Third Sermon for Palm Sunday: On the Lessons to be Learned from the Procession of the Lord, on the Supper, the Passion, the Repose, and the Resurrection

“ Learn of Me.” —Matt. xi. 29.

Although God has “ ordered all things in measure and number and weight ’’ (Wisdom xi. 21), this is more particularly true of all that He did, said, and suffered during that time in which “ He was seen upon earth and conversed with men ” (Bar. iii. 38), all of which was so ordered that there was “ not one jot or one tittle ” (Matt. v. 18)—even the very least—but was charged with a special significance and full of profound mystery. But even amongst the days of His earthly life, there are five which He has made especially illustrious, this, namely, which we are now celebrating, and the four which shall soon follow: the day of His procession, the day of His last supper, the day of His passion, the day of His rest in the tomb, and the day of His resurrection. These days are for ever memorable and distinguished above all others. On the first He condescended to receive human glory, and amidst great rejoicing and general exultation entered the holy city, not on His own feet, as hitherto had been His custom, but riding on an ass. This triumph was in truth a prelude to the passion, since it greatly excited against Him the envy of the priests. But consider this, my brethren : He Who (as we are told) once fled from the crowds when they were about to “ come and take

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Him by force and make Him King” (John vi. 15), presents Himself to them now unsought, in order that they might welcome and acclaim Him as the King of Israel, yea, and even ‘inspired them—as there can be no doubt He did—with the thought of so receiving and honouring Him. And you may notice the very same thing with regard to the passion. For He sometimes “went out of the temple and hid Himself ” from them (John viii. 59), that is to say, from the Jews ; and we read again that He “ would not walk in Judaea because the Jews sought to kill Him ” (John vii. 1). But afterwards, “ knowing that His hour was come” (John xiii. 1), to show that He is the Master of all events, He went freely forward to meet His passion. For it was becoming that our High Priest should be “‘ tempted in all things like as we are, without sin ” (Heb. iv. 15), and that, as being a true man, He should avoid in due season and in due season accept the prosperity and the adversity which are incidental to man, so as to give us in His own Person a salutary example for our guidance in both. It is doubtless the part of temperance to shun the applause of the people and the prosperity of the world, as a rule ; but sometimes and under certain circumstances justice may require us to accept them. Again, there will occasionally be circumstances of place and time in which it will be the part of prudence to flee from persecution and all temporal adversity : but whenever there is not an obligation to avoid them, they ought to be borne with fortitude.

Now these two states—I mean prosperity and adversity—make up all human existence. On the other hand, all virtue consists in the four familiar species just referred to. It was becoming, therefore, that He should give us an example of every virtue, in Whom dwelleth all the fulness of virtue, so that it might be made manifest to all that He in the most perfect degree ‘‘ knew both how to abound and how to suffer need ” (Phil. iv. 12). For He Who is the Wisdom of God does not belong to the class of those that are destroyed by prosperity (Prov. i. 32), nor ought He Who is the Power of God (x Cor. i. 24) to be numbered with them that may be broken by adversity. Both these things are written, namely, that prosperity shall destroy, not all, but only fools ; and that adversity likewise brings ruin but only to the pusillanimous (ibid.).* But see how much modesty the Lord manifested in accepting this human glory, coming to receive His triumph, not with horses and chariots, but riding on an ass! And He said to the disciples, when sending them for the ass and colt, “ If any man shall say anything to you, say ye that the Lord hath need of them ” (Matt. xxi. 3). Great in truth was His need of them, the need He had of working out their salvation. For He came to save both men and beasts, according to the Psalmist’s testimony, “ Men and beasts Thou wilt save, O Lord: Oh, how Thou hast multiplied Thy mercy, O God!” (Ps. xxxv. 7, 8).T This condescension of the Saviour fostered the first tł By beasts we are to understand those degraded human beings who like brute animals follow unresistingly their natural instincts: the “animal men” of whom St. Paul speaks (x¹ Cor. i. 14). Cf. Bellarmin on Ps. xxxv. 7, 8.—(Translator.)

ON THE LESSONS TO BE LEARNED 129 beginnings of our conversion, until the first-born came forth, the child of the bond-woman (Gal. iv. 22). He who had been bound fast hitherto, either unable or unwilling to do good, or perhaps more strongly held by the double cord of powerlessness and unwillingness, was now set free at the command of the Lord (Matt. xxi. 2). But although loosed from his tether, he knows not as yet how to rejoice in the Lord with a simple intention. He feels persuaded that all his actions give pleasure to God, and believes that he is in some sense making God his debtor, often telling himself “ that the Lord hath need of them,” that is, of his good works. However, he will come in course of time to be concerned rather with his own indebtedness to the Lord, and to fear lest perhaps he should be found ungrateful for all His unspeakable mercies. Then shall he say what the Saviour enjoins, “I am an unprofitable servant ”’ (Luke xvii. 10) “for Thou hast no need of my goods ” (Ps. xv. 2). This is now a good and faithful disposition : it is, in fact, the son of the free-woman (Gal. iv. 22), with whom “ the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir ” (ibid. 30). Therefore, let the same be our disposition in to-day’s procession.

