The Lenten journey is almost complete. We have walked through the desert for 40 days and now prepare to enter into the holiest 8 days of our Church year. There are a variety of ways perhaps you dove into the season this year: Lenten sacrifices, Rice Bowl, parish fish fries, Stations of the Cross, fasting, almsgiving, penance services, or daily Mass. We pray that however you experienced Lent this year that it was spiritually fruitful for you.
But now we look to Jerusalem and ascend to her gates like Christ did on Palm Sunday. It’s a familiar passage and at Mass we will all receive our palms and hold them high during the procession, fold them into some intricate cross, or perhaps tuck them into our Bibles to keep place as a reminder for the next year.
And while it’s important for us to remember this triumphal entry as people laid their cloaks and palms down for Christ, it’s also important for us to understand the lasting impact that this Lenten journey, this holiest of weeks should have on us. As Christ enters into the city amidst the cheering and praise the Pharisees warn Jesus saying, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples” (Luke 19:39). And Jesus replies to them: “I tell you, if they become silent, the stones will cry out!” (Lk 19:40).
The stones, the very rocks of the earth, would sing out praise to God if the disciples had stopped. How has this Lent changed you? How will your life cry out, giving glory to God? Let us all seek lives of holiness that cry out as witness to the beauty, goodness, and truth of our faith.
