so many times that the choice that was made in that courtyard doesn’t shock us as much as it startled Pontius Pilate. But to update it in today’s terms, to choose Barabbas then would be like choosing Osama bin Laden or Ted Bundy or Adolf Hitler over Jesus. Pilate nominated someone that he never thought the crowd would choose over Jesus and yet the crowd not only chose the insurrectionist, thief and murderer but clamored for Jesus’ crucifixion!

We might look back and say that we would never have done that if we were present in Pilate’s courtyard that day. But as Archbishop Sheen says in his beautiful Stations of the Cross, “How would I have answered that question had I been in the courtyard that Good Friday morning? I cannot escape answering by saying that the question belongs only to the past, for it is as actual now as ever. My conscience is the tribunal of Pilate. Daily, hourly, and every minute of the day, Christ comes before that tribunal, as virtue, honesty, and purity. Barabbas comes as vice, dishonesty, and uncleanness. As often as I choose to speak the uncharitable word, do the dishonest action, or consent to the evil thought, I say in so many words, ‘Release unto me Barabbas.’ And to choose Barabbas means to crucify Christ.”

Choosing Jesus on the most momentous occasions comes from choosing Jesus repeatedly and faithfully in small decisions, choosing to pray, choosing to receive his forgiveness and share it, choosing to love him in our neighbor, choosing to ponder his words in the Bible rather than spending our time watching or reading the news or watching Netflix. To live a truly Holy Week, we must choose Jesus over all of the tempting Barabbases that will come our way. And we’ll be tempted by Barabbas in disguise this week, to put something more important than God, especially on Holy Thursday, or Good Friday, or Holy Saturday. We need to stay alert and pray for a strengthened flesh through vigilant prayer!

Becoming Simons of Cyrene

The final thing I’ll mention that the readings teach us to live Holy Week well is our need to help Jesus carry his Cross

St. Matthew tells us, “As they were going out, they met a Cyrenian named Simon; this man they compelled into service to carry his cross.” Simon didn’t want to do it. They needed to force him. But he did it and over the course of the journey he was transformed, such that not only he became a disciple but his whole family did, such that his sons Rufus and Alexander became leading members and missionaries among the first generation of Christian disciples.

Similarly, this week, God the Father is compelling us to help his Son carry his Cross. Jesus said that we cannot be his disciples unless we deny ourselves, pick up our Cross each day and follow him. That’s a condition for the entire year, but especially in Holy Week, it’s a particularly pressing summons. Jesus wants us to be co-redeemers with him, to make up what is lacking in his sufferings for the sake of the salvation of the world. As he was dying, he was incorporating into himself all our sacrifices, all our crosses, united with his. He continues to carry his Cross through time, in all the suffering members of his body. This week is a week in which we help him carry his Cross by helping others carry theirs, by visiting and consoling the sick, especially those who are suffering because of coronavirus, mourning the death of loved ones, or otherwise impacted. The Father compels us like the Romans compelled Simon of Cyrene to help Jesus carry his Cross because if we’re carrying the Cross we Jesus we will be near him, we will be united with him, we will be collaborating with him throughout this week, which is exactly how this week will be holy and make us holy.

To welcome Jesus, to value him appropriately, to accompany him in prayer, to choose him over every Barabbas, and to help him carry his redeeming Cross, that is the means by which we will live with faith this most important week of the year. That’s the pathway by which Jesus will make us holy like he is holy during this special week of sanctification.

Living Holy Week Every Mass

There is no better place to start on those five activities than here at Palm Sunday Mass. The Mass we celebrate is in itself Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday altogether in one. In a few minutes we again will shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord.” We will enter into the Upper Room. We will climb Calvary where we will be not just witnesses but participants in the very same death of the Lord once-and-for-all for us and our salvation. And through receiving his risen Body and Blood, we will leave with him from the tomb of death and get a foretaste of the eternal wedding banquet in that kingdom Jesus won for us by the very passion, death and resurrection we will be celebrating this week and celebrate now.

The readings for today’s Mass were: