CATHOLICS have safely observed Palm Sunday yesterday, March 28, by attending mass at San Sebastian Cathedral while others celebrating such holy tradition in some Catholic and non-Catholic Churches in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.
Palm Sunday signifies the victorious entry of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem before he confronted his death by crucifixion.
It was the start of His ordeal purposely to fulfill the will of the Father to save mankind from sins with the death of His only begotten Son -- Jesus Christ.
Palm branches were being waved by Catholics to highlight the entry of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem as a show of welcome to Him being the Son of God the Father.
In the local scene, Rev. Fr. Roy Christian Gesulgon, the Officiating Priest at San Sebastian Cathedral said the Catholics have celebrated Palm Sunday as a community.
He recalled how their family observed the Holy Week where he was initiated into these holy rituals early on as a child where his family was expressive of their Catholic faith in observing these traditions.
"All feasts of the Church are events of remembrance according to Pope Benedict XVI. These memories are translated into our personal experiences. In a sense, our experiences are touched by God."
"So that God will be part of our human experience, we have to translate the narratives of faith into our terms. That is why we have the liturgy, the images, rituals for Lent, and hopefully by participating in those rituals, we can see the relation of those rituals in our own experience in life such as our experience on sufferings, sin, and failures. In the liturgy, our full, active and conscious participation is asked because that is how memories are made. If you are asleep during the liturgy, you have seen nothing and you have heard nothing. If your focus is not within this Church, you will remember nothing because you are not there. We need to be inwardly involved to find ourselves in these mysteries," he said.
Memories are important and this is the reason why in the celebration of a mass, we continually remember the memories of God when the celebrant says, "Do this in memory of me."
The Lord entered Jerusalem and the crowd exclaimed Hosanna to the Son of David. But that crowd that welcomed him was the same crowd who cried out to crucify him.
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus and focus on Jesus as He is also focussed on what is expected of Him by the Father as his mission is coming to a close. He was sent to do the will of the Father. That is how focussed He is. But Pontious Pilate's actuation is not suited for his authority as he released Barabas Hestas, the penitent thief, because he wants to please the crowd. Pilate could not even decide for himself as he was pleasing the crowd. But Jesus remained peaceful despite the ordeal that he underwent," he shared.
Fr. Gesulgon asked the Catholics, what takes away our peace? In situations when we want to please the people; if we want to prove something and if we perform before the crowd.
God keeps his peace and he was not distracted by what was happening to Him because his focus was to do the will of the Father.
"As we enter the Holy Week, we pray that the Lord will enable us to fix our eyes on Him and create memories with him. Allow the Lord to be part of our lives, in our frustrations, disappointments, in our sins and that can only be done if we create memories with the Lord," he said.
Furthermore, let us create lasting memories with the Lord by participating in Church events such as this Holy Week.
"Let us fix our eyes on the Lord because that will save us based on our own human experience," he said.