Days leading to Palm Sunday, we bore witness and perhaps have participated in many expressions of piety at home and in the church: Stations of the Cross, communal reconciliation services, Lenten talks and reflections, recitation of the Holy Rosary and other devotionals.

All these external, tangible expressions of our faith should, more than all else, bring us to the real meaning of Holy Week: embracing the Passion of Christ our as own passion. In fact, Jesus had to go through the passion because He wanted to embrace what His brothers and sisters were undergoing each day.

The true significance of Passion Sunday is our own passion linked to the Lord’s Passion: that moment when we see Jesus mocked, carried the Cross to Golgotha, crucified and died on the Cross. And yet, that same Jesus looks at us and sees much the same thing is happening in our own lives. Jesus offered His passion to the Father for us. Today, we are invited to offer our own passion to the Father through Jesus who carries it with us.

Young and old, men and women, all of us, we have our passion. This, more than palms, are what we need to wave around as Jesus passes by so that He might bestow on us His blessing.

As Catholics, we believe that one day, our passion will be turned into resurrection. We are people of hope because we are not slaves of disappointment, resignation, and despair. God is powerful, and in His time, in His goodness, He will transform our crosses into victories for us.
Let us start this Holy Week filled with hope in the power of the Cross.

Sempre grato,
Father Erick

(For Palm Sunday, 2022)