Palm Sunday Sermon, St. Paul the Apostle Church, Manhattan, 1870’s

THROUGH humility and suffering to exaltation and glory that is the Way Our Lord went to heaven, dear brethren, and that is the way we must go if we wish to follow Him. Today is Palm Sunday, the day on which Our Lord rode in triumph to begin His Passion. Yes, in triumph; but what an humble one! He rode upon a lowly beast; there were no rich carpets spread along the way, only the poor and well-worn garments of the apostles and of the multitude thrown together with the boughs and branches torn from the wayside trees. All was humble, and doubly so if we think that He was riding to His death. Yes, brethren, those palm-branches were scarce withered, the dust had hardly been shaken from those garments, when the cross was laid upon His shoulders and the thorny crown pressed upon His brow.

Dear brethren, let us ask ourselves this morning if we want to go to heaven. Do we want to be where Jesus is now, and where He will be for all eternity? If we do we must follow Him through suffering and humility to exaltation and glory. We must be content with little and short happiness in this world; for, as I have said, the triumph of Palm Sunday was short-lived indeed. What followed? Jesus was brought before Pilate. He was condemned to death, forsaken, set at naught, buffeted, mocked, spit upon. He, the innocent Lamb of God, was scourged, stripped of his garments, crowned with thorns. Then upon His poor, torn shoulders was laid a heavy cross, which He carried till He could no longer bear it. And, lastly, outside the city gates they nailed Him to that same cross, and He died. But after that came the glory and the triumph the glory of the resurrection; the triumph over sin, and death, and hell.

Brethren, we needs must think of heaven to-day; the waving palms, the chanted hosannas, all speak to us of that delightful place. We cannot help thinking of that great multitude, clad in white robes and with palms in their hands, of whom St. John speaks, and of those others who cast down their golden crowns before the glassy sea. We want to reach that blessed place ; we want to hear the sound of the harpers harping upon their harps; we want to hear the angels songs and see the flashing of their golden wings; we want to gaze upon Jesus and Mary and all the heavenly host. But, brethren, not yet, not yet. See the long path strewn with stones and briers; see that steep mount with its cross of crucifixion at the top.

That way must be trodden, that mountain scaled, that cross be nailed to us and we to it, or ever we may hear the golden harps or the angels song. Through humility and suffering to exaltation and glory. Oh ! let us learn the lesson well this Holy Week. Let ua learn it to-day as we follow Jesus to prison and to death ; let us learn it on Holy Thursday when we see Him humble Himself to the form of bread and wine ; let us learn it on Good Friday when we kiss His sacred feet pierced with the nails.

Yes, let us learn the lesson and never forget it. Heaven has been bought for you. Heaven lies open to you: but there is only one way there, and that way is the way of suffering. So, then, brethren, when your trials come thick and fast; when your temptations seem more than you can endure ; when you are pinched by poverty, slighted by your neighbors, forsaken as it seems to you even by God Himself, then remember the way of the cross. Remember the agony in the garden; remember the mount of Calvary.

Grasp the palm firmly in your hand to-day; let it be in fancy the wood of the cross. Cry aloud as you journey on : “Through humility and suffering to exaltation and glory.” Keep close to Jesus. Onward to prison! Onward to crucifixion! Onward to death! Onward to what comes afterwards! Resurrection! Reward! Peace!
B.

NOTE
The above sermon was preached by Father Algernon Brown, C.S.P. (1849-1878) at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Manhattan. Born in England, he converted to Catholicism and came to the United States as a young man. After serving as a priest in Ohio, he joined the Paulists and went to New York. His brother Louis also converted and became a Paulist. A third brother, also a convert, served as a parish organist at St. Paul’s.