FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT - MARCH 17, 2024

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

With Palm Sunday only one week away, we are deepening ourselves into the season of Lent through the environment around us. Beginning this weekend, all religious imagery at the church will be veiled. As Fr. Gray mentions in his explanation below, the veiling indicates among other things that Christ's divinity was totally eclipsed during his passion; those who followed him only out of spectacle and not love couldn't fathom that the Son of God would die such a violent death, and they would have immediately left him. In this Sunday's Gospel, we hear one of Christ's most pertinent explanations to his death, though: "unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat." Christ's divinity was eclipsed in his death, his glory was veiled. But just as a grain of wheat must be buried and hidden in the ground before growing into a life-sustaining plant, his divinity and glory is set aside for the patient, for those who stick with him out of love. And the result will be the outpouring of the glory of his Resurrection throughout creation.

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READ THIS SUNDAY'S MESSAGE

Now that Lent is more than half-over, we should intensify our preparation for the Easter mysteries. This weekend, for the 5th Sunday of Lent, we veil our crosses and other images—like the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the White Pine Church and the statue of Mary at Old Town. Why do this?

The Missal says that “Crosses remain covered until the end of the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, but images remain covered until the beginning of the Easter Vigil.” Several reasons come to mind why we should follow what the Missal says to do.

First, we remember that Jesus did likewise. In John’s Gospel, Jesus hides Himself from those who wanted to stone Him before the time of the Passion, so likewise we hide the image of His Passion. Secondly, we remember that in Christ’s Passion His divinity was almost totally eclipsed, but when we venerate His Cross on Good Friday, we venerate what He did for us, we adore Him for saving us: and so we see Him crucified. Thirdly, in this penitential season we should fast—and fast from more things than just food. For as much as we want to see the Cross now, we should want to see it more clearly, purifying our desire with its absence. Christ died, rose, and will come again—and this is a tremendous desire in our faith, all symbolized by the Cross.

Likewise, consider how the Church fasts from the Mass on the very day that we recall Christ’s saving Passion, Good Friday. Every other day the Mass is offered all around the world, but not on Good Friday, never on Good Friday. At the time when we consider the historical reality of Jesus’ final days, we refrain from its sacramental representation—and we should likewise turn our attention away from the signs and symbols of our salvation.
Now is the time to love Christ’s Passion in wholeness of heart, and not just in the many ways it has been presented to us before. Know Christ, know His Passion, know His mercy, know His love. Love Him.