In the Catholic Church, Palm Sunday is also Passion Sunday, and the gospel reading is about the Lord’s arrest, crucifixion and death on the cross. It is hard to hear about how Jesus suffered, and even harder to imagine someone so dedicated to love being so reviled. But it is also amazing to hear of Jesus’ grace, even tenderness, as he made his painful way to Calvary. He made sure that Mary, his mother, would be taken care of. He forgave those who brought him to his death. And he forgave one of those who also hung on a cross that day. Jesus never stopped his ministry, not even in his last moments!

This always brings me to how I live my life. It’s sometimes so easy to say, “I’m too tired,” or “I can’t do another thing.” To be sure, we have to carefully budget our activities and time so that we do not go into worse flares, aggravate symptoms, or render ourselves useless to what truly needs to be done.  But to stop trying to shine with Christ’s light, to stop witnessing where we can, to stop “taking care of business,” indeed to stop being who we are as God’s children, well, it’s just not us. We’re made for better things than “can’t” and “won’t.”

Yes, we have to be careful. Yes, we have to work with our doctors and do what is most healthful. But, also, yes, we have the example of Jesus to show that, even under tremendous external difficult, we can find ways both large and small to carry out our ministry – to Calvary and beyond.

Blessings for the day,

Maureen