This Sunday is “Palm Sunday” or as it is officially known “The Sunday of our Lord’s Passion.” We call it by this name because we traditionally hear the Gospel of Matthew about Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem and then the Passion Narrative from the Gospel. In this we begin our Holy Week. In our prayer booklet “Refresh and Renew Your Life” the Sunday reflection is entitled “It’s been one of those weeks!” (p 41)
We have all suffered through one of those days, weeks, months, years, decades that surely try our faith and challenge us to see things differently in life. The author advises us, “Accept that setbacks and bad news aren’t what matters. But our response does, as we look at how we can change things. Tough times don’t last, but opportunities for great things to come do. Just ask someone who’s been there.” (p 41)
Take time to think about this a little. Often times I pray for more patience. It never seems to be enough and I know for the confessional that many people, in their family, professional and recreational life suffer from this same sin. But in the end, the sin isn’t impatience, the sin is our response to being impatient with others. It is a hard thing to do, but to be gentle in our impatience, to be merciful in our impatience, to be loving with our impatience and ultimately to be patient with our impatience is the call of discipleship. Following the quote above…accept that the impatience I suffer from isn’t what matters…it is what I do when I am impatient that truly is the gift (good or bad) given to God and his people from me.
How does this look? I was watching the Masters Golf Tournament of a short while yesterday (Thursday) and Justin Spieth, one of the best golfers in the world, shot a quadruple bogie on a hole…that’s bad…but he responded with a birdie on the following hole…that’s good. The reality is the quadruple bogie was terrible and will live on his score card forever but the blessing come from not allowing the quadruple bogie to define the next hole, the next shot, the rest of the tournament. Because this is often what we allow sin to do…it has been one of those days so when I arrive home….I drink too much…watch television instead of talking with my spouse…argue with children/parents…complain about whatever….and we can each name a behavior that we allow to dominate the rest of the day rather than seeking to goodness of life and turn to the gift of love.
This becomes the Christian response to hurts and sufferings…no we do not want to be hurt or suffer nor do we hope others are in suffering and pain in their lives…but we understand that even there God is with us and wants us to turn to him and see the love that He shares with us in abundance. And this takes practice…no, not practice in suffering but practice in loving our way through our sins in prayer and communion with one another and God. It is the practice of those old fashioned but alway new virtues that strengthen our hearts and wills in the exercise of seeking God.
These words from St. Francis de Sales may sum it up for us. “We must hate our shortcomings, but with a hate that is tranquil and peaceful, not with a hate that is fretful and troubled; and, yes, we must have patience to see our shortcomings and to profit from the saintly abasement of ourselves. Failing that, my daughter, your imperfections, which you see very acutely, will trouble you even more keenly, and, by this means maintain themselves, as there is nothing which sustains our defects more than a sense of anxiety and haste to eliminate them.” In other words, the practice of virtue isn’t magic but rather the gentle growth in the virtues of holiness drawing us ever closer to God and the holy people he calls us to love.
God Bless Fr. Mark