Dear Holy Trinity Family,

Today is the last Sunday of our Lenten journey (the Fifth Sunday of Lent) before we begin Holy Week which starts after Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. As we hear in today’s Gospel Lazarus being raised from the dead by Jesus, it is a preview of what would happen to us with the Risen Christ in the future. With our hope in God, let us try our last pitch to spend more time in prayers, fasting, and almsgiving as we are getting ready to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The highest anticipation of new life in our liturgical celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection on Easter is a result of the combination of Faith, Hope and Love we have in God and this climax of celebration is about to begin through Holy Triduum. “Holy Week is ordered to the commemoration of Christ’s Passion, beginning with his Messianic entrance into Jerusalem” (Universal Norms, 31). When we welcome Jesus taking his last journey to Jerusalem, we need to see Him as our King entering His city of throne, our Priest offering His life as a sacrificial offering, and our Prophet fulfilling God’s promise. The Church states very clearly why this Holy Triduum within Holy Week is pivotal and essential to Christian faith. “Since Christ accomplished his work of human redemption and of the perfect glorification of God principally through his Paschal Mystery, in which by dying he has destroyed our death, and by rising restored our life, the sacred Paschal Triduum of the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord shines forth as the high point of the entire liturgical year. Therefore, the preeminence that Sunday has in the week, the Solemnity of Easter has in the liturgical year. The Paschal Triduum of the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord begins with the evening Mass of the Lords’ Supper, has its center in the Easter Vigil, and closes with Vespers (Evening Prayer) on the Sunday of the Resurrection” (Universal Norms 18-19).

As Easter offers us a sense of new life in Christ’s Resurrection, let us not lose our hope in God and never give up our faith in God. In sports, we say “no pain, no gain.” I am sure this idiom also applies to our hard works of Lenten practices. I sincerely offer my prayers for all of you that you may go easy with all things you must endure for your readiness of Easter Celebration.

May God the Father bless all of us through the intercession of our mother, Blessed Virgin Mary, in the presence of Holy Spirit and our Lord Jesus Christ!

Blessings,

Fr. Brian