Today, my sisters and brothers, we celebrate Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem for the last time. We come together to celebrate Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. We come together today in celebration for the commemoration of the last week of Jesus’ life on earth. Today is the introduction for our entry into Holy week.

In the opening Gospel from Luke we heard of Jesus’ welcome into the city of Jerusalem, a moment of blessings, popularity and welcome. We hear of Jesus riding on the colt of a donkey with a saddle of cloaks across it. We hear of cloaks being thrown across the road just as a red carpet is rolled out for a king and the waving of palm branches symbolizing triumph and victory.

We hear how the disciples were yelling out “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord”. Everyone was feeding off the excitement and joy of others creating a sense of awe for being in a Kings presence. The peoples Hosannas rang out, they called upon Jesus as a savior, a mighty King.

They hoped that he would cast the oppressors out of their land and bring them glory and honor as did King David before Him. But Jesus walked a different path to glory and worked in a different way to bring God’s salvation to them. They did not understand this way-and when Jesus was betrayed in to the hands of the authorities and did not fight, they turned on him, seeing him as a failure, calling out “Crucify Him, Crucify Him”.

Even as he lay down his life for them, those closest to him fled in fear. It is ironic that as Jesus’ disciples thought he was receiving his rightful kingship, it is only on the throne of a cross that Jesus assumes it.

The Passion narrative we have just heard is the painful litany of Jesus’ returning all to the Father. He willingly emptied himself of everything. He allows himself to be stripped of all that is not God, so that he might show us in the moment of total surrender, where our true treasure lies.

Betrayed by one of his apostles, arrested as a criminal, deserted by his disciples, denied not only once but three times by Peter, condemned by the religious authorities, brutally punished unjustly, stripped of his clothes, crucified between thieves-the innocent Jesus is left to die as a lonely criminal, exposed on a cross, jeered at by the crowds.

How quick they changed. How quickly in 5 days they lost their belief, their faith in Jesus.

The ups and downs that Jesus lived and witnessed are our ups and downs. As we heard in the last few weeks of Lent, Jesus knew what would happen to him-he even knew, as we heard in the story of Peter’s denial, that his closest disciple and friend would claim to not know him when put to the test.

Jesus was walking a path, step by step, which would lead him to the only source of truth and lasting meaning for him and ultimately for us, that he was moving towards the fulfillment of God’s will for him and through him for the world. Jesus knew that in the worst of times in life, even his own, the Father would be there; that he would be surrounded and encompassed by the presence, the mercy, and the love of God.

This is a lesson for all of us to remember. If we depend upon the events of life to give us reward and satisfaction, then we may never achieve them or we may have them taken away in the very moment of tasting victory. We may be at the peak of our lives with money, health, position, material possessions, friends, but in those terms there is nowhere to go but downhill in the weeks, months, and years ahead.

On the other hand, we have the opportunity to walk our own unique path of obedience toward God like Jesus Christ. It is a path which may see us surrounded by possessions, money, popularity, or it may lead us into poverty and loneliness but we will never feel abandoned.

No matter the path, it is the direction, the destination we seek that matters. One’s life is well spent seeking to find and do God’s will. Many  have known the taste of Palm Sunday, the sweetness of success, of popularity, and probably all of us have tasted the bitterness of Good Friday, rejection, loneliness, abandonment.

There is no disgrace, no shame in any situation we find ourselves in, as long as we turn to God. Isaiah from our first reading says “The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced, I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame”.

What saves us from an endless round of ups and downs, what frees us from the events in our lives which we have no control, is our commitment to go forward in obedience to God’s will. It is trust in God’s love to bring about our Easter morning, knowing that the meaning of life is to be found in the love of God through his Son, Jesus Christ, sharing that love with all we meet on our life’s journey.

My Sisters and brothers, never forget what Jesus did for us, yes, you and me. If we remember, then we live in the will of God. We live in communion with Jesus Christ. And when our time comes to leave this earthly life, we can hope that we will hear these words spoken to us: “Amen I say to you, today, you will be with me in Paradise”.

In today’s Gospel, we hear of two very unfortunate incidents that are brought to Jesus’ attention. First, Roman soldiers killed some Jews who were offering sacrifices in the temple and then mixed their blood with the blood of animals the priests offered to God. The second incident involved 18 people who died when a building collapsed on them. The talk of the town was that God was punishing the victims for sins they had committed.

