Just a word before we go...Palm Sunday...March 24, 2024

“Palm Sunday is not a day unto itself, but an introduction to Holy Week, one that ends with the Sacred Triduum...the three days of Jesus’ suffering, death and Resurrection...the centerpiece of our liturgical year.”  Many of us probably hope that we could go quickly from the Hosannas of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem to the Alleluias of Easter Sunday.  Let’s skip the hard part, the suffering and death part...but that would be denying the reality of life...that of Jesus, or of our own.

The cross of Christ has not disappeared with the kindness of Joseph of Arimathea.

If you walk into the waiting room of any hospital, you will see people carrying the cross;

You can see the cross being carried by any parent or grandparent worried about a drug-addicted child; 

If you look at a family where someone has just lost a job, you will see the cross.

The cross of Christ has not disappeared...BUT...this is the reason to hear again the stories of this coming week, to understand that something has changed.  Now the cross of Christ is shared by many, and certainly by those who claim the name “Christian.”

You see, if we can understand this story as our own; if we can understand that His Passion touches whatever cross we might be living with, then the agonizing story actually becomes one of hope. Jesus’ story declares a certain Christian paradox: from death, springs life...the paschal mystery. Holy Week is the remembrance and the celebration of this mystery of how the touch of God changed the world, and the renewing of the belief that the cross of Christ can change us, can change our every dying into living, every tragedy into triumph.

So, bring whatever you are holding ...your treasures and your fears, your plans and your worries, your joys and your sorrows… with you on Holy Thursday at 7, on Good Friday at 3, to the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil at 7.  Jesus tells us he has need of these, He will use them, He will transform them...He will fill you with the new life of His risen presence to remind you that death does not have the final word.  His Love has conquered all.”

 These are some of the words Fr. John Baran used in his Palm Sunday homilies. They continue to resonate in our hearts, especially on this day, as we mark the 6th anniversary of his death.  His words were powerful, to be sure, and his presence continues to animate our parish.  On this day, and throughout the coming Holy Week, may our memories of him remain in the forefront of our hearts and inspire us as we walk the way of Jesus, remembering that His Paschal Mystery was lived by Fr. John, and by us all.