25 Mar 2018
Palm Sunday
A week from now we’ll be celebrating Easter, and we’re
getting for that: deciding what to make for Easter dinner, who’s coming
over. Just yesterday I was at the store
and bought some jelly beans. Easter is
coming and we’re looking forward to it.
But, of course, Easter does not stand alone. The holiday exists in relation to the Passion
and the Cross of our Lord. At Easter, we
celebrate that Christ died for our sins, of course. But we also celebrate the revelation of the
Tree of Life.
Remember back in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve were
expelled. Well, they (and all of
humanity) were cut off from the Tree of Life in the center of the garden. They couldn’t get to it; they didn’t have any
way to access Paradise. But...with the
Resurrection, the wooden Cross is revealed as the Tree of Life. The Cross is our access to Paradise!
At Easter celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection, but with
that we also rejoice that the door to Paradise has been shown to us! In his resurrection, Jesus points back to the
Cross and says, “That’s the Way! If you
want to be with me in Paradise, go that Way!”
And that’s why each year we hear the Passion. It’s why we carry the Cross in our
processions. It’s why on Good Friday we
venerate the Cross; we kiss it and bow to it; we touch it; we reverence it—the
Cross, the doorway to Paradise. It’s why
in Catholic churches we surround ourselves with the Stations of the Cross.
The Cross is everything to us. Next Sunday as we’re celebrating the
resurrection of Jesus from the dead, let’s be sure to also celebrate what the
resurrection reveals to us—it reveals the Cross, it validates selfless love as
the door to Paradise.
Paradise is opened again to humanity. And the Cross is the doorway. Thanks be to God for the Cross.
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