Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion 2023

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
April 2, 2023

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

Today we begin Holy Week — the most holy week in the liturgy of the Church. What we have just heard in today’s passage from the Gospel, is the story of our salvation. The salvation of the human race.

But it’s also a story that is personal for each one of us, it’s the story of our own salvation.

On this Palm Sunday, I think we really need to reflect once again on this beautiful reality in our hearts.

This is why Jesus became flesh in Mary’s womb. He came in order to offer his flesh on the cross for the life of the world. He did this once and for all. Out of love for us, out of love for every person.²

So today, in the sufferings of Jesus, God is speaking to us. The events we re-live in our Gospel today show us how much God loves each one of us.

And this is the meaning of our Lenten journey. We make this journey every year, so that we will never forget, that we will always remember just how precious we are to God.

St. Paul tells us today in our second reading: “He humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Jesus could have summoned twelve legions of angels to rescue him, as we just heard in the reading of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. But he did not.³

This is the whole point of his life. Jesus gave his life to save others. He did not save himself for only one reason — that we could be saved.

Because Jesus Christ did not save himself, we are no longer prisoners of our past. We can be forgiven of our sins! We are free to know God’s love and free to become the people he  created us to be.

And of course we know that the story does not end here, at the foot of the Cross. We know that in the shadow of the Cross, we find the light of the Resurrection.

So we know that Jesus lives! That he’s walking with us.

We remember these events today so that once again we can come to a new awareness of his presence among us.

Jesus goes with us now. He walks with us on our journey. In all our joys, in all our struggles. He’s there. He’s with us. To show us the way to go, to strengthen us when we are weak.

It’s true. He died for us, and he is with us every single minute of our lives. We should always keep that in mind. So real, so beautiful. And he gives us so much peace and the strength to keep going.

So today, let us especially ask for that grace.

So my dear brothers and sisters, as today we begin this, the holiest week of our Christian year, the week of our salvation, let us carry the events of today’s Gospel in our hearts this week.

In God’s beautiful plan, all of history was directed toward these next seven days in which the work of our salvation is accomplished by Jesus through his passion, death, and resurrection.

Let us make this week a time for quiet reflection on what Our Lord suffered for us. How much he loves us, each one of us.

And this week, we can also think about our own lives, our own commitments. How real is our dedication to God and to others?

It is a very special way — in the liturgy of the Church and in our lives too — if we really try to stop and reflect on the beautiful love of Jesus for each one of us.

And there is one practical thing that I learned a long time ago and that I like to do — and I think is a long tradition in the life of the Church.

And that is that palms that we receive today, that were blessed today, just to keep them in our houses wherever we have a crucifix, we can put it there somehow. Just to remind us that Jesus died for us.

What I do is in the different crucifixes that I have, I always try to put a little piece of the palms that were blessed because it is a beautiful reminder that Jesus is always present in my life and in our lives.

And may our Blessed Mother Mary walk with us this week and always as we follow the way of her Son, the Way of the Cross that leads to the Resurrection.