From Archbishop Donoghue

Palm Sunday
March 28, 1999
Cathedral of Christ the King
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Dear Friends in Christ,

In the wake of the sacred words we have heard this morning, it is very difficult to have anything to say at all - for any words of our making must pale before the revealed Word of God, and the powerful skill of the Evangelist St. Matthew, who heard and saw what he later recounted.

But to help our meditation, I would just make these simple observations, as a gesture of my love for this parish and her people, and as a gesture before God of the presence of the Holy Spirit among us - who not only makes us one in how we feel, but in how we believe, believing as we do, with one mind, and with one heart.

Three kinds of people greeted our Lord at the gates of Jerusalem, but it is safe to say that of all the people gathered there that day, only one really knew the complete truth about what was going to happen in the brief span of one week - a week so sublime and singular in human history, that millions and millions upon the earth have called it ever since, “Holy Week”, and meant it.

Our Lord, being one with the Father, knew what would happen that week, knew why it must happen, and knew the confusion and turmoil that would for a time envelop all concerned. But our Lord also knew, that in the end, His actions would bring about the redemption of Mankind. So He must have looked out on the crowd that greeted Him when He entered Jerusalem, with what we would call now, a sense of irony - and a kind of preview of the judgment that time would render upon the three kinds of person before Him that day.

First, there were the scoffers, the scorners, the skeptics and cynics - they had seen it all before, and they certainly weren’t going to believe it this time - better the secure rule of Roman Law, and the unwavering customs of the Covenant, than the anarchy that these fools and their Messiah would bring about, with their absurd notions of shared ownership, and action based on love, rather than the assertion of power and privilege.

Then, there were the people who had been inspired, not by the love and humility of Jesus, but by the marvelous power that He visibly generated. They thought He was the Messiah, but a messiah who would now establish the nation of Israel as the power above all powers, and her people as the conquerors and rulers of a new world order. These people were very excited about the feelings that Christ had inspired in them, but they would be the first to leave Him high and dry, when, in a few days time, instead of the crown of power, the only crown that He would don, would be a crown of thorns, a crown of suffering and of death.

And finally, there were the true Followers of Christ. Many of them shared the false notions of glory of their fellow Jews, but they were not to sure of how it would come about. The Apostles themselves, those closest to Jesus, believed in Him, and intended to stay with Him no matter what. But there had been some uncertainly about what the Master was going to do. And His talk about dying and rising - was it some kind of allegory, or would it really happen? These followers - their hearts were in the right place, but their knowledge was unsure, and their faith as yet untested.

Dear friends, as we contemplate the events of this Holy Week - as we ponder the gracious acts of the Last Supper, the horrors of the Passion and Death, and the confounding miracle of the Resurrection, let us remember that just as on that day at the gates of Jerusalem, the same three faces still greet our Lord as He comes among us. Many outside scoff at the beliefs we hold sacred - they will have none of it, and if they could, they would take our faith, and replace it with a new and they think, a better world-vision. Many others profess to believe in the glory of Jesus resurrection, but cannot accept the equal glory of pain and sacrifice and suffering, all of which Christ expects us to bear, as we ourselves follow in the track of His Holy Cross. Their faith is of today, but it well may be cast off and forgotten by tomorrow.

And then there is us - we follow right in the footsteps of the Apostles, of Mary Magdalen, of Lazarus and his sisters, and of the many nameless disciples who already understood that they had seen and heard the Truth. But like them, we do not have full understanding - like them we stumble from time to time, and even betray our Lord, sometimes at the very moment we are called upon to defend our commitment to Him.

Dear friends, may we understand this about ourselves - that we are weak, that we do sin - but at the same time, let us pray with confidence to God the Father in Heaven, and ask Him to give us the strength to cling to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. For only by His help, will we ever prevail over our enemies, and over the Devil, who is always seeking to undermine our Faith - and only with Christ’s courage, will we be able to stand firmly before the world, to proclaim: Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!

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