Palm Sunday always sets such a beautiful beginning to the holiest of weeks. As we draw our Lenten season to a close and begin the Triduum on Thursday, I am reminded of the sacrifice of our Lord. Yesterday's Gospel reading always reveals something new to me or perhaps I notice something new as a focus area. In the end, it is God who is placing new insights before me. Yesterday it was the Lord asking that His Father allow the chore of the crucifixion to pass Him by. Reading the words triggered the image of our Lord suffering on the cross. The imagery took me to the foot of the cross looking up at Jesus. The sacrifice is enormous but realizing that He is God and could have just as easily chosen another way truly defines the magnitude of the event. It is the ultimate display of obedience. It is what God asks of all of us. God sacrificed His son for us. The immeasurable depths of the love it takes to do something like that is almost unimaginable. But of course, trying to measure it would place limits on God in human ways and He is not constrained in that way. God is so much greater than any human measurement or expectation. He is! I encourage you to take part in the Triduum masses this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They are some of the most beautiful and tranformative celebrations the Church offers us. You cannot help but be moved by the adoration of the cross or the reenactment of the washing of the feet. Easter vigil literally defines anticipation and hope. It is a consuming need that has grown in us over the last 40 days of fast and preparation. And so the week begins.
The twelve apostles chosen by Jesus formed the bedrock of the early Church , and their Catholic identity is deeply rooted in their direct relationship with Christ and the mission He entrusted to them. The Catechism of the Catholic Church highlights this foundational role, stating that Jesus "instituted the Twelve as 'the seeds of the new Israel and the beginning of the sacred hierarchy'" ( CCC 860 ). These men were not simply followers; they were handpicked by Jesus, lived intimately with Him, witnessed His miracles and teachings firsthand, and were specifically commissioned to preach the Gospel to all nations ( Matthew 28:19-20 ). Their unique position as eyewitnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, and their reception of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, established them as the authoritative leaders of the nascent Church, a reality echoed in the writings of early Church Fathers like Ignatius of Antioch, who emphasized the apostles' authority as repre...
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