Because pain and awareness of death became a part of life when Adam and Eve rebelled against God, many people in Jesus’ day thought there was a cause and effect relationship between sin and suffering, believing sickness and death were God’s punishment for sin. This conclusion sounds logical but Jesus quickly rejects it.

In the story of Adam and Eve, pain became part of life not as a punishment for sin but as a consequence of their wrong doing. The difference between punishment and consequence is crucial if we are to understand this gospel passage.  Perhaps this story can illustrate the difference.

Driving his new luxury automobile, a drunken driver speeds down the street at 80 mph, fails to stop at a red light and runs into a power pole as he swerves to avoid a pedestrian. The alcoholic suffers a broken leg and totals his new car. A judge suspends his license and orders him to pay a $500 fine. The broken leg and the totaled car are consequences of this drunken driver’s actions but the fine and loss of his license are the punishments. Consequences naturally flow from an action while punishments are imposed by someone else.

Likewise, we can say that suffering and death flow from living in a sinful world. They are not punishments from God for something we did.  Thus, God was not punishing the victims of the two tragedies because of a particular sin they committed.

When my mother died, some people attempted to comfort me with the line that her death was God’s will. I came to realize that her untimely death was a consequence of poor choices she made that impaired her health, but not a punishment from God.  We believe that God knows everything, but since we have free will, a requisite if we are to freely love, God cannot decide the manner or the time of our death.  For the victims of any disaster, I can hardly believe that a loving God would want people to suffer such a fate.  Death strikes them unexpectedly because people choose to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

None of us can predict our future. That death can happen unexpectedly is rarely considered by most of us but it could happen.  Don’t dismiss the possibility that you might die as suddenly as the many victims of the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti did.  If death were to greet you so unexpectedly, would you be ready?

That is the caution Jesus airs, not once, but twice while reflecting on the tragedies brought to his attention. His concern isn’t the fate or judgment of the victims but of the living.  Many of his listeners, he fears, have the mindset that the absence of misfortune in their lives implies that they are living virtuous lives pleasing to God.  Instead of commending them, Jesus warns, “I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

The examples which Luke uses of people dying in unexpected ways are are a sobering reminder that our time to respond to Jesus’ warning is limited.  In his letter, Paul cautions that not all the Israelites made it to the land of milk and honey. Instead, they “were struck down in the desert.”  We too are on a pilgrimage to the Promised Land, that place we call heaven, but unless we acknowledge our sins and repent, we too may fall short of our desired destination.

The bottom line is this: where we spend eternity depends on our response to Jesus’ call to repentance. The most obvious advice I can offer is for you to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation during this season of Lent. But there is more to reconciliation than a sacramental encounter with a confessor. Reconciliation also means setting ourselves right in our relationships with others as well as God.

The fig tree’s failure to produce fruit brings to mind something else. Jesus’ call to repentance is not merely a call to turn away from evil but also a plea to produce the fruits of good living. In other words, is our love of God evident in our treatment of others? To answer that question, begin at home and consider how you treat your spouse, your parents, your children, and your siblings. It is easy to take members of our family for granted and forget that they are individuals who deserve our respect.

Outside of the family circle, there are so many ways of showing love in the community.  We can meet God by caring for the poor, the sick, the lonely and the elderly. Just think, we have received in our lifetimes a tremendous amount from others, but how concerned are we about giving something in return? How appreciative, how respectful, how loving are we toward others in our lives? Are we takers and not givers? The warning about the unfruitful fig tree is not given to frighten us but to remind us that our time for doing good is limited. We can’t keep putting off good works indefinitely for someday, there will be no tomorrow for us to get our act together.

Lent is an opportunity for taking a hard look at our lives and asking how we stand before God right now. If we have placed spiritual things on the back burner, then we have forgotten the real purpose of why God gave us life. Like the fig tree, we are expected to produce good fruit. It isn’t too late to change our ways, but someday it will be.

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke: 9:28b-36

When the three disciples, Peter, James and John are taken up the mountain to pray, they experience the Transfiguration of Jesus. They see something they cannot make sense of. Luke says that they kept silence and told no one. They could not understand or even explain what it was they experienced.

