It is 14th April 2019. We celebrate the Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. The readings are from Isaiah 50:4-7; the second reading is from Philippians 2:6-11; and the Gospel is from Luke 22:14-23:56. The Holy Week that sealed our salvation in the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Catechism 560, “Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem manifested the coming of the kingdom that the King-Messiah was going to accomplish by the Passover of his Death and Resurrection. It is with the celebration of that entry on Palm Sunday that the Church’s liturgy solemnly opens Holy Week.” We have been all doing some sort of sacrifices to reach this culminating moment of grace and blessings. We are about to celebrate our Lord’s Paschal Mystery, His Passion, and Resurrection. As we joyfully celebrate glorious entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The person of Jesus is the centre and reflection of the entire week. May all our eyes be fixed on Jesus and His Most Holy Cross that brings us joy, and blessings and all that we have prayed for. The mood and tone changes in all we read and reflect during this week. The first reading speaks about bruised Jesus, the second reading talks about the Most Divine yet humble Jesus, the Psalm highlights the abandoned Jesus and the Gospel presents us with the Innocent and the accused Jesus. May we find some quiet place to sit down to read the passion narrative from the Gospel of Luke and get the necessary graces for the rest of the week. It is going to be a mixture of sorrow, suffering and joy in our hearts as we ruminate the Passion of our Lord unfolding. In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah speaks of the Christ, the humble Servant of God who was abused, insulted and beaten by the enormous power of sin. The most innocent One Jesus willing to suffer for us and to save us from the guilt and shame of our sins. Zech.9:9-10 reminds us the victorious and triumphant entry of the Lord. The responsorial Psalm pleads, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Ps.22:2). The second reading praises the humility of Jesus through the hymn of incarnation. Jesus even though God, volunteered himself for saving the humanity through suffering He stooped to become a slave to death and displayed the enormous amount of obedience to God who desired to reconcile the humanity to himself. We recount the narrative of the Passion and Death of our Lord in the Gospel. The final meal with the chosen ones, the arrest, the trial, the condemnation that culminates in crucifixion and death of our Lord is the sequence of the week. The passage begins with the Upper Room and entering into our inner rooms of our lives setting us free from sins and shame and ends with the tomb of Jesus. It is not just mere presence during this week but a meaningful participation with our hearts and lives. Let us set us everything for Jesus especially our travels, pleasures and enjoyment of any sort. May we keep this week holy by coming closer to the Lord by our personal accompaniment during this most sacred time of liturgical celebration. Remembering and reflecting that it is our sins that crucified the Most Innocent One of God. Let us take responsibility for what we have done. Are we going to be with Jesus supporting Him and helping Him or going to betray Him, abuse Him and crucify Him with our sins? Let us not abandon and hurt Jesus any longer as many others did. Let us beware of the mistakes the disciples and other did with Jesus. May we make every tiny effort not to do the same. Without the Cross of Jesus, we can never cross the river of sins in our life. The Palm Sunday sets the tone for the final moment of Jesus on earth. There is so much dignity and prayer attached to this liturgical celebration that call all of us to participate and allow us to penetrate the veins of our belief in Jesus. God sacrificed God’s only Son Jesus to save us. What have done or going to do for Jesus who offered His life for us? May the Lord bless each one of us as we enter the Holy Week. May we all be blessed by the Lord Jesus. May we pray for those who have difficulties, pain, suffering and death so innocently and unjustly. May God bless you. Have a good day.