Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Lent Year B
Mark 11:1-10; Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalm 21; Philippians 2:6-11; Mark 14:1-15:47
24 March 2024
LISTEN: https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/palm-sunday-homily-2024
On Palm Sunday, we begin with the procession into Jerusalem. The crowd rallies in support of Jesus, spreading their clothes and palms on the road, crying out with joy and expectation: ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ We end the readings with the passion narrative when Jesus is abandoned, crying out: ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?’ The disciples have all gone. There is a handful of women ‘watching from a distance.’
After sharing the bread and the wine, Jesus and the disciples had departed for the Mount of Olives with Jesus telling them:‘All of you will have your faith shaken, for it is written: “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be dispersed.”’ (14:27)
There was a time when most of our friends and relatives joined us proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ. That is not the case nowadays. We live in an age when there is great division in our world and in our church. It’s as if we are without a shepherd. Think just of three examples. There is no definitive, accepted moral arbiter of right and wrong in Gaza. There is no national leadership to determine how we might accord religious freedom to all, while ensuring respect for the rights and dignity of all, whatever their sexual orientation. There is a growing antipathy towards Pope Francis.
In 2021, the late George Cardinal Pell and some of his colleagues had put together and circulated widely a document entitled ‘The Vatican Today’. They said, ‘Papal writings demonstrate a decline from the standard of St John Paul II and Pope Benedict’. Even worse: ‘Decisions and policies are often “politically correct”.’[1] Now we are told that another group of cardinals and bishops has crafted a follow-up document entitled ‘The Vatican Tomorrow’.
They speak of the strengths of Pope Francis including ‘the added emphasis he has given to compassion toward the weak, outreach to the poor and marginalized, concern for the dignity of creation and the environmental issues that flow from it, and efforts to accompany the suffering and alienated in their burdens.’ But then they go on to spell out what they see as Francis’s failings: ‘an autocratic, at times seemingly vindictive, style of governance; a carelessness in matters of law; an intolerance for even respectful disagreement; and – most seriously – a pattern of ambiguity in matters of faith and morals causing confusion among the faithful.’[2] They complain about all manner of things including the ‘ current pontificate’s heavy dependence on the Society of Jesus’ (us Jesuits). Where will it all end?
As we set out on our journey towards Jerusalem during this holiest of weeks, let pray that some moral clarity and hope of peace will emerge in Gaza. Let’s pray that just like political parties, women’s groups or Aboriginal organisations, church schools will be free to choose leaders and staff who are animated by and supportive of the school’s religious ethos and beliefs. And let’s ensure that those running Church schools respectfully accommodate all students – including those being brought up by same-sex couples and those who identify as LGBTI, and justly treat all staff with dignity – including those who enter into a civil same-sex marriage.[3] And let’s pray for our pope and those cardinals who will elect his successor that they will lead us with unity and fidelity.
Let’s head towards Jerusalem, intent on accompanying all the way Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. It’s easy to cry ‘Hosanna’ in the street with the mob today; it’s harder to keep watch at the cross next Friday.
[1] See https://www.cal-catholic.com/the-cardinal-pell-memo-in-full/
[2] See https://newdailycompass.com/en/a-profile-of-the-next-pope-writes-cardinal
[3] See my 2020 Barry O’Keefe Memorial Lecture delivered at Australian Catholic University and available at https://www.abc.net.au/religion/frank-brennan-do-we-need-new-laws-to-protect-religious-freedom/11984926
