I love Easter. I did not grow up Catholic but my family went to church on Easter and it was joyous and there was candy after, and it was usually near my birthday. Even without much of a religious upbringing Easter was a favorite religious holiday. I converted to Catholic in college, at Advent instead of at Easter, oddly enough. But I am ok with Lent, even though I didn’t grow up with the idea. I gave up meat for Lent the first year I was Catholic and have been a vegetarian ever since. So my first Lent was a positive and life-changing experience. But I don’t like Palm Sunday. It starts out great, there are souvenir palms, but it doesn’t end well. Today’s readings are a precursor to Palm Sunday, and I’m getting nervous already. I’m saying it doesn’t end well, but I know that’s not the real end, but it’s still hard. It’s hard to go through. It’s hard to think about. And if it’s hard for me to go through, it was way harder for Jesus. And he knows the bad end is not the real end.
He knows the time is coming. He knows it won’t be fun, but it is necessary. He knows this is the purpose. “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” He has to die to be resurrected. There has to be a Palm Sunday for there to be an Easter. Because Jesus died and went to heaven, we all have the possibility of heaven when we die. “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.”

Besides being fifth Sunday of Lent, today is also St. Patrick’s Day. I love St. Patrick’s Day. I have Irish heritage, I sang in an Irish folk band for many years, I’ve travelled to Ireland several times and studied Irish history and culture and literature and music. I even like the food. And St. Patrick is a good role model for the message today as well, “whoever serves me must follow me.” St. Patrick was said to have taught about the Trinity using the Irish shamrock and left us a beautiful prayer about following Jesus:

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.