Transcription
Well, here we are at [music] the next session as we go deeper into the desert. We are coming up at the end of Lent here. It is Palm Sunday tomorrow and the Passion Sunday. It's the beginning of Holy Week. We are so blessed that you have joined us. We talked about hell. We've talked about prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. And now we're going to talk about Palm Sunday and what this can mean for us as we look to go deeper into our relationship with Christ.
An amazing time. One of my favorite lines that one of my formators gave me, he says, you know, you are going to preach some homalies and there are going to be some really good ones and people are going to be coming up and just well, you know, yeah, you know. Yeah.
And he said, remember people who cry hosana hosana will just as easily turn around and scream crucify him, crucify him. And it's a great stark reminder for each of us and again I want to equate this to the lay person's life is that the only opinion that we really need to focus on is what God says about us. Who does God say that I am?
And John, God says you are his beloved son. Yes. In whom he's well pleased. For the ladies listening, you are his beloved daughter in whom he's well pleased. For you men, you are his beloved sons in whom he's well pleased. Your worthiness and your love has very little to do with your behavior. It has to do with your essence and existence that God created you and he created you very good. Created you to be with him. And I think that's this journey of Palm Sunday is to recognize that the way of the world, yeah, dissolves very quickly. And we have to be willing to stand as a contradiction in our [clears throat] culture.
Yes. My spiritual director recently said to me, he said, um, you know, Father Ken, how is the how is when Jesus says he is the way, what does he mean by that? And I said, uh, I said, you know, he's contradiction, suffering, the cross, you know, I gave all the right answers. And then he and I mean like he got intense and he leaned over and he's like, "Is Jesus stupid? Is Jesus stupid?" And I'm like, "No." I'm like, "Jesus is not stupid. Jesus, father, Jesus is not stupid." He goes, "So why is it?" He called him right back down. He goes, "So why is it that you and I and the world are always tempted to give in to using our gifts and talents as a primary means of spreading the gospel over the path of contradiction, over the willing acceptance of being maligned, of being lied about, of suffering, right? all of those ways of contradiction. So why are we so tempted and willing to do that? The answer is concupisence, right?
Yeah. Right. Well, when Jesus said he is the way, we have to seek to follow that way. Yes.
You know, in a previous conversation, you and I talked about some of the other Catholic personalities that have podcasts and they do great work for the kingdom of God. And I don't know all of these men and women. I know several of them. But what I do have a sense of is that all of them have suffered. One of them specifically that I'm thinking of this last year, I heard him speaking about his wife and his and her illness and and the the burden in his voice as he was talking about this and how through their one flesh union, Yeah. She provided the fuel that that allows that particular podcast to reach and be successful and is impactful.
Yeah. You know, one of the things we said right before we started this is that we need to be focused on receptivity, not views. That's right. That did that anyone who's listening, we care more about the message being received than the broad exposure of it.
Yeah. And this is such an important part in our world today is to be willing willing and even to desire the hard path right be willing to suffer to be willing to have people lie about you know that's so hard yeah that's hard
There's a spiritual maxima question that we can present right presented with two rows We're walking down one road and it forks. Okay. And it forks equally. Yes. And you can see it goes down equal distance and it reunites and then it continues on its way. One is smooth and paved. The other one is rocky and full of suffering and difficulties. Which one should we choose?
Yeah. Yeah. I know this is so good. We brought this up and we talked about this and and immediately in my calculating mind in my concupisence mind in my flesh I'm like oh I I need to I I would love to choose the the the short path and then sorry the smooth path and then I would justify in my mind I'd be like because it'll make me more efficient so that I could do more things for the kingdom you know or something like even even say that but then you know my calculating my brain is like well no but I need to suffer because the harder more narrow path right That's that's the way that that we should always choose and and desire. And so so I'll take that path maybe reluctantly, right? And then I know St. Ignatius of Lyola gives us the answer.
