(Palm Sunday 2018 (B): This homily was
given on March 25, 2018 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond
Suriani. Read Isaiah 50: 4-7; Psalm 22;
Philippians 2: 6-11; Mark 14:1-15:47.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Palm Sunday 2018]
Of the four gospel accounts of the
Passion, St. Mark’s (the one we just heard) is the shortest—which, of course,
means that my homily can be much longer today.
Just kidding.
Today I’ll focus on just one, simple question. It’s a question that every Christian faces
during Holy Week each year: Is Jesus Christ worth it? To me, is Jesus Christ worth it?
We definitely know how the woman who
anointed Jesus at the house of Simon the leper 2000 years ago would have answered
that question. It’s clear from the
gospel reading we just heard. As we were
told a few moments ago, this woman came into Simon’s house with an alabaster
jar filled with perfumed oil. She then
broke the jar (which itself cost more than “a few bucks”) and poured the oil on
Jesus’ head. To which some of those who
were present responded, “Why this waste?”
“Why
has there been this waste of perfumed oil?
It could have been sold for more than three hundred days’ wages!”
“Three hundred days’ wages”—do you
realize how much that is? Three hundred
days is the better part of a year. To
put this in modern terms, it would be like somebody who makes $60,000 a year
today spending $50,000 of it on one bottle of perfume—and then using ALL of
that perfume on one person.
Be clear about it, my brothers and
sisters, this perfumed oil was a lot more expensive than “Chanel No. 5”!
Obviously this woman thought that Jesus
was worth a lot—that Jesus was worth everything—that Jesus was worth everything she had to give! Probably that’s because Jesus had already
done something special for her. Perhaps
at some point during his 3-year ministry Jesus had healed her of an illness, or
forgiven her sins, or delivered her from the power of Satan, or taught her the
truths that were now guiding her life.
Or all of the above!
We don’t know for sure, but it must
have been something along those lines.
Which brings us to consider ourselves
as we begin this Holy Week.
Recall the question I posed a few
moments ago: Is Jesus Christ worth it?
It’s the question every Christian faces on Palm Sunday: To me,
personally, is Jesus Christ worth it?
Is he worth the extra time I will need
to take, and the extra effort I will need to make, to enter into the spirit of
this most important week of the Church’s liturgical year? Is Jesus worth putting aside my worldly
concerns—especially on Holy Thursday and Good Friday—to participate in the
sacred liturgies that are designed to deepen my relationship with him? Is he worth my making time for extra personal
prayer and Scripture reading during the next seven days?
Hopefully, we will answer like that
woman did—with a resounding yes!
“Yes,
Jesus, you are worth it! In fact, you’re
more than worth it! You loved me into
existence, you suffered for me, you died for me, you saved me, you gave me the
hope of living forever with you in eternal bliss. You are worth my love, my time, my talent, my
treasure, my attention—and everything else I have to give.”
For those of you who would answer in
that fashion, here’s the schedule of Holy Week events here at St. Pius:
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we
will have morning Mass, as usual, at 7am.
We will have Eucharistic Adoration all day on Tuesday. We will have Stations of the Cross at 6:05 on
Tuesday after Benediction.
Confessions will be heard during our
Wednesday Holy Hour, from 5-6pm. We will
have Morning Prayer Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the regular Mass
times. And, most important, we will have
the Liturgies of the Triduum on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings: the
Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be at 7pm on Thursday, followed by Adoration of
the Blessed Sacrament in the church hall until 11pm. On Friday we will have the celebration of the
Lord’s Passion at 7pm, and Stations of the Cross twice: once outside at noon
(weather permitting), and then at 3pm here in church. And finally, we will have the first Mass of
Easter—the Easter Vigil Liturgy—at 7:30pm on Holy Saturday night. (Please note: There will be no 5pm Mass next
Saturday.) Masses on Easter Sunday will
be at the normal Sunday times: 7, 8:30 and 10:30am.
I hope and pray that you’ll make the
effort to be at some of these events (at least) during the next seven
days. Jesus, after all, is definitely
worth it.
