Listen! Make Ready Your Hearts…

This coming Sunday will be Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. This feast commemorates an event mentioned by all four Canonical Gospels Mark 11:1-11, Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19. To most folks, however, Palm Sunday simply represents the last week they will get a chance to really experience the season of Lent. After many trials (and failures) of giving up on our favorite treats, trying to be more prayerful or remembering to give alms, this coming week serves as our last chance to tell ourselves that we are putting our foot down and really find the true meaning of His passion.

But more importantly than going back and forth with the commitments we set up for ourselves the past couple of weeks, the next few days offer us a chance to focus more on what lies ahead.

The Bible reveals that when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowd greeted Him and covered His path with palm branches. Immediately following this great time of celebration in the ministry of Jesus, He begins His journey to the cross. This scene calls us to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus, our Lord. As His road to victory and salvation is led by a path filled with pain and difficulties, so too our lives, from here on in, be led by a path filled with faith, hope and love.

We face our own struggles carrying our crosses and following Him. But as we put our faith in God in this time of self sacrifice, we show that we are making ourselves ready and preparing the road for His homecoming into our hearts and lives.

In this last week of Lent, the Holy Week, we set aside our past. We remind ourselves of what He was about to go through to “make things new again.” We prepare ourselves for His pain and suffering, but also make ready our hearts so He can once again truly live within us.

We pray that this last week of Lent prepares us for a more faith-filled future.

Listen…