I attended a Palm Sunday Mass at a small parish. At the homily the priest talked about the Holy Week as a celebration from Palm to Passion to Pasch. It was Jesus' journey. It is our journey as well.
The journey doesn't happen once in a lifetime. It is a process that is repeating until we are moulded into the creation that God originally created us to be: His image and likeness.
It is very normal as we go through life, we would want to be recognized, to be acclaimed, to shine, even for a brief moment. That is our Palm Sunday.
But then, since restlessness is something that is inherent in our creaturehood, this shining moment loses its fascination and leaves us to craving for something more. When something we thought would make us feel fulfilled fails to do so, we become disillusioned. It makes us question a lot, from the most trivial to the most profound. In a sense, this is our Passion because those that have given security to our life suddenly come falling apart. It is those moments in life when, like Jesus on the cross, we shout out "Father, why have you forsaken me?".
But as in Jesus' life, we know that it doesn't end in death and defeat. The seeming defeat is the necessary way to the resurrection, to gaining a deeper understanding of life.
There are no shortcuts to life. We must go through the palm to the passion to rise again.
