03/28/2026
Finding His Passion
Young people who are discerning a vocation or career path are often urged to find and pursue their passions. In the readings for Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, we are reminded that God’s passion is…us and our salvation. Strictly speaking, of course, the passion of Jesus marks an event or series of events—his arrest, trial, condemnation, ex*****on, and burial. That it occurred during Passover, the annual celebration of Israel’s liberation from slavery in Egypt, which God’s salvific work continues, is fundamental to its meaning.
While our readings are filled with drama and vivid images of self-sacrifice, suffering, and death, they are ultimately about love and the lengths to which God was willing to go to manifest that love to the world. The reading of the Passion Narrative, like the reading from the Gospel of John on Good Friday, invites all assembled to not only participate in a way unique to those liturgies but to immerse themselves in the mystery and power of God’s love.
Jesus accepted the mantle of the suffering servant in Isaiah. He experienced the pain of apparent abandonment, eloquently evoked in Psalm 22. As St. Paul describes in his Letter to the Philippians, the Son of God surrendered his divine privilege first through his incarnation and ultimately in his obedient acceptance of death on an instrument of torture and terror. Through his almost incomprehensible humility, he was exalted.
Our continued celebration today and throughout Holy Week and the Easter Triduum is a testament to God’s abiding love and, sadly, a counterpoint to how difficult it remains for the human family to accept it and allow it to transform us and our relationships, from the interpersonal to the international. Two millennia after the time of Jesus, our world remains afflicted by countless forms of oppression and violence, often aided and abetted by advanced technologies. We have access to more knowledge than ever, but we have gained little wisdom, and the consequences continue to fall heaviest on the poorest and most vulnerable.
In Jerusalem many centuries ago, Jesus showed his passion for us. May our passion for him and for the gospel he preached grow in us and be manifested more fully everywhere, from our homes to our workplaces, from our streets to the centers of political and economic power throughout the world.
John Celichowski, OFM Cap.
Prayer
Dear Lord, We pray that the world will embrace the peace of Christ through a deeper commitment to the common good as well as the justice, reverence for human life, and dignity that are the foundation of true peace between nations
Amen.
Daily Bible Readings, Podcast Audio and Videos and Prayers brought to you by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
