We have four cats, and ya know that phrase, “It’s like herding cats” that’s used to describe something possible, but rather difficult?  It’s kinda dead on.  One does not “herd” cats.  One suggests, coaxes, begs, pleads, or bribes, cats.  One does not force cats to do much of anything, or one comes away bloody with an angry cat to boot. 

Now, sheep.  Sheep are, supposedly, easily led, have no claws (Can you imagine the size of the claws if sheep did, indeed, have claws?), and are not, generally, independent thinkers.  This being the case, one can, without much fuss, herd sheep.

And just who, you might ask, has that cushy job of herding those sheep?  Why, shepherds, of course!  Way, way back when and long, long, long ago in ancient times, shepherds and sheep were as common as Wal-Mart, telephones, and convenience stores.  So, what IS a shepherd?   

Simply put, a shepherd is the man or woman who takes care of the sheep and goats.  Easy enough.  But what does this mean?  What did it mean in Biblical times for a shepherd to care for his sheep?  The duties of a shepherd in an unenclosed country like Palestine were very onerous. In early morning he led the flock from the fold, marching at its head to the spot where they were to be pastured. Here he watched them all day, taking care that none of the sheep strayed, and if any for a time did stray from his watch and wandered away from the rest, he would have to seek diligently till he found and brought it back. In those lands sheep require to be supplied regularly with water, and the shepherd for this purpose had to guide them either to some running stream or to wells dug in the wilderness or furnish them with troughs. At night he brought the flock home to the fold, counting them as they passed under the rod at the door to assure himself that none were missing. Nor did his labors always end with sunset. Often, he had to guard the fold through the dark hours from the attack of wild beasts, or the wily attempts of the prowling thief.

Shepherds in ancient Israel likely worked with, among others, the broadtail Syrian variety of sheep, which have large fatty tails and a thick fleece. The rams of this breed are horned, and the ewes are not. These docile animals are easily led and completely at the mercy of their environment and predators.

The shepherd faced the ongoing challenge of teaching the sheep and goats to obey his commands. Even so, good shepherds took tender care of the animals in their charge, even giving them names to which they would respond. —(John 10:14, 16.)

It was a tough job. 

Great men such as Abraham, Moses, and King David were shepherds.  The image of the shepherd as one who cares for flocks and people is one that is pretty easy to understand and runs deep in the imagery of ancient times.  In Mesopotamia, the region along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the model for kings was the shepherd. The king-as-shepherd was to “rule kindly, counsel and protect the people,” and “guide them through every difficulty.” Babylon’s Hammurabi, credited with the world’s first written law code, was described as a shepherd of his people. In ancient Egypt, the shepherd’s crook was used “as an insignia of kings, princes, and chieftains.” In the Iliad and the Odyssey from ancient Greece, ship captains are called “shepherds of ships.” Plato uses the shepherd analogy to define justice in the Republic, and in the “Statesman” uses the shepherd to symbolize the work of a good ruler. 

So, now that you’ve had the  “Shepherding for Dummies” course, you might ask, “Why is he going on about shepherds today?”  I’m ever so happy you asked!  Here we go…….

If you know about sheep and shepherds, then today’s Gospel, John 10:27-30, is a pretty simple one to understand:  Jesus said:

“My sheep hear my voice;  I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.  No one can take them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.  The Father and I are one.”

And reckon wonder, just how are we supposed to be those ‘sheep who know their shepherd?’  More importantly, how are we supposed to KNOW we are ‘those sheep who know their shepherd’????  Jesus tells us in pretty no uncertain terms and more than once:  Love.  Dig this:

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. – John 13:34

This is my command: Love each other. – John 15:17

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. – Mark 12:30

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you – Matthew 5:44

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. – John 15:12

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. – John 15:13

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you – Luke 6:27

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. – John 13:35

If you love me, you will obey what I command. – John 14:15

Pretty simple, right?  Not so much.  Sometimes loving is hard.   What about those who disagree with you politically?  Those who talk trash about you?  Those who make your life crazy?  Those folks who you really, really, REALLY can’t stand?  Gotta love ‘em.  No, we don’t have to like ‘em, but love ‘em we gotta.   Just remember, you will never look into the eyes of someone God doesn’t love. 

As I’ve said a zillion times, we are called to love and to serve the Lord with gladness and singleness of heart.  We are called to take care of each other, regardless of our politics or ideologies.  We are commanded to ‘bless those who persecute us,’ and we are called to ‘pray for our enemies.’  We are called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless. (Matthew 25:31-46). 

