This 6th Sunday of Lent, Palm Sunday, we hear the Gospel of Jesus triumphant entrance into Jerusalem proclaimed followed quickly by the Passion. It is the quick succession of the joy of hope followed by seeming defeat and despair, which catches us off guard in our lives. This month we have been looking more deeply into the Spiritual Work of Mercy, Admonish the Sinner, and how we are called to do so in mercy and love. For we who believe that the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ has destroyed the power of sin and death through the triumph of the Cross-, it is only natural that we see the Passion, the life, death and resurrection of our Lord as the ultimate and perfect act of admonishing the sinner in mercy, justice and love.
Throughout our Lenten journey we have been walking the way of the cross with Jesus. He has been calling out to us to participate with him in his works of mercy as he carries his cross for the forgiveness of our sins. He asks us to walk with him, to look upon him and to be with him in his gift of mercy and forgiveness so that we may share this gift with others.
How does this work in our lives? When we come to realize that the work of mercy is not an act of violence, retribution or revenge but rather the healing and invitation back into the community we are able to begin to recognize moments in our lives where we have participated in “admonishing the sinner” on both sides of the work of mercy. Jesus’ carrying of the cross is an act of healing and mercy as he accepts the harshness of those around him as he continually reaches out in love and forgiveness to each of us.
We are all called to carry our cross. Jesus commands us to follow his example, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.“ (Lk 9:23) At times these are crosses we gladly accept and at others they are not.
When I was a sixth grade teacher, most days, I gladly accepted the cross of the 30+ boys and girls given to my care. It was a time of give and take and great learning of humility and accepting my failures that were often (too) gladly pointed out by the children charged to me.
If you have ever visited my office the words “Mark Arnzen and neat organization” have never been used in the same sentence. My principal at St. Lawrence Middle School commented often on my need to move from “messy organization” into the world “organization”…not even “neat organization” just not the sense of chaos on my desk. The students would often point this shortcoming out to me as I talked with them about keeping their desks, binders, backpacks etc.…in some semblance of order. And they were correct. Their challenge became a moment of grace and healing where I began to not settle for the “normal” and began to stretch myself to find the “organization” that relieved stress and helped me be a better teacher and showed the students the value of kindly correction.
Matthew Kelly, in his book Rediscover Jesus, sets forth this challenge as he asks us to consider, “What are your three most frequent sins?” (p 156) They do not need to be large or grave, just those things that keep us away from God and being the best person we can be this day. When we recognize the “sin” we are invited to look out and see how others are calling you to change, “admonishing the sinner,” to return in mercy and love, in doing so we take up our cross and follow him into his kingdom of blessing and peace unified in mercy and love.
God Bless
Fr. Mark