Let us exert effort to enter into the beautiful days of Holy Week, Archbishop Emeritus exhorts

By Natalie Hazel Quimlat

NAGA CITY - In his homily last Palm Sunday, April 13, at the Parish of St. Francis of Assisi, Caceres Archbishop Emeritus Rolando Tria Tirona called on the faithful: “This Holy Week, let us embrace this tremendous message of God -that He loves us and gave us His Son. While these days are days of bonding and reunion, let us not forget that these days are days of prayer, of coming to the Church, of following the liturgy of Holy Week, especially the Holy Triduum. So let us exert effort,” he said, “to enter the beautiful days of Holy Week, in prayer, in humility, in longing for God’s mercy.”

According to Tirona, “Holy Week is indeed holy” for it is “a solemn week [wherein] we remember the goodness, the mercy of God”. It is a week wherein the drama of the power of God’s love is “recalled, internalized and interiorized”; a week wherein the faithful [puts to heart] “the fire and warmth of God’s love that breaks all things that separates man from God -obstacles to develop a deep and meaningful relationship between God and man”.

A Timeless offering of One’s self

“The passion of Jesus,” Tirona continued to say, “does not simply mean self-offering in a particular time and place in human history”. Its “broader meaning” could be summarized as follows: promises fulfilled, pledged lived out, the gift of peace, the poor in spirit (for whom this peace and salvation is given).

He placed much emphasis on the gift of peace, which he defined as “resting in God” for through Jesus’ Passion and Death, “[our] relationship with God and dignity as children of God have been restored. [We] are now pleasing in the eyes of God”.

In closing, the Tirona said, “This is my prayer for you -[that] this Holy Week [may] be something different for you. Different, because you opened your hearts and like a poor person you cried out, ‘Lord, have mercy. Lord, save me. Lord, thank You for Your love for me. Amen.’”