The crowds dispersed…
The borrowed donkey on which Jesus rode into Jerusalem has been returned…
The apostles get busy about preparing for the upcoming Passover…
The people continue debating if this Jesus character is “the real deal,” the charlatan of the day, or a rebel to be concerned with…
The Sanhedrin hold secret meetings to find a way to arrest Jesus and be done with him once and for all…
Cloaks lay strewn on the roadway, and palm fronds line the streets still.
Who picked up all those cloaks and palm fronds cast on the roadway at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem?
Perhaps the poor with no cloak to keep them warm, or the homeless who used the fronds to build a makeshift home.
As we near the end of another Lenten season, we are called to look back at what we have strewn on the roadway behind us and what we picked up along the way as we made the journey with Jesus to Jerusalem, to His cross which is also our cross…
Have we returned the borrowed time of “I’ll do that tomorrow,” or “I’ll make that change in my life soon,” in favor of living fully the present moment to, “Be the change you wish to see in the world” (Mahatma Gandhi)?
Have we looked at the places in our lives and our relationships that are starving for nourishment and prepared a feast of forgiveness, compassion, and love?
Have we looked hard at what is false about ourselves versus what God has truly called us to be and to do, and have we embraced that sacred identity?
Have we honored the dignity and worth of others who are different, who make us uncomfortable, who cause us to question what is most important in life, or are we still living with pretense, false expectations, and safe distances?
Have we dropped on the roadway selfishness in favor of opportunities to reach out to someone who needed a listening ear, a kind word, a loving gesture?
The Rule of St. Benedict calls us to live life as a continuous Lent (R.B. 49.1). What we left behind on the road this Lenten season, or what we gleaned along the way will be transformed by God’s grace into “something new” (Isaiah 43:19) and into “a future full of hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).