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The adulation of the crowd -
and with shouts of hosannas,
greeting Christ as their king.

"Hail, Son of David,"
and, "Blessed is he in the name of the Lord,"
and waving palms in the air,
the crowd goes wild.

"The Romans will be crushed;
the government overthrown;
our country will be free!"

Visions of revolution
- but not the message that Christ will bring them.

And in the days ahead,
the message is clear:

"The Kingdom that is coming
is the Kingdom of God."

"The Kingdom that is present,
is the Kingdom of God."

"The Kingdom you can enter
is the Kingdom of God."

"The Kingdom you can share in
is the Kingdom of God."

But coming to bring them God,
the people are disappointed.

And it will not be long
before the people reject Him.

"Give us armies, Christ,
and not promises."

"Give us elections,
and not Jesus."

"Give us revolutions,
and not dreams."

And on Holy Thursday,
at the Fortress Antonia,
their choice is Barabbas, the revolutionary.

And Christ?

Crucify Him!

Our Lord is rejected
and enthroned upon a cross.

And why He's rejected, and rejected today,
is all too apparent:
their disappointment
and our disappointment:

"Give us armies, Christ,
and not promises."

"Fill my belly, Christ,
and give me not blessings."

"Bring heaven to earth, Christ,
and not me to heaven."

A rejection of God
because of disappointment with God.

And a disappointment
that often takes forms like these:

"You allowed my mother to die,
and you stink!"

"You allowed the cancer to spread,
and I hate you."

"You allowed my son to die in the war,
and I curse you."

A rejection of God
because of disappointment with God.

He does not do
what we have told Him to do.

He does not listen to our best advice.

Crucify Him.

And a rejection of God then,
and for our world today,
because of apathy.

"Ho hum, another prophet."

"Ho hum, the church down the street."

"God,
Jesus?
So what.
Could care less."

Or apathy
that takes forms like these:

"What difference does it make?"

"God doesn't need me to sing hymns."

"My kids will have plenty of opportunity
to learn religion on their own.
(After all, in the movie 'The Exorcist'
they used a crucifix, didn't they?)"

A rejection of God
because of apathy toward God.

Manana,
later,
luke warm,
caring less.

To hell with you, God!
- Crucify Him.

And a rejection of God then, 2,000 years ago,
and God today
- because of excuses.

"This Christ," says the crowd,
is too religious,
and I'm no fanatic."

"Pray, Lord, have me excused,
for I have bought an ox,
and I must examine him."

"Listen, I work six days a week,
and Sunday is the only day I can sleep."

"The kids will get religion on their own.
(After all, we did, didn't we?)"

A rejection of God
because of excuses.

Too tired,
too busy,
too afraid of unpopularity,
what other people think,
unconcerned.

"Uh, Lord,
I'd be at the crucifixion with you,
but, uh, Lord,
the Friday Night Movie of the Week ..."

Excuses.

"Hang in there all alone, baby,
I ain't got the time."

A rejection of God
because of excuses.

All kinds of excuses,
often magnificent excuses,
noble excuses,
high sounding phrases,
poetry
- But God,
I can't spend the time.

But in spite of their rejection,
and rejection today,
there's one thing we must not lose sight of:

the reality of the cross.

And not just the vision of God's suffering love for us,
but the crosses we bear,
and we carry,
and are crucified upon:

The crosses of despair,
and emptiness,
and meaninglessness,
when we cry out in the night,
or awaken early in the morning,
and stare.

The crosses of sickness,
and suffering,
and mourning,
where our dreams are shattered like glass,
and memories are wounds in our hearts.

The crosses of guilt,
and age,
and infirmity,
like the gathering of time in a clock
about to strike.

There's His cross,
and our own.

And it's what we do
in the shadow of the cross
that's important:

If we turn away from His cross,
we'll be crushed by our own.

But in turning to His cross,
God will give us life.

In turning away from His cross,
we bear our crosses by ourselves.

We are crushed,
we are beaten,
we are broken,
and we die.

"I don't care about You,"
is an echo that returns to our ears:
"I don't care about You."

"I hate You,"
is also an echo returning to our ears,
the sound of our own voices reverberating:
"I hate You."

Hollow,
alone,
empty,
apart from His cross,
and kneeling before Him,
we are crucified all by ourselves.

But in turning to His cross,
to Christ who is crucified for us,
to the suffering love of God reaching out to us,
to Him bloodied and crowned with thorns
- it is here that Life begins,
now, and for eternity:
grace,
peace,
salvation,
heaven,
Eternal Life.

"I care about You,"
is also the sound that returns to our ears,
not our own echo,
but God's voice answering back:
"I care about you."

"I love You,"
also returns to our ears,
Christ's voice answering back:
"I love you."

Known,
loved,
accepted,
kneeling by His cross,
God grants us the life of His grace.

The reality of the cross,
His cross,
and our own.

Christ who hangs there,
reaching out to us.

And we who hang there,
now or tomorrow,
sooner or later.

In turning away from His cross,
we'll be crushed by our own.

But in turning to His cross,
to Him on the cross,
He will give us life.

May we this moment
give ourselves over to Him.

And so discover
the love that God has for us,
and the Life that God would share with us.

Amen.


AN OFFERTORY PRAYER

O my God, I offer Thee all my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings this day in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for Thy strengthening me in my faith, for Thy grace to be poured into my soul, for penance in sorrow for my sins, as a sacrifice of love that all may be drawn closer to Thee, and for Thy greater honor and glory, O God. Accept all of these things, O God, in my love for Thee, that I may be a greater instrument for Thy glory, and share ever more deeply in Thy grace, now and eternally. Amen.