Palm / Passion Sunday!
Homily preached April 10, 2022
by Monsignor Michael Deering

How nice it is to receive a gift ... or a favor!

How wonderful to be thought of and given something really nice!

And sometimes we’re so surprised or so overwhelmed at the size of the gift ...

that we say something like, “O you shouldn’t have done this.” ...

or “Oh, you didn’t have to do that.”

For we feel humbled and maybe even a bit embarrassed to be thought so highly of.  

Well, this Holy Week, that we begin today, is meant to help us remember ... and appreciate in an ever deeper way ... the gift that we have all received from God ...

the gift of Redemption from Sin and Death.

If we could even begin to comprehend how immense a gift it is ...

we’d automatically cry out to God, “Oh, you didn’t have to do that.”

And on one hand ... we’d be absolutely right!

For God, who is the fullness of Being and the beginning and end of all things ...

doesn’t have to do anything.

But on the other hand ... so broken was our relationship with God ... that the only way for it to be restored ... was with the sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son.

Nothing that Man could do would repair the wound of sin ...

only God could repair the wound. 

He didn’t have to do it ... but He did!

God did what it took to restore our friendship with Him ... because of Love.

God, who is love ... offered us this Greatest of Gifts ... out of love. 

St. Paul says, “Jesus, though he was in the form of God ... humbled himself,

becoming obedient to the point of death ... death on a cross.”

Do you recognize how huge this gift is ...

God offered His Son to death ... so we can have Eternal Life with Him!

With the image of our Savior right before you ... take the next 3 minutes to reflect on the immensity of the gift we’ve all received ... God’s Gift of Redemption.

In awe and wonder tell Him,    “O God, you didn’t have to do that.”

And then ... in gratitude and relief tell Him, “Oh, but I’m so glad you did!”