But before entering upon His passion the Lord, as a most affectionate father of a family, took care to provide nourishment for His household ; and in this also “the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour appeared ” (Titus iii. 4). For “ having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end ” (John xiii. 1); “ and He said to them: With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you before I suffer ” (Luke xxii. 15). Food was indeed very necessary for them at that time. For Satan desired that II, I² he might “ sift them as wheat ” (Luke xxii. 31) ; hence they had need to be strengthened with food beforehand. If they even succumbed so soon after refection, what would have become of them had they been fasting ? And He refreshed not only their bodies, but their hearts also, yea, and especially their hearts, because it was a spiritual rather than a corporal passion that awaited them: He alone was to suffer in body at this time, according to what He had predicted in the psalm, “I am alone whilst I am passing ” (Ps. cxl. 10). And as He was the only Victim That could avail to redeem us, so He alone sufficed. It would have been injurious to the glory of Christ, had Peter, or James, or John suffered with Him for the salvation of men. There were indeed two others crucified with Him, but they were two robbers, as to whom no suspicion could possibly arise that their passion was intended to supply for the inadequacy of His.

With what bread, therefore, did the Saviour feed His apostles at the last supper? As it seems to me, He offered them five different loaves. “My meat,” said He, “is to do the will of Him That sent Me ” (John iv. 34). That certainly is food, but the food of the heart. For what else is there that can so strengthen and fortify the heart of man (Ps. ciii. 15), what else can so comfort and sustain it in its every necessity as the thought of having accomplished the divine will, transmitted as spiritual food to the stomach of the soul, that is to say, to the conscience? So too, it is only he whose “heart is withered because he hath forgotten to eat his bread ” (Ps. ci. 5), it is only such a one that can be ignorant that the words of God in exhortation, the

ON THE LESSONS TO BE LEARNED 131 consolation of His promises, and the tears shed in prayer are all bread of the heart. But above all, the Flesh of Christ is “meat indeed” (John vi. 56), “ the Bread of life” (ibid. 48), “the living Bread Which came down from heaven ” (ibid. 51). Now you will find, if you examine carefully, that none of these various kinds of spiritual food was wanting at this most solemn supper of the Lord. Whilst the apostles were still seated, He rose from the table, girded Himself with a towel, poured water into a vessel, washed their feet, and wiped them with the towel wherewith He was girded (John xiii. 4, 5). This assuredly was not the will of flesh and blood, but the will of the Father and our sanctification (1 Thess. iv. 3). For when Peter was strongly opposing His action, the Lord said to him, “If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with Me ” (John xiii. 8). And we know Who it was That said, “ Him that cometh to Me I will not cast out, because I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him That sent Me” (John vi. 37, 38). Seasonably then, and indeed according to His custom, He added exhortation to example. In this discourse —which was of unusual length—He took care, on account of the imminence of His passion, to comfort and encourage the apostles with many promises concerning His resurrection, the coming of the Paraclete, their own confirmation in the faith, and their final assumption to Himself. After the exhortation and the promises, He turned to prayer, “ and being in an agony He prayed the longer ” (Luke xxii. 43), repeating His prayer twice. During this prayer, He seems to have wept not alone with His eyes, but with all His members, so that His whole mystical body, which is the Church, might bewashed with the tears shed by His whole natural Body. But as to the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, every Christian knows that this most precious and incomparable food was also set before the disciples, and for the first time, at the same supper, and that they were commanded to partake of it frequently thereafter.

Soon after the supper came the day of the passion, on which, in order that He might “heal the whole man (John vii. 23), He made of His whole Self a saving Victim, exposing His Body to the most atrocious torments and injuries and surrendering His Soul to a twofold affection of most tender compassion, grieving at one time over the inconsolable sorrow of the holy women, at another over the despair and dispersion of His disciples. These four kinds of suffering constituted the cross of the Lord, and for our sakes He endured them all, because of the infinite love wherewith He compassionated our misery. Nevertheless, as He said to the women who wept for Him, the things concerning Him were to have an end (Luke xxii. 37), a most speedy and glorious end, first in the repose of the tomb, and secondly in His resurrection from the dead. And with regard to ourselves also, my brethren, if we are in haste to enter into our rest, let us not forget that it is only “through many tribulations ” (Acts xiv. 2I) we can expect to reach that goal. It does indeed seem to us, whilst actually enduring tribulation, that this rest is itself sufficiently great to satisfy all our desires, and that once it has been attained we shall want nothing more. Nevertheless, not even in this rest shall we enjoy perfect repose, because we shall still be disquieted by the longing for the resur-

ON THE LESSONS TO BE LEARNED 133 rection and glorification of the body. ‘‘ From henceforth now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours” (Apoc. xiv. 13). Consequently ‘‘ the dead who die in the Lord ” (ibid.) are at rest from labour. But not yet have they rest from desire.* For we also read that “ the souls of them that were slain for the word of God ” cry aloud in prayer before His throne (Apoc. vi. 9, 10) : because although they suffer no pain, their happiness will not be entirely full and perfect until for them also the sabbath is succeeded by the pasch. Amen.

Footnotes

1. In the Vulgate this verse runs: “ Aversio parvulorum interficiet eos, et prosperitas stultorum perdet illos.” St. Bernard understands the word “aversio’’ as equivalent to “adversitas.” The Greek term is “¢£eragpos” which means “a scrutiny.” Cf. A Lapide’s Commentary—(Translator.) ↩

2. Cf. vol. i. p. 323, note. ↩