Palm Sunday

In the mystery of salvation, Jesus’ violent death was not a mere coincidence but part of God’s plan, while those involved still acted freely rather than as passive players in a predetermined scenario. God’s eternal plan includes each person’s free response to his grace, and, for our salvation, he permitted the acts flowing from human blindness. Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, fulfilling the prophecy of the suffering Servant and offering a universal redemption from slavery to sin. In loving solidarity with sinners, Jesus was given up for us so that we might be reconciled to God. For our family’s prayer and reflection, these passages invite us to remember God’s benevolent love: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, and he suffered for every human person without exception.

Religious life, born in the East during the first centuries of Christianity, remains a gift the Church has received from the Lord and offers as a stable way of life to those called by God to profess the evangelical counsels. Within canonically erected institutes, it is marked by liturgical life, public profession of the counsels, fraternal life in common, and witness to the union of Christ and the Church. Religious life serves the Church’s mission of evangelization and is called, in its many forms, to signify God’s charity in the language of our time. Secular institutes seek the perfection of charity and the sanctification of the world from within it, while societies of apostolic life pursue their particular apostolic purpose and strive for charity according to their constitutions. Through consecration, these members give themselves more intimately to God’s service and to the good of the Church, offering a witness that the world is transfigured and offered to God through the spirit of the beatitudes.