Palm Sunday 2024 - A Homily with Fr. Dom

James Caldwell (00:00.142)
Welcome to the Manly Catholic. In this podcast, we will inspire, challenge, and equip all men to become the men they were created to be. Join us as we journey together to become the best versions of ourselves and strive to change our communities one man at a time.

James Caldwell (00:26.478)
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

James Caldwell (00:32.526)
There is no growth without tension. There is no freedom without persevering and persecution as you carry the cross of Christ. And there is no salvation without the ultimate sacrifice of God in the flesh, Jesus the Christ. Behold, I make all things new.

These are things that have come to my mind as I was praying through the gospel that we had just heard. The most powerful narrative the world has ever seen and will ever see. For without this narrative, where are we? In this narrative in which we hear transcends space and time. And so as we gather here in the great liturgy of Palm Sunday, the liturgy we entered into, which is very different than any other liturgy in which we celebrate in many ways speaks for itself, doesn't it?

That's what I love about being Catholic. We have palm branches and incense and candles and chant and Latin, bringing forth the beauty of what we celebrate today, the gift of Jesus to us and for us. Beginning of master was the great procession, wasn't there? First, the blessing of palm branches, a simple natural item that comes from a plant, then it was blessed by God, elevating it to what? A sacramental, not a sword.

are sacramentum. The item you have in your hand is very important. It has been blessed and it means something. They were waved before Jesus as he was entering to Jerusalem. Hosanna to the son of David. Hosanna is a Hebrew word for save. Save us, O son of David. And they waved those before Jesus. Why? Because palm branches were a victorious win over defeat of an enemy. It also meant kingly ship. Peace, stability.

But for you and me, the palm branches also mean our good works that are laid before Jesus. Our good works. For we cannot do good works without the cross. The processional cross, if you saw, had what? Woven through it. Many palm branches. Those are our good works woven to the cross as those good works, us, are spilled upon by Christ's body.

James Caldwell (02:59.054)
and his blood. We cannot do good works without the cross. That's what that means. That's what those palm branches mean to us. Victory, but also good works. The narrative in which we heard is full of many characters, many people, many statements, powerful language. I encourage you to go through it today. Where do you find yourself in this narrative?

Perhaps it was the woman that broke that jar of spikenard over Jesus. Very expensive spikenard. And Jesus said she has done well. Why? Because that spikenard, that's us as well. That's our soul broken open for God, giving everything to Him. It could also be our idols. We smash our idols before the Lord, destroy them. The Lord said, I can be with you and one with you.

She gave a fragrant sacrifice, and that's what God wants out of all of us. He wants the best sacrifice from us. Just like Abel and Cain, Abel was found acceptable because he gave the most perfect sacrifice. Abraham, father of faith, why? Because he offered the perfect sacrifice. Isaac. So many other saints we encounter do the same thing, and then we have Jesus, who made the ultimate sacrifice.

James Caldwell (04:18.414)
Maybe we find ourselves with the scribes and Pharisees who what? They try to arrest him with treachery and put him to death. How many times in our lives are we filled with unforgiveness or anger or resentment?

We want to use those weapons of ice against someone to destroy them. Do we respond in love?

Another person that we come in contact with is Judas Iscariot. This is something that hurts deeply to everyone. Someone who you thought was your friend betrays you. Jesus in his full human nature felt all those stings and all those pains.

James Caldwell (05:00.11)
Jesus in our narrative today exemplifies throughout all of Earth's history everything that could possibly happen to a person. All the evil that could possibly fall on a person in our whole entire narrative, Jesus experiences that. Betrayal, envy, murder. And He gives Himself as a sacrificial lamb. That's why He's the most perfect victim and sacrifice because He takes on everything that the world could throw at Him. Everything that the world can throw at us.

Next in our narrative, we hear so many powerful language and statements. He says, this is my blood, blood of the new covenant. Again, just like I said before, when I started this homily, when I quoted Revelation, behold, I make all things new. The covenant which we enter into, the covenant in which we stay into with grace from the sacraments, baptism brings you in, confession forgives you of your sins.

