Palm Sunday
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Palm Sunday
God wants to give Himself to us, flood our soul with his divine life.
Jesus said, “Make your home in me, as I make mine in you.”
To prepare the world for the gift of sharing in divine life, God called the Jews – making them the Chosen People, the nation of Israel, giving them the Promised Land and the Temple in which He dwelt.
But they became more attached to these gifts than to God himself.
When God came, offering His life to them in Jesus, many chose the gifts and rejected God.
In fact, the High Priest said it was better for Jesus to die and go away rather than lose the nation to the Romans.
The sin of Pride is to choose some gift of God over God himself.
And as John of the Cross wrote: “We become as little as the things we love.”
I know where I am tempted to seek my identity and happiness apart from God.
What is it for you?
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On Palm Sunday Jesus went into the temple and cleansed it saying: “My house will be a house of prayer for all nations.’ But you have turned it into a ‘den of robbers.”
Jesus denounces the mixing of worship and trade in the Temple. But something deeper is also going on here. Jesus points out the deeper problem by quoting Jeremiah 7:11 “Has this House, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers…? Go now to my place that was in Shiloh…and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.”
God sent the Prophet Jeremiah to foretell the end of the first Temple, the Temple of Solomon.
By using Jeremiah’s words, Jesus is foretelling the destruction of the 2nd Temple, the one he just cleansed.
The Jewish Officials then demand for a sign from him to justify his actions. Jesus responded: “Destroy this Temple and I will raise it in three days.” He was speaking of the temple of His body.
The Body of Jesus is the Temple of God.
God came to give himself to us through his body in the Eucharist so that all people might become the temple of God.
The end game was not at temple in a city.
God’s plan is for every soul to become the temple of God by sharing in His life through the Eucharist.
Jesus came to bring them God.
They got attached to so much less and couldn’t receive God.
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Are we so different from the Jews at the time of Jesus?
God has given us all kinds of good things.
They are meant to help us to the goal - transforming union with God - not take his place.
God is the Supreme Good. God alone satisfies. Nothing compares to Him.
But we get attached to his gifts in a disordered way. And when God wants to give us something infinitely better – Himself - we choose things so much smaller, and “We become as little as the things we love.”
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We need to cleanse our temple or God will have to come and do it himself.
One of the most violent and disturbing things Jesus said in the Gospels is about getting rid of whatever causes you to sin.
He says that if your hand causes you to sin, you should cut it off. And if your eye causes you to sin, you should pluck it out. After all, He says, graphically – it’s better to get into heaven missing a body part then have the whole of you get tossed down into the fires of Hell. You may have to cut certain things out of your life – definitely things that are bad; but also certain things that aren’t bad in themselves, but which, for us, are near occasions of sin.
If what we watch or listen to on our screens leads you to sin, then you have to cut it off. There is no negotiating with sin. We just have to stop.
We have to cut those situations out – and it’s going to be really hard. It might even feel a bit like an amputation. But it’s worth it.
To cleanse our temple, we must also do a brief examination of conscience each day to identify our dominant deadly sins. Look back over the last 24 hours at what you did or failed to do that was wrong. Then ask, why did I do it? What is at the root? Is it pride, vanity, envy, sloth, anger, greed, gluttony, lust, resentment, etc.?
Once you identify your dominant habitual vice, then work to overcome it by practicing the opposite virtue.
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Jesus also said you cannot put new wine into old wineskins.
The new wine will burst them. The old wine skins aren’t strong enough. Likewise, our soul is not big enough or strong enough to receive Almighty God. It not only needs to be cleansed but also enlarged and strengthened.
St. John of the Cross (LF 2:25-27) says God stretches and strengthens our soul to receive Him by a two-fold process:
I. By doing what we are supposed to do
II. By accepting the trials and sufferings we cannot change
If we complain about or refuse to fulfill the duties of our state in life and if we refuse to take up our crosses then God respects our choice and he will back off. Then your soul will not grow large enough or strong enough to receive him. You will be left with a tiny, pitiful weak soul. For “We become as little as the things we love.”
So look at the responsibilities and duties of your state in life as a spouse, parent, worker, child of elderly parents – and do what your supposed to do for the love of God.
And look at all the things you did not choose, do not like and cannot change. Look at your cross. Then take it up – accept it with trust and love of God.
By these two – duties and accepting trials – God will increase your faith, hope and love which expands and strengthens the capacity of the soul to receive more of Almighty God.
Join us tomorrow to see what Jesus teaches us on Monday of Holy Week!