March 16, 2008 At Saint Mark Church in Norman, K
Isaiah 50: 4-7 + Psalm 22 + Philippians 2: 6-1 + Matthew 26:14 – 27:66
(The Homily is delivered before the Proclamation of the Passion today.)
We begin today a week of remembering. Our remembering however is not simply the calling to mind a past event that might stir up gratitude or sympathy. Our remembering now is the heart of our Catholic faith. It is about connections. This remembering is the opposite of “dismembering.” The first consequence of sin, the break up of our relationship with God is over. We are reconnected to God by the faithful obedience of His Son. We are brought together with each other by our Communion in and through His Son. The one who remembers us and whom we remember died violently, shockingly, suddenly, but not senselessly. The one who remembers us and whom we remember was mocked, pierced, and spit upon, without losing sight of his mission. The one who remembers us and whom we remember was betrayed by a trusted friend, abandoned by everyone he loved when he needed them most.
We remember his living as well as his dying. We remember his giving and his serving. We do so to experience every day his presence to us here now and always.
We do so to allow that presence to transform us.
Listen now to the Passion of Jesus Christ as recorded by Matthew. Notice carefully that the evil of sin is not just the torture Christ endured, but the fact that he endured it alone. It is the abandonment of Christ, the faithlessness of those who professed to follow him that Matthew reveals. In this account of the Passion, except at the table of the Supper, Jesus is nearly silent. He is not the central figure, the crowd is.
We are ones in Matthew who are the focus of the Passion. Jesus is the recipient of the actions of others.
We remember this today in order to grow in faith: to become defenders and selfless servants of the least, the little ones, poor and hungry, thirsty, naked, and homeless.
We remember in order to become more like this one in whom we find our reason for living, our hope in dying, and our faith in the future where all our memories will be forever realized.