I remember a time in my first three years of priesthood, when I was in campus ministry at the University of Kansas. At the age of 26, I was pretty much a peer with some of the students. We related very well and could be pretty honest and blunt with each other. In one particular discussion, I must have been complaining about what my pastor was wanting me to do (something I am sure Fr. Kenn can relate to), and one of the students told me that I needed “to get off my cross”.
The cross of suffering is something we all will endure, but these days we need to keep it all in perspective. As we are not able to watch KU in the Final Four, or go out to sit at a restaurant and eat, as we are forced to spend time with family more and not be with our friends in school, are these personal crosses we bear as big or heavy as those who don’t have a TV or can’t even afford enough rice for their family to eat? Is our cross heavier than the orphan who has no family, or the child who has never been to school?
In today’s Liturgy for Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, we face quite a contrast of experiences and emotions.
Similar to how each and every one of us is dealing with our current situation with the Covid-19 crisis, (it is really all over the place), there is a way for us to connect.
We begin the celebration today listening to the story of Jesus being welcomed into Jerusalem with great joy and exultation! “Hosanna!” they cried out. “Hosanna in the highest!” Jesus was treated as he should have been treated. People were excited to see Him as we will be excited to see our friends and family and Church community again too, but this excitement quickly turned to shock and horror as we enter more deeply into today’s readings. The Gospel culminates with Jesus hanging on the Cross crying out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, and with that, “Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.” When we hear this, we should all kneel in silence and ponder what Christ’s death really means, and how that might
compare with the crosses we bear.
How things can change in one short week for Jesus and how things can change in one month for us. What happened to all the people who were shouting and praising Jesus when he came into the city? What happened to all of the people who came to Church? What will happen to us when our Churches are open again?
Let this week give us divine hope. So often we can be tempted to discouragement and, even worse, we can be tempted toward despair. But all is not lost for us. Nothing can steal away our Christian joy unless we let it. No cross should be that heavy for us, especially if we let our Lord carry it for us.
Maybe we all need to be told every now and then that we need “to get off our cross.”