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April 2, 2023Abu Dhabi.
The celebration of Palm Sunday was presided over by Bishop Paolo Martinelli
at St. Joseph's Cathedral Abu Dhabi.
Below is the full text of the homily delivered during the occasion.
With the celebration of Palm Sunday, we solemnly enter into Holy Week. For Christians, it is the most crucial week of the year as it leads us to the heart of the Paschal mystery, the death, and the resurrection of Christ. We listened to the story of passion. A story that always moves us and pushes us to reflect on the mystery of God's love for all humanity and each of us.
The best interpretation of passion comes from the Christological hymn of Saint Paul that we heard:
Though he was in the form of God,
Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.
He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even death on a cross.
Saint Paul uses two powerful words to indicate this movement of God towards man: Jesus Christ emptied himself and humbled himself. Why did Jesus do all this? For our love and to free us from evil. Out of obedience to the heavenly father, he took upon himself our sins. He is the true Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus did not come into the world to condemn us but to save us. His love is merciful and always forgiving. We sometimes get tired of asking for forgiveness. But Jesus never. He is always ready to reconcile us with God.
The certainty of this love opens us to a new hope. In the face of God's love manifested in Jesus' passion, our sins no longer define our existence. Every man or woman is worth more than their sin. The human person is never defined by their limitations and mistakes. Thanks to the paschal mystery, each human being has infinite value. In fact, everybody is someone for whom Jesus gave his life. We must learn to look at ourselves and others, aware that God's love dwells in us deeply. God's forgiveness makes us new creatures, and reconciliation opens up for us.
Dear brothers and sisters, I invite you in the coming days to find time to pray and to receive the sacrament of reconciliation. I also invite you to stop and pick up a crucifix during the day. Hold it in your hands for a few moments and look at it. Express in your heart a prayer of thanksgiving for this love.
Finally, I invite you to pray to the Mother of God that she may help us to live this holy week intensely and thus celebrate the foundation of our faith: Jesus, who died and rose again, victorious over evil and death. Mary followed Jesus to the cross. Let us stay with Mary close to the cross. We bring to Jesus all our pain and the suffering of humanity. May Christ's passion and resurrection give peace and reconciliation to the whole world.