Normally, we do not see God’s glory. Even the disciples as they traveled with Jesus throughout Palestine did not see his glory. Sure, they saw his extraordinary goodness and kindness and they were amazed by the insight of Jesus and also were amazed at his miracles.

The disciples had all kinds of ideas about who Jesus might be. They were sure he was the Messiah, but they really did not know what that meant for them and for Jesus.

You might feel that this gospel story brings to mind how many see the Transfiguration as somewhat bewildering and wonder what the gospel is trying to tell us.

This brings to mind what might help us understand, in human terms, what happened at the Transfiguration and what it means for us.

What comes to me is the movie “MASK”, from 1985, starring Cher and Eric Stoltz. Do some of you remember that movie? It is based on a true story of a 16 year old boy. He has a rare disease that disfigures his face and head. The boy feels badly about his appearance but he accepts it as part of life.

One day he goes to an amusement park with some of his friends. They go into a “house of mirrors” and begin to laugh at how distorted they look.

Suddenly, the boy is startled-the mirror shapes his face in such a way that it appears normal, even handsome.

For the first time his friends see him in a whole new way. They see from the outside what he is on the inside, a truly beautiful person.

Something like this happened to Jesus in today’s gospel. During the Transfiguration Jesus’ disciples see him in a whole new way. For the first time, they saw from the outside what Jesus is on the inside, the glorious beautiful Son of God; even though they still had trouble understanding what they had just seen.

I have to ask: why is the Transfiguration of Jesus placed among the Lenten readings, which are usually somber in nature, instead of the Easter readings, which usually deal with the glory of Jesus?

The Transfiguration bears a striking similarity to the Agony in the Garden. Like the Agony in the Garden, which took place on a mountain the Mount of Olives, the Transfiguration also took place on a mountain, Mount Tabor.

And like the Agony in the Garden, the Transfiguration was witnessed by only three disciples, Peter, James and John. And like the Agony in the Garden, which took place at night, the Transfiguration also took place at night. And in both cases the disciples fell asleep while Jesus was praying.

On Mount Tabor, the three disciples saw Jesus when his divinity shone through in a way that it had never done before. There is a practical message that comes from both the mountain experiences. Like Jesus who was human and divine, we too have a twofold dimension about us.

There is in each one of us something human and something divine. Like Jesus on Mount Tabor, we too experience great moments when the spark of God shines through so brightly it almost blinds us. We feel so close to God that we feel we can reach out and touch him.

Do you remember the feeling you had at the birth of your child or children as the case may be? Do you remember how you feel when seeing a beautiful sunrise or sunset? How about that feeling when you gave your life to another standing on an altar and saying “I DO”?

During these moments we are amazed at how beautiful life is. We love everyone. We hug our friends and forgive our enemies. It just seems during moments like this we do the right things, the good things.

Like Jesus on the Mount of Olives, we also experience moments of agony, moments that bring us down to a place not pleasant for us. During these moments life is miserable. We find fault with our friends and curse our enemies.

We might even doubt that God even exists. We need to remember that Jesus also experienced these highs and lows during his life on earth. One important lesson we should remember from all this is that Jesus prayed.

If prayer was the way Jesus responded to these moments then it should be the way we respond to them too. And if we do, like Jesus during his Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, we too will hear the Father say to us; this is my chosen one”.

And like Jesus during the Agony on the Mount of Olives, we too will experience the touch of the Father’s healing hand. Through prayer we will experience our own Transfiguration, bringing us closer to God.

Prayer is our way of connecting to God on a daily basis, on the spur of the moment. Prayer changes us. Prayer transforms us. We unite ourselves with God and commune with him. This has an effect on us-a good effect-it makes us better people. Something of God rubs off on us.

Something of his Glory enters into our lives and makes us more holy, just as receiving Jesus Christ in the Eucharist makes us holy. I ask that each of you take a look at your prayer life. Does it change you? Does your prayer life make you more holy? Or, are you a little confused as to what your prayer life can do for you?

If you are, there are two more dates, the 3rd and 10th of March, after the soup supper, where you can enter into a better understanding of your prayer life by joining Elizabeth Guss as she takes you through the journey of prayer.

My sisters and brothers, as we experience moments in our lives like the one Jesus knew on Mount Tabor, let us do what Jesus did. Let us turn to the Father in prayer and know in our hearts that each of us is his chosen child.

