Catholics urged to reflect and pray

Broderick Pabillo

MANILA, Philippines — As Filipino Catholics troop to churches today to have their palm fronds blessed in observance of Palm Sunday—the last Sunday of Lent and the start of the most solemn period of Holy Week—Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo urged them to spend the weeklong respite from work to reflect and pray.

He encouraged the faithful to participate in Lenten church activities.

Spirit of reflection

“I hope this Holy Week, they join the activities in their parishes and they enter into the spirit of reflection and prayer,” Pabillo said.

“Do not use the Holy Week to go on a tour,” he added, noting that while many Catholic faithful observe Holy Week in silence and penitence, many other Filipinos consider it an occasion for rest and recreation, usually in the country’s famous beach destinations.

According to Pabillo, the Holy Week in Philippine Catholicism is of one of the highest points, if not the highest point, of the country’s religious culture.

Paschal Mystery

“It is packed with so many religious activities that remind [us] of God’s marvelous actions for our salvation. These religious practices awaken the faith of the people, which may have lain dormant during the rest of the year. These devotions are all Christ-centered. They present the Paschal Mystery very vividly, which is the Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Jesus,” he said.

“All Christians participate in the Paschal Mystery by their baptism. We too die and rise with Jesus. This indeed is our Christian life—dying to our old self so that the new self, patterned after Jesus, may now be our life. All these celebrations give us joy because we firmly believe that no matter how dark our situation may be, light will ultimately come. Life triumphs over death. Goodness overcomes evil, and truth outlasts falsehood,” Pabillo added.

Holy Week ends on Easter Sunday, when Christians celebrate Christ’s resurrection.

Came as a humble king

Also called Passion Sunday, today recalls the Lord’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, riding a donkey into the Holy City where he was welcomed like a king by a crowd who laid palm branches and cloaks in his path, days before he suffered and died on the cross.

“Jesus came as a humble king sitting on an ass. Jesus always comes to us but in a humble and lowly way. Do we receive joyfully?” Pabillo said.

A man of peace

Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David said Jesus “gave a new meaning to the palm branches that were originally meant to commemorate the Israelite people’s difficult journey from slavery to freedom, from Egypt to promised land.”

“By riding on a donkey instead of a war horse, Jesus presented himself as a man of peace, resolutely resisting evil and ready to suffer the violent consequence of doing so, but never succumbing to the temptation to return evil for evil, until the very end,” David said.

For Fr. Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines permanent committee on public affairs, the triumphant entry of Jesus to Jerusalem reminds people of life’s highs and lows.

The folly of our time

“You may be hailed today but assailed tomorrow,” he said.

“It is the folly of our time that it’s not anymore how good you are to people that matters but how people can make good use of you that counts,” Secillano added.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Manila archbishop, will lead the Palm Sunday Mass at the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila, at 7 a.m. today.

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