And then, we have to ask ourselves, does the shepherd we follow also follow what Jesus commands?  Who are WE following?

Now, here’s the scary part.  We are, all of us, in some way, a shepherd with our own flocks.  Every one of us has influence in some way, and what we do with that influence, how we ‘herd our flocks’ so to speak truly matters.  In Jeremiah 23:1-6m we have, to me, probably the most terrifying scripture in the whole of Holy Writ.  “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the LORD.   Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people:

You have scattered my sheep and driven them away.  You have not cared for them, but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.   I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands to which I have driven them and bring them back to their meadow; there they shall increase and multiply.  I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble; and none shall be missing, says the LORD.” 

So think for a minute.   Who is your flock?  Who are those folks who look to you for advice, for guidance?  Who is that that you influence?  Your children?  Your families?  Co-workers?  Neighbors?  The kids you eat lunch with and have classes with?  The folks on your sports team?  Your golf buddies?  What about those people who see you but don’t know you?  Those folks in the line with you at the grocery store? 

I have said it time and time and time again:  YOU are the only Bible some folks will ever read.  YOU are the only Jesus some folks will ever see.  While it is true that it is the job of the clergy to lead the church, what about you?  Saint Peter teaches us that “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ … But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:5-9).

Is this who you are?  Who is your flock?  Who are your sheep?  What kind of shepherd are you?  Do you, by your words and actions, reflect the Gospel?  Where are you leading your sheep?

Well now, y’all….The Epistle Reading for today is a humdinger.  For those of you who want to know, it’s from Acts 5:27-32,40-41.  Ya see, Peter and the Apostles were dragged in front of the powers that were (as opposed to the powers that be, but we’ll get there in a minute) and got into a heap of trouble because they had been told, in no uncertain terms, that they were to keep their mouths shut and not preach about Jesus’s love, forgiveness, salvation, resurrection, and all things Christ related.  However, rather than meekly submitting, Peter and the apostles said, “”We must obey God rather than men.
The God of our ancestors raised Jesus, though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree.  God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.  We are witnesses of these things, as is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Did ya get that?  What’s the most important thing Peter said?  He said, “We must obey God rather than men.”  For the life of me, I just don’t understand why people don’t get it.  WE MUST OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MEN.  Period.  Hands down.  However,  we frequently hear certain politicians claiming to be “Christian” and actively espousing the desire to ‘take the country back’ and to ‘put God first,’ and to make sure that the United States follows only their brand of “Christianity.”  These are the folks who distort  the Scriptures, using selective editing and mental gymnastics to claim they say things they don’t say.  Often they claim the Bible doesn’t mean what it says or they ignore the explanations given by Biblical linguists and other experts in the field.  This is hypocrisy, something Jesus repeatedly condemns.

WE MUST OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MEN.  Jesus taught us to love our neighbors — no exceptions. (How very “woke” of him!)  The Gospels emphasize this commandment in dozens of different verses about love (particularly in the Gospel of John) and lay out specific blueprints about what love in action looks like throughout Matthew 25, the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, the Sermon on the Plain in Luke, the beginning of his ministry in Luke 4:18, Mary’s song about the rich and the lowly in Luke 1, and more.

There are those who claim  that America was founded to be – and should remain – a so-called “Christian nation,” despite the clear intent of the Constitution to separate church and state and to honor religious liberty for all.   It most assuredly was not.  Many of our Founding Fathers were not Christian.  Many of them were Deists, among them were Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.  (Yes, I know some of you will disagree with me.  However, check out the “Jefferson Bible” before you say anything.    Heck, check out your own Bible, in a direct translation and proper context, before you say anything.)     These same people claim to be all about defending “the Jesus that they love and worship” whilst not caring at all about those whom Jesus asked them to care:  the hopeless, the hungry, the homeless, the downtrodden, those who are “other.”  The prisoner, the immigrant.  They yell about freedom of speech without understanding what that means, and not caring, except for the speech with which they agree, and heaven forbid anyone disagree with them. 

These are also the people who advocate for oppressive legislation — rooted in far-right religious beliefs — that strips away equal rights  from those same LGBTQ folks, non-Christians, women, people of color, and immigrants, among others.  

They cry, “It’s a baby!” and then do their best to take food out of  babies’ mouths, refuse them health care, or any care at all.  They demand the 10 Commandments be posted in classrooms but shun The Sermon on the Mount as being woke.  They cry to “teach religion in our schools,” but only that bit of religion with which they agree (most of which comes from the holiness codes in the Hebrew Scriptures) but refuse to practice.  And heaven forbid any other religion but theirs be even mentioned in schools.