You get to receive the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ from this altar even today to renew that covenant, to partake of that blood and of that body.

One of the most powerful things that I find in this narrative is where Jesus is in the garden. And if you know scripture well, whenever you hear garden, that should take you all the way back to Genesis. So Jesus is found in the garden, isn't he? Who's tempting him? Satan. Who tempted who Abimeev in the garden? Satan. Who is the man that was supposed to stand at the front of the door of the garden and say, here and no further?

Satan and not let him in the garden. Adam, but he didn't do that. There it is. Jesus is the new Adam. He's in the garden. Satan's tempting him and he's tempted. He says, let this cup pass for me. But then he does what the first Adam should have done in the garden. He stood in front of the door and say, here and no further. And he says, not my will, but your will be done. Adam should have said that. Behold, I make all things new. Jesus is in the garden.

James Caldwell (07:07.086)
What is he doing? He's repairing everything that has happened in the past. He's making things new.

And in the garden, who do we have? Peter, James, and John. Jesus is close as friends. Judas is already going to betray him. That hurts enough. And then you have Peter, James, and John. Friends are very important in our lives. Good friends that'll hold us up and help us walk through life and be there when we're suffering. And Jesus says to Peter, who moments before said, you are rock. And Jesus says to Peter, you're sleeping. What does that mean for us? It sometimes mean our spiritual sloth.

Or when we're confronted with evil, when we're called to speak the truth through the power of the Holy Spirit, even though that may bring persecution on ourself, do we sleep and say no?

Peter, James, and John fell asleep in the garden at the most pivotal moment. Do we fall into laziness or maybe not care or selfishness? Do we fall into that desire to satisfy our own needs and not want to sacrifice or live for others? There's much that we can bring into our soul and do reflection and examination of conscience with this narrative. And then they seized him. And then there's this interesting scene where this young man runs off. He loses his linen cloth and he runs away naked.

Theologians speculate on who this is. It's really not the point. I think the most powerful point is this. When you're baptized, you're given your white baptismal garment. When you're confronted with having to speak the truth, sometimes we run away and we sin and leave our baptismal garment behind. We run off naked. Naked. Takes us back to the garden. Adam and Eve, they ate from the tree of good and evil and they realized what? They realized that they were naked. They realized that they had sinned. And so they tried to cover up their sin so no one could see that.

James Caldwell (08:53.144)
That's what that means. So hold on to your baptismal garment. Jesus gives us strength to bring the gospel and build the kingdom in this world in which we find ourselves in. Then we have Simon the Serenian who carries the cross. We have to carry our cross every day. He says, pick up your cross daily and follow me. He doesn't say sometimes.

Next as we travel through the narrative, Jesus is hanging on the cross and he says, which we chanted in our response to our yalsal, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That's a powerful, painful response, isn't it?

But see what Jesus is doing hanging from the cross, he begins the very first sentence of Psalm 22. Look that up, read that, pray through Psalm 22. It's a very powerful Psalm. And he knows all the Jews know that song in and out. And so when he begins the first sentence in their minds that are watching him being crucified, they play out the rest of that Psalm, which is full of power, mercy, love, and then ultimately redemption. He's still trying to convert with every last breath as he hangs upon the cross.

And finally, I'd like to end with this statement from a Gentile. Jesus has died. Now it's time to bring the gospel message, isn't it? In the first Gentile, Roman soldier proclaims quite boldly, and he might have been killed because of this, because there's only one God, Caesar, whom he claimed allegiance to. He says this in front of everyone after Jesus has died, truly this man was the son of God.

So as we prepare to enter in the most holy part of our liturgical calendar, the triduum, let us embrace this narrative. Let us do an examination of conscience. Let's go before God and His love and in His mercy and receive that. Let us ask for the strength to go to everyone we meet and echo the powerful words from that Gentile. Truly this man was the Son of God. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

James Caldwell (10:58.094)
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