Greetings of Christ’s peace and love! On Palm Sunday we continue our Lenten journey with Christ and with each other, the journey we began on Ash Wednesday. This Sunday we enter Holy Week, the most sacred time of the Church liturgical year, and we follow the last days of Christ on the road to Calvary as he fulfills God’s plan of salvation through his Passion, death and resurrection for the redemption of our sins.
During these days, we reflect on and immerse ourselves in the experience of Christ’s saving action. Our Church liturgical ceremonies focus on the reenactment and reality of the Paschal Mysteries of Christ, which remind us of the price of our redemption. We celebrate the kingship of Christ on Palm Sunday as we commemorate his triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, with the blessing of the palms and his Passion, humiliation, excruciating agony and death on the cross he suffered for our sake that we might have eternal life.
The Triduum (three days) relives the death and resurrection of Christ and the saving effect of his suffering in our lives. Holy Thursday highlights the Last Supper of Christ with his disciples at their Passover meal, where he instituted the Holy Eucharist, setting before us the greatest example of selfless love, and taught us what humble service is by washing the feet of his disciples. Good Friday reminds us of Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross, by which he redeemed the world. Easter Vigil is about the resurrection of Christ from the dead, his victory over sin, our Passover from death to life and the proclamation that Christ is alive, is risen, and we shall live and rise with him.
One of the significant moments of our Easter celebration is welcoming the Elect, our brothers and sisters who will publicly accept Christ as their savior and become fully initiated members of our Catholic faith. We joyfully and heartfully welcome them and look forward to celebrating the Holy Eucharist with them as members of one faith family.
I invite and encourage all our faithful to continue our journeying with Christ and with each other during Holy Week and Easter. Please check your parish bulletin for service times, and join your community and bring your family and friends with you in celebrating the beautiful rites and the mysteries of our faith. Renewal, conversion of our hearts and reconciliation with God is what our Lenten journey is all about. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, we are healed, redeemed, and have new life.
May the blessing of Holy Week and the joy of Easter be upon us!
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