The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1954-04-09
Just Among Ourselves


And now we come again TO the triumph of the
palms What pity that, through all the years, the
Blessed Savior who loved TO the end has had
little other earthly glory than this: The shouts and
clamors, the willing hosannaS; then, from the
lips shortly after the savage demand that He be
crucifed!
What poor bemused human being among us all
but would despise the palms If they could not hide
the Cross? Which of us could take JOY in devotion
that We knew would turn to hatred? Yet Our
Lord willing To receive that thin and fading
praise. He looked not only benignly but lovingly
upon the crowd that loudly received Him and would
quickly and loudly repudiate Him. And He knew,
with eternal knowledge the very voices that cried,
Blessed is He that cometh in the name of The
Lord" would cry the week was out, Away
with Him; let Him be crucifed!"
Who were in that crowd OF iubilant people so de-
termned to honor Our Lord that all the watchful
pcketng of the Pharisees could not restrain them?
Surely many, if not most of them, had personal
reasons for praising Christ We're there not in the
cheering multitude the friends of the ruler Jairus
whose child he had restored to life? Were there not
the neighbors of the sorroWing widow Of Nam?
Were there not the villagers who had the
cure of the man born blind and rejoced in his
vrile reply to the sophistres of PhsrlSees and
Scrbes?
Certainly. the crowd numbered among It's mem
berS many who had stood in wonderment at the
tomb of Lazarus when the spectral figure in its bur
ia bands came forth al Chrst's word from death
and seputure PAT all question, there were hun
dfeds pre- ent who had eaten of the loaves and
fishes in the desert place; who had questioned the
man of Bethsaida who had the lepers cleansed;
who had looked with startled eyes upon palsed
invalid rising in sudden yigor and bearing his bed
into his house.
Among that multitude were scores who had once
returned 10 their homes at evening, murmuring,
We have wonderful things this day Scores
there too who had sat upon the shore as
Our Blessed Lord taught them out Of the ship.
Here in the happy welcoming throng we're many
who forgetful OF everything but the wonder OF His
presence and the attraction OF His voice. had fol-
lowed Him into the wilderness, followed 10 such
distance that, had He not fed them there, they
must have tainted on the way" they could reach
their homes again.
The welcoming crowd were friends of Christ
They we're no haphazard multitude stirred by
what people now call mob psychology into wild
but meaningless fever of glad excitement under the
proddng of a few ardent promoters of cause
There complete sincerity in their hosannas;
there was true affection in their hearts and
voices as they hailed His coming They praised
Him for virtues which were more than hearsay;
they honored Him for powers whose workings
they had felt and seen How then could they so
forget what they knew and turn against Him?
How could ardent adherents be quickly changed
TO ferocous foes?
Was Jarus himself in that multitude? Was
he TO cry, first "Hosanna" and then, Cruelty
Was the widows son among the praisers and the
prosecutors? Were some of the epers ceansed
for this triumph and the subsequent repudia-
ton? We're the lips that framed the touching prayer
Jesus, master, have mercy on u.s.! to cry HE
III Ekya.
man who prayed Lord, that | may sec" to turn
his restored vision in hatred upon the Crucified?
Perhaps perhaps; who knows? In the horrible
muddle of tribute and treachery which we con-
template in the solemn Progress of the Palms.
anything seems likely enough.
In the fact OF this mingled triumph and treason
this human exaltation and inhuman debasement,
this clamor, for glory and for destruction, what
shall We think of the prissy pedagogues who tell
us that mans nature is pure gold throughout, and
who cry down any talk of an original sin which
lncneS him TO fickeness and evil? Before this
cheering multitude with waving branches in up
lifted hands, which will presently be mob
with clenched fists raised in hate, shall We pause
to ponder coldly the power Of scientific sociology
as the instrument for achieving general civili-
zation and human culture?
We have more important things TO ponder,
each of us. If we who have been freed from the
blindness, the leprosy the palsy the DEATH Of orig
inal and actual sim have grown cold toward Him
who freed us; if have willingly sinned again,
and perhaps yet again. then zee are members of
the throng that welcomes and cheers before il
erucifies Then are each sinner of us the Jairus
whose child va raised by the Lord We now would
destroy, then zee are the widows son raised from
the dead TO slay Our Savior then tce the Iepers
cleansed to defile our benefactor. Yes, we have
things important to ponder, We consider
the Procession of Palms, than the vagaries of
thin human Scientism
But our pondering should lead us 10 penance
and not to despair We remember the greatest
wonder of all this day of exalting and depreSS-
ing things. We remember the fact that Christ was
actually glad TO receive the paudits of men as
tickle and treacherous as ourselves For He not
only the Cross beyond the Palms; He not
only the treason to follow the tributes; lie
still farther, with and beyond the Cross He
beheld grace and Resurrectfon He saw Re
demption and Atonement He that many who
were 10 reject Him with vilest treachery woult
submit again TO grace and penance and woult
perseyere unto the end There is the hope of his day
Of palms. There is its lesson, keenly pointed fol
every sinful soul