The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1953-03-27
Just Among Ourselves


When Our Divine Lord rode into Jerusalem in
triumph He rode to the triumph of the Cross He
is God as well as man. and He knew with full GER
tdlnty that all the shouting and praise He received
and the waving OF palm branches and the carpetng
with foliage OF the way beneath His feet were
nothing In themselves. These things seemed to be-
even to The people who performed them, a genuine
acknowledgement of Christ general acceptance
OF HIS claim to be the Messas. But Our Lord knew
better.
He knew that many of these same people Who
now shouted, "HoSanns" would, within few days
be crying Cruelty Him." He was fully aware that
all this popular acclaim was hollow and meaning
less, and would not last If He had been only man
with keen aWareness of the fickleness of crowds
He would have been bitter and angry; probably
he would have refused entirely to be the butt of
the peoples unconscious mockery. But Christ is
not mere man; He has divine well as human
knowledge; He loves mankind with divine as we'll
as human love
And He loved those shouting people at the in
slant He knew that their shouts would turn from
cries OF praise 10 cries of cursng He accepted their
welcome. He accepted it with ceremony when He
clearly knew He accepting betrayal torture
and death And, great is His love for man He
was oyerioyed to make that acceptance He made
trlumphal entry into the city of His condemna-
ton, not to condemn but to save. II vas not the
triumph OF an accepted leader, soon TO be crowned
king. II was the triumph of loving Savior, soon to
be crowned with thorns
For Christ this was real triumph He came
first and foremost to die for mankind, and He was
entering the city TO accomplish that purpose. He
came TO atone for the sin of inheritance TO open
heaven again, TO merit grace for us to get there.
And now, within days He was to perform that act
OF alonement, win rs the open way TO heaven, earn
for us The grsces that would make heaven possible
and even easy for TO attain. Here was the wond.
rous triumph over sin and Satan that He was going
To- He went to IL riding in honor with the people
clamorous about Him.
Our Lord was riding to the celebration of that
Supper for which He had longed; the supper of
which He said, with desire have | desired to eat
this Pasch with you before | suffer" Was il not
triumph indeed that made His sacrifice bloodless
and everlasting; that gave Him, whose delights
to be with the children of men a place and home in
the towns and villages of all the world with tEber-
nace and residence for His Eucharistic Presence?
1t was the trlumphal fufillment of His Hearts de
sire. And He rode to il trumphsntly
The real soul of triumph IN The entry into JeruSs-
lem was known to Christ and doubtless to the Bless
ed Mother To all the rest friends and foes of Christ
II completely unknown and unsuspected The
Phsrsees and Scribes.-the inelligentsia and the
socially and politically prominent people of the
elty,-msludged the triumpha entry as a sign and
gesture of one who had outsmarted them, and had
gained an influence with the people that they had
vainy tried to prevent Behold" they cried in dis
may, "the whole world is gone after him"
The same failure to understand The real mean
ing, the true drive, of Our Lords purpose, the true
character of the triumph He seeks and celebrates
rs manifest IN the world to-day, and finds utterance
against the Church in which Christ lives and will
live, by His unfailing promise TO the end of time
Behold" cry the enemies Of the Church. "here
is vast and powerful political institution seeking
world-dominence." And the world tries to crush the
Church as the world tried to crush Christ Truly
die Our Savior say, They know not what they do"
For neither Christ nor His Church seek world
dominance or political sway. What they seek is the
saving of men. the getting of men safe TO heaven.
And for this, with glsdness Christ and His Church
enter upon the way of suffering, And they enter
with triumph for IL is only by suffering only by
the Cross that their purpose can be attained. This
truth explains the real Joy IN the heart of Our
Lord He entered the city. This is The soul of His
trumphal entry.
Shouts, and wild greetings, and ebullient Joy,
and waving palm branches are after all, fleetng
and frothy things How fleetng and frothy, this
same crowd that welcomed Christ was soon TO show.
II only the divine knowledge and the divine
of the heavenly chorus, which is not fleeing but
everlasting. II only because H knew. what
the crowd did not, that He was truly to accomplish
Z triumph of which the crowd knew nothing. that
made Him accept the acclaim as something fitting
and due.
We who are in possession of the fruits of Christs
triumph are much to be blamed If do not use
them with holy JOY We who have His Church. the
sacraments the inspiration to effective prayer the
faith the solid hope the clear motives for love
and contrition are worse than the tickle people Of
the shouting crowd at Jerusalem If we 40 not show
appreciation of our inestimable treasures.
Surely we, with Catholic understanding, must
enter into the full spirit of Our Lords trumphal
entry. We must have His love for the crowd We
must seek the salvation of these mistaken people
We must initiate Christ in winning them salvation
allurng them to the Church by the purity and de
votion of Catholic lives and meanwhile bearing
the cross of humiliation, oppression persecution.