Homily - 28 March 2010

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion (C)
At the Mass

Dear brothers and sisters,

“Lord,” said Peter to Jesus, “I am prepared to go to prison and to die with you” (Luke 22:33). These words are in keeping with Peter’s strong and impulsive personality and he must have spoken them with a clear memory of the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem as a great and conquering King.

Jesus has indeed come to Jerusalem, the city of kings, to claim his kingship. He does so not with power and swords, but with humility and mercy. He ascends the throne of his Cross to draw all people to himself (cf. John 12:32).

When the Lord first predicted his Passion to his disciples, it was Peter who took him aside, saying, “God forbid, Lord” (Matthew 16:22)! And Peter heard in answer those dreadful words: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men” (Matthew 16:22-23).

Peter did not understand which war the Lord had come to win and how he intended to achieve his victory. Even so, when he said, “Lord, I am prepared to go to prison and to die with you,” he meant those words with every fiber of his being.

Such strong words to demonstrate his loyalty, his love, and his devotion to Jesus; he would follow him anywhere, and yet but a short time later Peter fell asleep as Jesus agonized in the garden (cf. Luke 22:46).

What happened that he did not keep them, that the words of Jesus, “I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows this day, you will deny three times that you know me,” rang true (Luke 22:34)? How those words must have stung!

Peter was able to fall asleep at that hour because he did not fully realize what was happening; he did not yet realize that Jesus had to suffer and die so as to enter into his glory (cf. Luke 24:26).

Even so, after Jesus was taken in the garden, Peter followed him still, though “at a distance” (Luke 22:54). Having fallen asleep, Peter was unwilling to abandon Jesus, but he also found he could not keep his earlier words: “I am prepared to go to prison and to die with you.” In actuality, he was not prepared for either because he did not follow the words of Jesus when he said, “Get up and pray that you may not undergo the test” (Luke 22:46).

In this moment Peter learned a most valuable and transforming lesson:

The school of faith is not a triumphal march but a journey marked daily by suffering and love, trials and faithfulness. Peter, who promised absolute fidelity, knew the bitterness and humiliation of denial: the arrogant man learns the costly lesson of humility. Peter, too, must learn that he is weak and in need of forgiveness (Pope Benedict XVI, Wednesday General Audience Address, 24 May 2006).

This is the lesson that you and I must also learn again and again.

We, with Peter, must recognize our weakness and our need of forgiveness. With Peter, we, too, must go out and weep bitterly over our infidelity to the Lord even as we beg the grace to remain faithful to him (cf. Luke 22:62).

Let us devote ourselves wholeheartedly to learning this lesson during these sacred days. Let us pray that by experiencing the Passion of the Lord we will know, too, the joy of his forgiveness and the glory of his Resurrection. Let us pray that we, with Peter, having known the bitterness and humiliation of denial, might now remain faithful to the Lord. Amen.