Where is God in all this?  Where is the love that Jesus has said that we are to show to all?  It is time to stop giving lip service to our faith and actually live it.  It is time for us to, as they say, “put up or shut up.”   It is up to each of us to conduct ourselves in a manner fitting our faith.  By all means, pray for America.  But don’t you DARE then sit back and do nothing to heal our nation. 

We are taught in Galatians 3:28 that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  That also means, by extension, no race, no nationality.  Isn’t it time we act like it?  Isn’t it time that we hold those in power accountable if this is what we wish?  We are taught in the book of James to “ show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” James 2:1-26   Further, we are taught, again in James, that faith without works is dead. In other words, if the faith inside of us doesn’t get expression through our actions and words, it will no longer be alive. If we don’t use it, we will lose it, so to speak. We have to step out in faith in order to keep faith alive.  (James 2:26:  For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.)

WE MUST OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MEN.  It is up to us, each of us, every one of us who profess to be followers of Christ, to BE the change, to work for the change, we so desperately need in this world.  Again from James:  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.  James 1:22-25  I have said, over and over again, that WE are the only Bible some folks will ever read.  WE are the only Jesus some folks will ever see. 

It’s Easter!!!!  He’s Alive!!!!   Jesus has risen from the dead!!!  Our world has changed!!!!!  Our very LIVES are changed!!!!

Meh.  Ho hum.  Ya think?  Prolly not.  Really?  Is he?  How can we prove this to the world?  Better yet, what are you doing, how are you living, to prove that you believe it?  In what way does your life reflect this? 

It is so easy for us to celebrate the Easter  Season, with all the accompanying fanfare, the music, the bunnies and chicks and eggs and ham…..  We dress up in our best, go to church, and celebrate.  And then what happens the next Monday and all the days after that???  We talk about how nice Easter was and go back to business as usual.

If Christ is alive as we proclaim he is, if Christ rose again from the grave to save us from our sins, to change our lives, then should our lives not reflect a profound change?  One that is visible to all with whom we come into contact?

If Jesus Christ is the very God we claim, come in the flesh of humanity, if He is the Lord “through Whom all things were made,” as we recite in the Nicene Creed, it is up to us to proclaim this with all that we are, with all that we do.   Think about those whom Jesus had following Him: sailors, insurgents, tax-farmers, prostitutes, widows, lepers, and, on occasion wealthy folks. Rulers, workers, and the dregs of society. Young and old.  Their lives were changed in such a drastic measure that they died for their faith.   Many of them left all that they had, the security of their homes, their jobs, their families, to follow Jesus.  Would you? 

Nothing, NOTHING irritates me more than when folks proclaim from the rooftops, loudly, that they are “born again Christians,” who “live by the Bible”, and then live their lives working their hardest to be anything other than what Jesus commanded them to be, and following the parts of the Bible that are directly opposed to what Jesus taught. 

If you are one of those “Christians” who loudly and proudly proclaim that any group of people are less than, are undeserving, are not welcome;  if you are one of those who believe that any person should be other than who God created them to be, who are undeserving of medical treatment, who are not worthy of the same rights as anyone else, who should be treated as ‘other,’ then you are far, FAR from truly Christian.   Jesus kinda summed it up pretty nicely when he said, ““Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. (Matthew 23:27-28)

Jesus told us EXACTLY what to do, how to live, who we should be:  “As I have loved you, love one another.” He lived out the ultimate example of what this means. Then he said, “No greater love hath any man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Then He did just that. He also taught us, in Matthew 25:31-46 just exactly how we should live our lives:   “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.  All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry .and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

If He really is risen, then we have an obligation one to another to serve our fellow man as He served us.  And we have an obligation to share this Good News with everyone. We have to make the blessings we have gained available to every human. EVERY.   SINGLE.  ONE.  And we have an obligation to show that there really is truth to the old song, “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. And they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”   We have an obligation to reflect Christ’s goodness, His holiness, in our lives.  By our speech, by our actions, by our very thoughts. Especially for the least, the lost, the forgotten, those who are “other.”

As you have heard me say a couple of zillion times, YOU are the only Jesus some folks will ever see.  YOU are the only Bible some folks will ever read.

He is alive!  Let us allow Him to live anew through our lives, reflecting His love and His promise in all that we do, in all that we say, in all that we are.  He is alive!!!!!  Amen.

