Bulletin Column from April 10

Dear Friends at Saint Mary’s Immaculate Conception Parish and Saint Frances Cabrini Parish:
Praised be Jesus Christ! The icons of the Eastern Orthodox Church depict in visual form multiple layers of theological meaning all in one image. They seek to incorporate in their inspired imagery the wholeness of the Scriptures as well as the vast scope of the Christian spiritual tradition. This is part of why they are both fascinating for study and fruitful for prayer.
The icon that depicts Palm Sunday is no exception. As one encounters it one finds most prominently the obvious features of the event: the Lord, seated on a beast of burden, entering Jerusalem. Behind the Lord and the donkey are the disciples discussing among themselves the meaning of these events, an ongoing manifestation of the misunderstanding of Jesus they have displayed from the start. The Lord looks at them as if weighing the question of who is going to remain with him all the way to the bitter end that he has now foretold. Ahead of the donkey are the people of Jerusalem who are also ambivalent. Some of them welcome him. Others are concerned about the visitor and the shouts of “Hosanna” (“come and save us!”) that he is receiving.
Truly interesting are the children in the icon. Most icons have at least one child up in the tree cutting olive or palm branches with a knife. Some icons have the children spreading the cloaks on the ground before the donkey. Some icons have a child feeding palm branches to the donkey. In many icons the children wear white to represent their innocence and the purity of their welcome, a sentiment which is conveyed by their free movement and the playfulness of their gestures.
A few icons offer what at first glance is something odd: a child, on the ground, removing something from his foot. What is the meaning of this? The child is removing a painful sliver that he got from climbing the olive trees to cut branches for the royal welcome. His presence in the image is meant as a reminder of the coming wood of the cross that is painful, and of the pain of discipleship that in this life inevitably is mixed in with the joy of knowing the Lord. Even the most innocent of followers and believers cannot escape in this fallen world the sting of pain, sin, and death itself. It intrudes on even the most joyful of circumstances. Palm Sunday by its nature is a mixed event of both joy and death.
It is not difficult to find ourselves in this same scene as we enter Holy Week and as we make our way through life. We seek to follow the Lord all the way to the bitter end, but we hesitate as we realize that doing so means our own death, too. We would like to welcome him into our hearts, lives, and world with outstretched hands, however we are alarmed at the implications of such a move, knowing that it means allowing him to be in charge. It would be our first choice to only have festive joy in life, yet we know that because this is not heaven, we cannot avoid painful slivers. It is the reality that we must accept if we are to have any peace in this life at all.
Central to the prayerful exercise of placing ourselves into this icon scene, and of Holy Week itself, is the need to keep our gaze on the scene’s most prominent figure: Christ. No matter where one finds one’s self in the scene, the fact is that Christ is in the middle of it. He leads us through Holy Week. He leads us through life. He leads us through death and into the fullness of life. Blessed Holy Week!