In the same way, when moments of agony come to us, as they did to Jesus on the Mount of Olives, let us do what Jesus did. Let us turn to the Father in prayer and let us feel the touch of the Father’s healing hand.

Let prayer become a part of your every day life. Let prayer give you a glimpse of the eternal life to come.

There is an old Jewish tale about how two men dealt with the reality of temptation in their lives. Moshe, the drunk, and Fishel, the guzzler, were in a repentant mood when they swore never again to touch a drop so long as they lived. They shook hands on this oath and started home. Soon, they came upon the village tavern. Things were obviously merry in there. Bits of songs floated through the open windows.

“Sounds like a good time,” sighed Moshe, “My old weakness is drawing me.” “I thought we agreed never to set foot in there again,” Fishel replied. Moshe nodded, then suggested that they should close their eyes and run like crazy past the tavern. After awhile they stopped running and opened their eyes. They were past the tavern.

“Nobody is going to say that we are weaklings,” declared Fishel, the guzzler. “With our strong wills, we can overcome every temptation!” Then Moshe responded, “How about going back to the tavern and offering a thanksgiving over a glass of beer?”

On the first Sunday of Lent, we always hear about the three temptations of Jesus. Temptations are very much a part of being human. As this gospel relates, even Jesus was tempted. At times, they can be so seductive, luring even the most saintly among us into sin. When they surface, do we allow them to control us or do we control them, as Jesus did?

In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask our Father to “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” I cannot imagine that God would ever lead us into temptation. What we are really asking for, according to the Catechism, is “Do not let us yield to temptation but save us from the evil one!”

We think of temptation as that slippery slope into sin, but in biblical times, temptation was seen as a time of testing, a time to choose between being faithful to God or not. In the gospel, we find Jesus passing the test with flying colors.

Because of our freedom to make choices throughout the day, each one of us is put to the test daily. Perhaps they are not as dramatic as the three we find in the gospel, but then our resistance to Satan is not as strong either.

Jesus’ experience in the desert hits home with every one of us. His temptations correspond to three basic needs we each have: the need for pleasure, the need for power, and the need for security. Sometimes, we go about trying to meet these needs in the wrong way or in the wrong place, which can get us into trouble and result in much suffering.

For example, in our quest for pleasure, some of us neglect our inner life. We are busy people, too busy as the saying goes, to slow down and smell the roses. Working overtime to earn the money, we spend too little time nurturing our relationships with God and those close to us. Look back on the past week. Did you spend any quality time with those whom you love?

Another temptation comes to mind that may strike you as odd, and that is the temptation to hold on to emotional baggage, viewing this as a form of power and control over others. We cling to memories that color the way we relate to others which in turn can lead to broken relationships. We ask God to forgive us, yet we are reluctant to forgive others and let go of the hurt, the guilt, the damage that arises from moments of conflict. What do we gain when we are tempted to hold on to our grudges?

A woman hired a professional mover to pack her things. When he asked what she wanted packed, she waved her arms and said, “Everything!” Imagine her surprise when she unpacked the boxes in her new home and discovered that he had followed her directions literally. Along with her furniture and other worldly goods, he had packed her trash bins. “There I was in my beautiful new place with all my garbage, including old newspapers, tin cans,  and banana peels!”

What emotional and spiritual garbage are you carrying around as we venture into Lent? Lent is an ideal time to hand our hurts, betrayals, sins and guilt over to God through the sacrament of reconciliation and allow ourselves to experience affection and esteem again along with God’s divine mercy.

How often are we tempted to think that we are different from others? “I am not like those people,” we claim, acting like the alcoholic who judges others in attendance an AA meeting. Let’s not kid ourselves. We can easily dupe ourselves into believing that we are not sinners, but sin is part of our human nature.  We have our desert full of trials, packaged just for us by the devil who knows our weaknesses and which temptations we have the hardest time resisting.  He tempts us to serve our own needs at the expense of others. Like Moshe and Fishel, we sometimes close our eyes to how sinful some of our choices really are.

Temptation can be compared to the permanent but unwanted guest at our dinner table. When we find ourselves being tempted, remember that Jesus is also a guest at that same table, so we need never face our temptations alone. Paul assures us, “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Jesus reminded the devil that the heart of righteousness is commitment to God, not the performance of marvelous deeds. Like Jesus, we must make the ultimate decision to serve God and others as readily as we would serve ourselves. When we resist the temptations to do otherwise, then we know that we are passing the test with flying colors!

