Fr. Aidan Writes:
Passion Sunday (also known as Palm Sunday) starts Holy Week, by far the most detailed moment is the last week of His life. It is this week that it all comes together, “it is ac- complished” as Jesus says from the Cross and it all starts to make sense. I say starts be-
cause even two thousand years on we are still peeling off the flimsy layers of the onion that is the mystery of God’s forgiving, merciful love for us. This is, for me, the most extraordinary thing in our religion and sets it apart from others. God sacrifices Himself for us, to liberate us from our bondage to sin and opens the gates of paradise for us when our time comes. Our fickle nature misguidedly clings to the pretense that we are in control of our destiny and that we can wrack-up the points to earn our way into God’s favors! To take that position is to completely fail to understand our baptism, when we are called a son or daughter of God upon whom His divine favor rests.
Easter is the season of the process of God’s favor resting upon the world. This year we need that favor more than ever as Russia continues its war on Ukraine and CoVid obstinately refuses to go away. The Creator redeems the world through the sacrifice of His Son and enlivens it with his Holy Spirit of life. Our voices on Palm Sunday re-echo the cries of the crowd as Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey. “Hosanna” they cry which means “save us”, which of course Jesus does despite the crowd’s clamoring to be saved into the baying for his blood and death on Good Friday. So the ques- tion for us is, are we calling to be saved or are we going to call for blood?
God bless, Fr. AP
May God bless you, your families, and the week ahead,
Fr Aidan Peter