Today on The Passion of The Lord (Good Friday), we hear the account of Jesus’ victorious death upon the cross. Victorious death you may ask? Yes, the cross is where the path of faithfulness leads. Jesus is victorious in his faithfulness to the end. Especially in the Gospel of John, we are told that Jesus knew about the betrayal, the abandonment, the suffering, and his death that was to come in his last days. Jesus knew the danger that was to come, and he continued directly to it. To die on the cross was to triumph. It is the central reason Jesus had come down to earth. Jesus’ death is key in Jesus’ victory and in our Salvation.

Jesus has foreknowledge of what is to come and is confident in continuing his mission, knowing that mission leads to his death.

Let’s consider a few examples of Jesus’ faithful confidence from the Gospel of John. After Jesus enters Jerusalem with palm branches waving on Palm Sunday, he declared, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” and speaks of his death as the falling of a grain of wheat which dies and bears much fruit. He continues to tell us of the hour of his death as the reason for which he has come. As he preaches this, the crowds hear affirmation in the thunder of God’s voice. In today’s Holy gospel, when the Roman soldiers  come to arrest Jesus in the garden, Jesus does not fight back or run away, rather he declares, “Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?” Jesus carries his cross to the site of the crucifixion.. Even John’s description of Jesus’ death emphasizes Jesus’ powerful choice to follow through with his mission: “When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30). Jesus “gave up his spirit” in the active voice: Jesus is not a passive victim in this gospel. John paints a portrait of one who knows what is to come and desires to follow through with it. Jesus chooses to suffer and die for our Salvation.

As John tells of Jesus’ passion, he lifts up meanings for his community and also for us. Kingdom and power emerge as major themes.

The major exploration of kingdom and power begins as Jesus is brought before Pilate, the governor of Judea. Pilate has heard Jesus has been called the “king of the Jews” and questions him about his kingship. Jesus replies that his kingdom “is not from this world.” Jesus’ kingdom is greater than this world, it existed even before this world was ever brought into being. Jesus declares that Pilate’s power is dependent on a greater power. Pilate is both fearful and scornful.

When the crowd outside Pilate’s headquarters gets involved, the debate about kingship expands to a reflection of whose leadership we follow. The faithful response is to acknowledge God alone as the one to whom we owe allegiance. But, instead of declaring “God is our king,” the chief priests declare “we have no king but the emperor.” They reject the promised king that God has sent. Many Christians have done violence to modern Jews because of John’s portrayal of their rejection. But that was not his point. Rather, John was reflecting on the rejection his Christian community felt from the Jewish communities in which they worshipped and with whom they identified. For us today, the religious authorities’ rejection invites us to consider our rejection. When God acts other than we expected, when we don’t get what we think God should give us, when other people or things look more likely to give us life and security, do we also reject God? Do we also claim another as our king?

Pilate twists and mocks the idea of Jesus as being king. He has Jesus dressed in a royal purple robe and crowned with thorns. Jesus is shackled and is beaten then is condemned to death. As he hangs on the cross, Pilate’s royal declaration hangs above: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Pilate sees crucified Jesus as the furthest thing from an image of a king.

The cross is the throne which Our Lord Jesus ascends. Humility is the path which he chooses. But his kingship is sure. Jesus is one with the God the Father whose power is greater than all. Jesus sets aside power in his incarnation and death. Jesus’ resurrection on Easter morning testifies to the kingship and power that rightly belong to him. Pilate intends to mock the powerless king, but Jesus proves his victory in setting aside power. Jesus is ruler of a different kind of kingdom, in which the powerful one gives up themself for the sake of the weakest.

The cross is the moment of Jesus’ victory. But what is it Jesus is victorious over?

Jesus is victorious over sin, over death, and over the devil. Jesus breaks the powers of this world that hold us captive and separated from God. Jesus opens his kingdom to all people.

The powers of evil, and of death, were broken when they tried to claim Jesus. From the beginning of the gospel, John wants us to know that Jesus is the word of God, Jesus is from God, Jesus is God. Jesus Christ is present at the creation, bringing life into being, making light out of darkness, creating out of where there was nothing. So when this Jesus Christ enters into the darkness of death, and death tries to turn him into nothingness, death fails in his task. The one who creates life, light, and creation  cannot be conquered by death. Jesus makes light in the midst of the darkness of death and turns the nothingness of death into full life and eternal life. Jesus emerges from suffering death fully restored in newly created life.

So what does all this mean for you and for me?