Buried in the fourth Eucharistic prayer is a line, “To the poor, he proclaimed the good news of salvation.” Years ago, a pastor for whom I worked received a letter from someone protesting, “Are you saying that those of us who are not poor aren’t saved?” Had the anonymous author given me a chance to respond, I would have replied, “That’s right!” I would have then cited today’s gospel in which we heard Jesus say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.”  To reinforce his point, Jesus then adds, “But woe to you, who are rich, for you have received your consolation!”

Does this mean that we have to be dirt poor to get into heaven? I doubt God is rejecting those who are financially secure so what gives? In our culture, we think of the poor as having very little. What they have is often in shoddy condition, well used, worn out, ragged, rusty, and ready for the land fill. Jesus doesn’t want his followers literally live in poverty, so what is he getting at with this beatitude and those that follow?

A good starting point would be to understand that to Jesus and the people who first listened to him, being poor meant more than the lack of money. Anyone who was poor also lacked influence and power. Being poor meant being helpless, consequently, many who were poor put their trust in God. The poor know that they cannot depend on the things of this world for lasting happiness. Jesus calls them blessed for they are open to hearing the good news of salvation.

A better way to understand what Jesus is getting across would be, “Blessed are they who realize that they cannot depend on the things of this world for lasting happiness, thus they put their trust in God.” Their dependence on God drives them to say, “Nothing will ever take precedence over Christ in my life.” Can you say that?

For some people that statement does not ring true. They see little need to be dependent on God. Instead, they seek to be in control of what is going on in their lives. When we are taking care of our own needs, we may not realize our dependence on God. I’ll never forget a story that illustrates this point.

A group of eminent scientists got together and decided that man no longer needed God, so they picked a scientist to tell God that they were done with him. The scientist walked up to God and said, “God, we’ve decided that we no longer need you. We’re to the point now that we can clone people and do many miraculous things, so why don’t you just retire?”

God listened patiently to the scientist and then said, “Very well, but before I do, let’s have a man-making contest.” The scientist agreed. Then God added, “Now, we’re going to do this just like I did back in the beginning with Adam.”  The scientist said, “Sure, no problem,” as he bent down to grab a handful of dirt. God looked down at him and said, “Excuse me, get your own dirt!”

When we are in need, our attitude is gratitude. We are not in need, we risk forgetting what it is like to be dependent. The bottom line is this: we are all dependent on God. Without God, we wouldn’t even be alive. All that we have comes from God. We may think that we can earn our happiness with our own sweat, blood and tears or that we can create whatever we need to be content but without God, there is nothing in the world that can give us lasting joy, much less life.

Mother Theresa of Calcutta often said that Christians in the west suffered from a much deeper and pathetic poverty than those whom she and her sisters served in the slums of Calcutta. “The spiritual poverty of the West is much greater than the economic poverty of the East. In the West, there are millions of people who suffer loneliness and emptiness, who feel unloved and unwanted. They are not hungry in the physical sense; what is missing is a relationship with God and with each other.”

I just read a line from another anonymous author, “What makes us discontented with our condition is the absurdly exaggerated idea we have of the happiness of others.” How often do you find yourself comparing your situation to that of others, striving to keep up with the Jones and not feeling satisfied until you surpass them only to discover that no matter how much you have, you still feel that something is missing?

To sum up the readings, what makes one blessed isn’t abject poverty or hunger or sadness but commitment to the Son of Man. Jesus cautions us that either we live for the kingdom and die to our superficial wants or we live for ourselves and lose the kingdom of God. The choice is ours.

Lent begins soon; many of us will endeavor to spend more time with God as we prepare for Easter. Lent is an ideal time for us to step back from the hustle and bustle of our daily routines and evaluate our values from Jesus’ point of view.

His wisdom has withstood the test of time yet there are many in our community who hesitate to really follow his advice.  You likely know some of them: they are preoccupied with worldly pursuits instead of spiritual pursuits. Should they mention to you that something is missing from their lives, that they aren’t truly satisfied or happy, encourage them reconsider making time for God as we journey toward Easter. Invite them to reflect on one of my favorite lines from Robert Frost’s poetry.  “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”  Come Easter, may we all see that making time for God in our lives makes all the difference.