“They proclaimed: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He said in reply, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!” (Luke 19:38-40)

For this first day of the Holy Week with the celebration of the “Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord,” the major theme focusses on the drastic contrast between the joyful and glorious entrance of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem among people’s welcoming praises, acclamations, celebrations, suddenly it changes to people’s utter abandonment and rejection of Him. It is as if we were riding a roller coaster of emotions with Jesus, from a hysterically high in the cloud with prestige and royal treatments to the surprising plunge into a great abyss of utter suffering, rejection, despise, mockery and cruel denigration.

In this drastic comparison, extreme contradiction and dramatic event, we are challenged to remain faithful to God, to be with Jesus, to hold onto the divine grace of faith, hope and love in Him, to walk ever closer with Him, to experience His passion and death in order to share with him the glory and joy of His resurrection.

Indeed, the story of our salvation is more than a mere historical remembrance of Jesus’ life. The re-hearing, re-experiencing, reflecting and meditating on the existential and multi-dimensional experience of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus can help us in our own dying to sin and rising to a new life in Him, restoring and deepening our personal relationship with God, increasing our faith in Jesus and strengthening our lives as authentic disciples of Christ.

During this week of Christ’s passion, suffering, grace, love and mercy, each of us is called to remember Jesus the Christ of Calvary that our human sinfulness has caused Him to die. We are called to embrace and to lighten Jesus’ burden, whose passion continues to be experienced today in the hungry, the poor, the sick, the homeless, the rejected, the lonely, the refugee, the miserable migrant, the innocent and the outcast.

God does not want us holding a relationship of Transaction but Transformation. Therefore, Dynamic Christian disciples are those who (1) BELIEVE, (2) GROW, (3) SERVE, (4) LOVE and (5) LEAD others to Jesus. Today’s topic invites us to repent our sins, reflect on our vocation of dynamic Christian discipleship to live a holy life to fulfill God’s will and obtain our salvation.

How can we help each other follow Jesus more closely, become more compassionate, merciful, sympathetic, accepting our shortcomings, leading people to noble ways by our own exemplary lives and to be less self-righteous, judgmental, selfish, vicious and vindictive?

Wishing everyone a blessed week in the Lord.