When I was in high school, I joined the wrestling team. I was motivated to do whatever it took to join the varsity team. The only condition was we had to wrestle and take down a varsity member to get on the team. So, I trained and prepared for that day. During training, I ran three miles, jumped rope, completed pushups, sit-ups, and all kinds of other exercises that I deemed brutal. When it came time to wrestle a member of the varsity team, all I remember was the match went quickly. I was bent in half, pinned down and received a broken ankle for my efforts. This experience put an end to my season and eventually I bowed out of that sport. How many of us had experiences in life where we were challenged and finally decided we had enough and walked away from something or someone?
This lent we walk with Christ. We fasted, prayed, sought forgiveness, and sacrificed our time for the Lord who invites us to follow him. This weekend we gather to celebrate Palm Sunday that will lead us into Holy week. We will take part in remembering this joyful event by taking up our own palm branches waving them back and forth. We enter the Church as followers of Christ, but how far are we willing to walk with Jesus?
Our journey is made up of relationships that try our patience, health issues, disappointments, tragedies, and temptations. Our Lord knows that we need the gift of grace, the gift of his sacrifice to finish the race. He provides us with the ultimate example by becoming human and walking the journey himself. He knows what it is like to be challenged by life. He knows that we will stumble along the way. Even Jesus’ own disciples turned away from him. Judas betrayed him, James and John were not able to stay awake with him and Peter denied him three times. However, those who seek repentance and continue to move forward on the journey will be rewarded with eternal joy. No matter what stands in our way he stands with us even when we turn away from him. We may feel defeated. We may feel that we are challenged beyond our limits, but we have the strength of our heavenly father within us as we receive him at the Eucharist. So as we walk in procession with our palm branches waving back and forth we are signaling our yes to our beloved father in heaven. His disciples are willing to go the distance with him because we are restored in faith and saved by love.
Jeff Loeb
Deacon, St. Isidore Church