Yeah. St. Ignatius says when faced with the hard path of suffering and the smooth path that's paved, you simply pray and ask our Lord which one does he want you to take. That's right. Right.
Because we should only be concerned with the will of our father. Amen. If the father wills you to take the smooth path, then you take the smooth path. If he wills you to take the rocky path, take the rocky path, right? And again, you know, this is a generic maxim or or whatever we're utilizing here. Um because we're not constantly going to take the easy path, right? God is not calling anyone to be a minister to uh you know, the easy way of life, right? Um but but when we look at suffering and hardship, what Ignatius tells us is that we should have the desire for poverty, the desire and inclination to be hated, the desire and inclination to want to be held in contempt by the world.
Yes. Right. Even even by those in the church to be misunderstood like Padre Peio. That's right. Right. To to be open to that and ultimately desire that. But don't go looking for it.
Yeah. The the God will God will send you the crosses that he wants us to have. We don't need to pick up any additional ones.
It's [snorts] the truth. So, we're trying to pair this hosana cry, the way of the cross with a balanced approach that as we enter our life, let's not be opposed to the hard path of suffering.
Yeah. But let's not pick up any additional crosses that are unnecessary. Let's not go create surrogate children of suffering. That's right. Let's pray and ask God what he desires for us, what he wills for us.
Yeah. Not my will be done, but his. And that's that's exactly it. I'm so glad that you brought that up because and I'm [snorts] just going to finish this before we go to the challenge here with that is what we've been journeying through Lent is this receptivity, this openness to God's will in our lives. But we often expect that in discerning God's will that he's going to just give us these lightning bolt moments. He's going to just show us directly the path. But really at the heart of his will is that deep reunion with him. Yes, that's what he wants. He wants us to turn to him and ask him for these different uh uh decisions that have to be made. And it's in that unity with God that his will is fully realized. That is his will is to just grow in deeper and deeper union to be transformed to be divonized to become like Christ, right? And that's what that's what Christ did when he went into the desert. That's what we've been doing here at Lent. And so I really appreciate you bringing that home there as we hopefully cry hosana hosana and then not uh uh pivot and and quickly abandon him for the sake of some lesser good, for sake of some pleasure.
The challenge. Yes. Excellent. Entering into Holy Week here.
I think entering into Holy Week, one of the key things that we can do is really dive deep into the scriptures. Yes. I I think this is an area from a Catholic perspective that that we really have the opportunity to get more out of that. We don't sit with our Bibles. So instead of carrying your phone with you, carry your scriptures with you.
Amen. There's something called, if you want to Google search this, it's called gospel gospel harmony. Okay? And what it does, gospel harmony shows the synnotic gospels side by side. So like if you take the institution narrative of Jesus or Jesus carrying the cross or Jesus meeting the women, it will show Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And then if there's something in John, it will show it all three columns or four columns side by side. So you can just print that out like it's like 10 or 12 pages if you use a like a 9 font but you know so print that out carry that with you and look at it multiple times a day two three times a day to really read through this to let the scriptures let the word of God speak to you.
Amen. Or just carry your Bible but but take these next several days from today through Holy Thursday really soaking in the scriptures to allow it to speak to you in a powerful way.
Wow. No, I love that. Thank you for that challenge. So excellent. I will do that myself. So now if you could close us in prayer.
Let's pray. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord, you came into this world to save us from sin, to save us from the fires of hell. We ask you through the merits of your passion, through the hatred that the world heaped on you, that being yolked to you, that you may shield us from the full effects of the arrows that are fired at us through hatred. contempt or lies or calum, but rather united to you, we may suffer well. We may carry the crosses that you have given us and arrive victorious just as you did. Oh Mary, conceive without sin. Pray for us who have recourse to thee. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Well, thank you, Father, and thank you for joining us deeper into Lent as we are still in the desert, but we uh can see the end. And we look forward to you joining us in our next reflection as we enter into Holy Trudum. So, God bless.