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Dear Parish Faithful,
"In our liturgical celebrations we remember events of the past. But the whole meaning and power of the Liturgy is that it transforms remembrance into reality. On Palm Sunday this reality is our own involvement in, and responsibility to, the Kingdom of God. Christ does not enter into Jerusalem any more. He did it once for all. And He does not need any "symbols," for He did not die on the Cross so we can eternally "symbolize" His life. He wants from us a real acceptance of the Kingdom which He brought to us. If we are not ready to stand by the solemn oath, which we renew every year on Palm Sunday - if we do not mean to make the Kingdom of God the measure of our whole life - then meaningless is our commemoration and vain the branches we take home from the Church."
- Fr. Alexander Schmemann
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Fr. Alexander Schmemann always had the gift to capture the seriousness with which we need to embrace the life in Christ discovered and nourished within the life of the Church, but without any stuffy solemnity or moral posturing. He presents the fulness of this new reality and how it cannot be reduced to "religious" or cultural expressions, or the merely "symbolic." The challenge he so often eloquently expressed was to our deepest commitments in life - what he often called our "worldview." If Christ and the Kingdom are not the center of our lives, then there is a false note present in our claims to be Christian.
Looking back on yesterday's splendid celebration of Palm Sunday, Fr. Alexander understands this as our commitment to the Kingdom of God.
