Lord Enter My Heart as You Enter Jerusalem

Somewhere in the corner of the world a young Irish lad sings

Sometimes I feel like I don’t know

Sometimes I feel like checking out. 

I wanna get it wrong, can’t always be strong. 

And love, it won’t be long.

God hears this plea; He has heard it since the foundation of the world.  It is man’s cry to God, “Save me.”  St. Paul echoed these words as well when he said, I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do, I do not, but what I hate I do." (Romans 7:15), NIV) The Christian life is not always easy, rather difficult at times.  God asks for everything and sometimes sins gets the best of us.  But God does not leave us in that state, for love is never long in waiting, for God responds to the young Irish lad as He responded to St. Paul and to all of us and always,

Oh sugar, don’t you cry,

Oh child, wipe the tears from your eyes,

You know I need you to be strong,

And the day is dark as the night is long.

The promise of God to make all things new, a promise that gives us hope, “don’t cry, wipe the tears from your eyes,” is a promise as good as gold (as the saying goes), for it is God who makes the promise and the one who carries it out.  And yet, the road to pure love is not easy, for someone to make it happen they will experience a “day that is dark as the night is long,” Good Friday, the longest day for Jesus.

But our young Irish lad is not through singing, he still has things to say, to ask, to figure out, to make sure.  By now you know that this Irish lad is signing for all of us.  He goes on to sing,

Feel like trash

You make me feel clean

I’m in the black

Can’t see or be seen

Don’t all of us feel like that throughout different times in our lives.  Something or someone has brought us down or we ourselves may have broken faith or let others down, we are betrayed, but also betrayers, saints and sinners.  Still, God makes us feel clean, when we ask for forgiveness, when we kneel before Him and cry out, “Lord, forgive me, a sinner.”  When we are weak, feel lost, or forgotten we are in the black, can’t see or be seen.  John the Apostle tells us we go into the dark to hide so that we are not exposed to the Light; to be exposed makes us feel humiliated, though that exposure brings healing.  Never easy to be honest, but when we are we are made clean.

You bury Your treasure

Where it can’t be found

But Your Love is like a secret

That gets passed around

Our Irish lad is persistent, he has taken to heart the prayerful plea of the man begging his neighbor for bread even though it is late, and he won’t quit until he gets his bread.  So too with our young Irish friend, he won’t quit until God gives Him the promise, the Word he needs for healing.  All of us feel like God is buried somewhere sometimes and very hard to find.  In my deepest darkest hour, where are you Lord, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”  And still if we listen to the whisper, in a still and delicate sound, we hear God, just like Elijah.  And yet God’s love may feel like a secret sometimes, for not all get it, understand it, for some it takes time, for others right away, but in the end it, “gets passed around.”  Finally our singer acknowledges what is true,

When I was all messed up

And I had opera in my head

Your love was a light bulb

Hanging over my bed

How many nights have we laid in our beds thinking about God, are you there, will you save me, will you help me, how do I love you more, how do I heal broken relationships, is it my fault, was I too forceful, too weak, and on and on we pray contemplating this wonderful – extraordinarily saving relationship.  The opera was going on in our heads.  The Lord answers, with a light bulb hanging over our beds.

The Lord answers clearly today on Palm Sunday, for that light bulb is made as bright as the sun.  He knows all our troubles, our sicknesses, our weaknesses, our addictions, our hurt, our sins and He comes riding on a donkey looking at us with those eyes that pierce right through and He is answering us, “Take hope, I have come, I come to make all things new, for I have heard your plea, I have heard your song.” 

Jesus says, “You may not know, you may feel like checking out, you may feel black, you may even be messed up, but I have come so that you will know, so that you feel like checking in, that you may be in the Light, and that your roads may be ever straight.”  Our young Irish lad “Bono” was answered as God has been answering us all along, and there can be no clearer answer than today, if you look you will see Jesus entering Jerusalem (entering your heart) answering all our questions, but more importantly healing us - through and through.  Be joyful today, your salvation draws near, wave your palm branches and sing, just like our young Irish lad, “Hosanna in the Highest, hosanna in the Highest, here comes the King of Glory, the King of Kings!”

By Fr. John P Picinic

Lyrics by Bono and U2

The name of the song is Ultraviolet Light (Light my Way).  The song is both dark and bright, as it deals with a deep human longing for redemption.  The beauty of song is that it affects each and every listener differently.  The song seems that it was written at least on two levels, maybe even more, but the two that stand out are Bono’s deep inner sighs and longings for God and how God responds.  The song could also be about his wife, for as his wife she makes his him whole.  It could also be about God and his wife simultaneously.  Nevertheless it is a great song and it’s just my interpretation of it, yours can be different, again the beauty of song.

I will save this reflection for a youth group session and give a more traditional homily tomorrow as some may not be ready for something like this and not everyone is familiar with our young Irish lad.