We come today to the start of a week which brings us to the center and climax of the entire liturgical year and the very heart of the Gospel in which we believe: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

Jesus, who upon entering into the world said: "I have come, O God, to do your will" (cf. Heb 10:9), made himself obedient to the Father in everything and, "having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end" (Jn 13:1), giving himself completely for them. He who had come "not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mk 10:45), attains on the Cross the heights of love: "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13). And he died for us while we were yet sinners (cf. Rom 5:8).In this way Jesus proclaims that life finds its center, its meaning and its fulfillment when it is given up. At this point our meditation becomes praise and thanksgiving, and at the same time urges us to imitate Christ and follow in his footsteps (cf. 1 Pt 2:21). We too are called to give our lives for our brothers and sisters, and thus to realize in the fullness of truth the meaning and destiny of our existence.

We have been preparing for all of Lent to celebrate the events of these days - events that are so crucial to human history and to our own lives, that they require a whole season of repentance and preparation to celebrate them worthily. We are blessed and privileged to be able to say that we believe that through the events related in the Passion narrative, God has revealed his love for us, he has opened the way for the forgiveness of all our sins, and he has placed in our hands the gift of eternal life.

-Father Frank Pavone