The cross is the place of victory for Jesus, and also the place of Victory for each of us who truly love, believe and follow. Jesus draws all peoples to himself as he is raised up on the cross. We who have been united with Jesus through baptism are united with Jesus in his death. Jesus’ death breaks apart the kingdom of this earthly world that is opposed to God and firmly establishes the kingdom of God. We are brought into the kingdom of God.

This means that you have been freed from all those things which take life away. From eternal Death, fear, greed, the need to live up to other’s expectations or ways of valuing life- none of these things have a hold on us anymore. Jesus has won us away from these powers.

This night, we welcome the cross into our midst. We honour the cross as the symbol and place of Jesus’ victory, in doing so, we glorify our Lord Jesus who died there. As Jesus transforms the world with his kingdom, Jesus has transformed the cross from a place of shame to a place of victory.

Easter Sunday, the empty tomb, and the risen Jesus Christ are the final affirmations to Jesus’ victory on the cross. We know that the cross was a battle won because Jesus emerges from death. We celebrate Jesus’ faithfulness to the cross and God’s faithfulness in providing life. We rejoice in Jesus’ death, because we know that it is not the end of the story. On Easter morning, we will celebrate the bloom of the seed of victory planted this day.

Let us pray:

We remember today, the pain and suffering of the cross, and all that Jesus was willing to endure, so we could be receive salvation. He paid the price, such a great sacrifice, to be victorious over sin and death, and to win us the gift of eternal life.

Help us never to take for granted this huge gift of love on our behalf. Help us to be reminded of the cost of it all. Forgive us for being too busy, or distracted by other things, for not fully recognizing what you freely gave, what you have done for us.

Thank you Lord that by your wounds we are healed. Thank you that because of your huge sacrifice we can live free. Thank you that sin and death have been conquered, and that your Victorious Power is everlasting.

Thank you that we can say with great hope, “It is finished…” For we know what’s still to come. And death has lost its sting. We praise you for you are making all things new.

Amen.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, grace and peace be with you this Palm Sunday.

Today, as we enter into this most sacred week, our hearts are a whirlwind of emotions. We wave our palms, echoing the joyous cries of the crowds lining the road to Jerusalem: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” We celebrate Jesus, our King, entering his city, seemingly in triumph.

But even as we lift these symbols of victory, a somber undercurrent runs through our celebration. We know the rest of the story. We know that the cheers of “Hosanna” will soon turn to the venomous cries of “Crucify him!” The palms of praise will give way to the crushing weight of the cross.

As a priest in the Order of Preachers, a Dominican, I am particularly drawn to reflect on the Word, on the truth that God reveals to us. And what does today’s Gospel reveal? It reveals the paradoxical nature of our Savior, the mystery of God’s love poured out in suffering.

Think with me for a moment about the readings we have just heard. From Isaiah, we hear the suffering servant, a figure who bears the sins of many, who is struck and afflicted, yet opens not his mouth. We see a foreshadowing of the silent endurance of Christ in his Passion.

Then, in Philippians, Saint Paul unveils the profound humility of Jesus: “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” 

This, my brothers and sisters, is the heart of Palm Sunday and the Holy Week that unfolds before us. We acclaim a King, yes, but a King who reigns not from a throne of earthly power, but from the wood of the cross. A King who conquers not through armies and might, but through love, sacrifice, and ultimate obedience to the Father’s will.

As Dominicans, our vocation is to contemplate and to share the fruits of our contemplation. And what we contemplate today is this immense love of God, a love that embraces suffering, a love that seeks the salvation of all humanity, even those who would betray, deny, and condemn.

This week, we are called to walk with Jesus. Not just to remember the events of the past, but to enter into them with our hearts. To feel the betrayal of Judas, the fear of Peter, the abandonment of the disciples. And most importantly, to witness the unwavering love of Jesus in the face of such profound human frailty.

The palms we hold today are a reminder of our own fickle nature. How often do we offer praise and then turn away when things become difficult? How often do we shout “Hosanna” with our lips, but our hearts are far from the self-sacrificing love that Christ embodies?

This Holy Week is an invitation to examine our own lives. Where do we need to empty ourselves, as Christ did? Where do we need to be more obedient to God’s will, even when it is challenging? Where do we need to offer true compassion and forgiveness, even to those who have hurt us?

My dear parishioners, as we carry these palms home, let them be more than just decorations. Let them be a tangible reminder of the King we acclaim today, the King who loved us so much that he willingly embraced suffering and death for our sake. Let them be a symbol of our commitment to follow him, not just in moments of glory, but also in the shadows of the cross.

May this Holy Week be a time of deep reflection, profound conversion, and a renewed appreciation for the boundless love of our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.