Weekly HOMILY for March 28, 2010: Removing Our Cloaks

Passion (Palm) Sunday
Cycle C
March 28, 2010
Our Lady of Grace


Cloaks

In Jesus’ day, people wore cloaks as their outer garment.

It probably looked something like the chasuble – this vestment – that the priest wears at Mass. This morning, we heard the story from the Gospel of Luke about Jesus entering Jerusalem.

Luke says that people take off their cloaks and spread them on the road where Jesus is going to pass. The cloak was the most expensive article of clothing and most people owned only one of them.

In the course of time, a cloak would be mended and mended again, but never thrown away. For the poorest of the poor, the cloak was also their shelter and home, something like a large cardboard box is for a homeless person today.


Removing Our Cloaks

Placing their cloaks on the road that Jesus is traveling is a symbolic act.

Luke is conveying that these people are removing something that they are used to wearing and may want to hold on to. They are in effect giving themselves fully to Jesus and his way.

I am thinking that this action calls us to look at ourselves today. The question is: What cloaks do we need to remove?

How do we need to place ourselves along Jesus’ path today? And how might the story of Jesus’ Passion that we just heard call us to do this?

For example, do we need to remove the cloak of impatience with our children or with traffic? Do we need to put on the way of Jesus’ patience with humanity, such as his patience with Peter and the other disciples today?

Do we need to remove the cloak of pride, of having to be seen as right or as knowing everything? Do we need to put on the way of Jesus’ humility, emptying himself of his status as God’s Son and becoming fully human, even to the point of suffering and dying?

And do we need to remove the cloak of vengeance, of getting back at others who have wronged us? Do we need to put on the way of Jesus’ forgiveness, even in the face of the most ultimate injustice?

And do we need to remove the cloak of busyness with everything but God? Do we need to put on the way of Jesus’ prayerfulness in the garden and on the cross and make time for Mass each Sunday and some personal prayer each day, prayer that will us the strength to put on Jesus’ way in all circumstances?


How to Do This

This Tuesday, we will have a good opportunity for removing cloaks and putting on the way of Jesus.

We will have Reconciliation Services at Our Lady of Grace. This sacrament is a powerful way of identifying the cloaks we need to remove and of putting on the way of Jesus.

It is a powerful way to prepare for Easter because it awakens the life and presence of God within us. I hope that you would consider this Sacrament of Reconciliation on Tuesday or sometime during this Holy Week.