The Celebrations and the Triduum

Well, first of all, welcome back. It's good to be back here to St. Anne.

I always love to come back. I'm on my break from the seminary.

I'll be coming back there for my graduation in May. But it's great to be here,

especially, you know, beginning with the Palm Sunday celebration.

And Palm Sunday begins the greatest and the most glorious week in the entire liturgical year.

And it marks the start of one of the most important aspects of our faith.

That is the Passion of Christ, the Triduum, the Paschal Mystery.

So today we see Christ entering, we were processing outside of the church.

And we are like those people who welcome him by chanting and praising,

blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

So the people there, they celebrate Christ's entrance with great enthusiasm

that we also share because he is the Messiah.

He will redeem us from sin. He will win the battle and save the world.

But sometimes in our enthusiasm, what we don't expect is the path that Christ

will choose to win this battle.

And that's the way of the cross, the way of suffering.

Because already by Friday, together with one voice, we will be shouting,

Crucify him, crucify him.

So Palm Sunday symbolizes the doorway that opens into what is to come, the Passion of Christ,

which is for us unfolding in the entire Paschal Triduum that we celebrate during this Holy Week.

And that Triduum ends with another grand celebration, which is the Resurrection.

So if you notice the

pattern we begin today palm sunday

with a celebration and we

end with resurrection also great

celebration next week and for those who

never experienced the paschal Triduum because

they only go to the church on sundays and obviously

those people who cannot come for some health

reasons serious reasons I'm not speaking about those people

but I'm talking about people who care could could come to

be part of that Triduum but they still choose to

not those people they only experience celebration

today and celebration next

week on resurrection you might say like isn't it

beautiful faith without suffering well

it is maybe beautiful but it's not true we know that because

it misses the crucial element and aspect

of our faith the redemptive aspect of our faith which is the sacrifice and suffering

and so perhaps this kind of faith celebration to celebration appears and is

appealing to us but this is the faith without suffering,

and it might be ideal for the world, but not for us.

We must remember that faith based only on celebration cannot save us,

because only through Christ's suffering are we brought to resurrection and be redeemed.

So, if you want to be a true follower of Jesus Christ.

You have to enter the suffering with him now the

question is do you welcome your own suffering with jesus in order to go through

this holy week week of passion and experience the resurrection at the end palm

sunday is also a time in which i believe we face a test of our faith,

And we need to ask ourselves, is our faith real and the very core of our life,

the essence of who we are, or is just a hobby or thing we like to do?

Think about it at a moment. Sometimes it can get, the faith can get there and become a hobby for us.

And what I mean by that, when faith becomes a hobby, we practice it to satisfy

ourselves, to meet people, you know, to dress nicely, most likely.

I just came from Florida and believe me, they have different dress code in the church.

And, you know, we come here to feel good. It becomes a pleasant break from the demands of daily life.

Go here, sit in the pew, sit back, relax.

We escape the stress of our work, possibly hear a good homily.

We'll see. And that's it.

So when faith is just like that, it's just like a hobby, we use it when it's

convenient, when it fits our schedule or our mood.

We may feel burst of enthusiasm now

and then especially during the celebration like palm

sunday resurrection sunday but if

all we expect from our faith is excitement and

good feelings if we don't make room

for suffering then that enthusiasm

quickly fades and then

we grow indifferent to the mystery before us

and it becomes less accessible we lose the zeal to go deeper into the mystery

to discover the mystery of for example Eucharist or other different sacraments

to meditate on those mysteries in our hearts and the next time we come to the church,

We are no longer true participants in the liturgy.

We're no longer those who genuinely want to live it, but instead we become spectators,

those who watch from a distance but never truly experience it.

I remember when I was in Poland, I was growing up there, and I remember the

man would leave the church while it was homily to smoke a cigarette outside.

And I remember them just like peeking through the door if the homily is over, you know.

When the Father Dawid would preach, they would have probably two cigarettes to smoke.

Or three.

But, you know, the reason I know what they were doing, because I was also outside, you know.

So I was the outsider for a long time. I was the spectator.

Spectator,

so these people are resemble those people in the gospel right we all were outside watching,

and coming in here and watching Christ representation right of priesthood coming in and,

but for them for some people this is just the event that Christ is passing by,

but they never enter the faith They're just observers of faith from the outside,

never truly experiencing it.

And so when we come on Palm Sunday and return on Easter Sunday,

we become, unfortunately, like those spectators.

People whose faith is like something we do, we like, it's a hobby.

People who do not welcome suffering in their lives, in a sense,

because they reject this important part, they reject the cross,

which makes it impossible to experience Christianity in the full essence of it.

Which in the in the essence in the middle is the hidden mystery is the passion christ's passion,

and perhaps today is a good time to examine our lives our hearts to see where

are we spectators of our faith you know where we grown this attitude of faith as a hobby,

and it's a call and an invitation to stir up in us a greater zeal for the truth

to enter into the mystery, to allow God to fully transform us.

Maybe this year it's a good time to finally give something up in our lives and

truly enter the Paschal Triduum, to enter into Christ's passion,

carrying our own crosses and walking with Christ.

Two days ago, on Friday, we were celebrating the Stations of the Cross and that

was my first time doing it in this church.

But what was amazing about it was the little crowd of little children following me each station.

And I was amazed, you know, and I was reflecting upon it.

And this is what we're supposed to do in the families as teachers, right?

Our children will be led by example.

So, you know, obviously when you're not going to show up on Paschal Triduum,

don't expect your children to be here, right?

Like maybe one day sitting at home like, hey, where's Jack? He went to Triduum. Well, he's three.

You know, he's not going to come if you are not here.

So sometimes we feel maybe, there's another thing of the Palm Sunday,

It's a moment that we might feel a little bit guilty about the land,

maybe we didn't go through land focused enough,

motivated enough, or consistent enough with our decisions.

Maybe this land feels wasted.

But Palm Sunday is also an opportunity for a second chance, and I think it's a last chance.

Because we can still make things right, because God's mercy and grace is always

accessible and available.

So today we rejoice in Christ's coming to Jerusalem.

But we all look ahead to the greatest joy, that is resurrection, next week.

Yet to truly experience the resurrection of Christ, we must pass through his

passion, his suffering, his death on the cross, his descent into hell, and his resurrection.

Only then we have the true image of our faith, and only then we'll be able to

say that we are true followers and disciples of Jesus Christ,

for whom faith is not just a hobby, but the very essence of life.

And we are not spectators, but true participants of this great Paschal mystery.

So let's say yes today to that invitation and welcome our own suffering of our

own lives and walk with Jesus Christ to the Mount of Calvary expecting grand

finale of resurrection next week.