PEACE BE WITH YOU

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Palm Sunday, in the liturgical year, is a day in which we anticipate the joy of Easter by reenacting the triumphal entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem several days before the beginning of His passion. The symbol of palm is a powerful one. The Gospels describe the people of Jerusalem spreading palm branches on the roads so that Jesus could enter in a regal manner.

The symbol of palm has a deeper meaning in God's revelation. In the beginning of the Book of Genesis, we hear the story of Noah who with his family boards the ark to escape the waters of the great flood. Towards the end of their ordeal, Noah sends out a dove that, on its second trip, returns to the ark with a palm or olive branch in its beak, indicating that dry land was within reach. The rainbow becomes a symbol of the peace to be created between God and humanity, the sign of the covenant with Noah, which is to recall that God would never again destroy the world by water. In the New Testament, the palm branch is seen in the Book of the Apocalypse as the symbol of the martyrs' glory and a sign of their resurrection.

So it is with the palm branches that we bless on Palm Sunday. They become a sign of our peace with God, but also of our peace with one another. They are a sign of our call to reconciliation, as well as our call to resurrection.

Palm Sunday is also a day of reconciliation. The custom of sharing palms, well known among the Italian and other ethnic groups, is meant to allow people to reestablish peace and reconciliation with one another, so that the celebration of Easter may have its true spiritual effect. If there is someone with whom you have had difficulties and have yet to reconcile with, Palm Sunday is a wonderful day on which you can visit that person and offer the palm of peace. The biblical roots of offering palm or an olive branch go back to the days of Noah we mentioned earlier, when the dove returned to the ark with the olive branch as a sign of the dry land that salvation was at hand. My own coat of arms carries the dove, palm branch and ark.

The palm branch is also a symbol of the resurrection as portrayed in Christian art in the early Christian cemeteries. On Palm Sunday, the palm becomes a symbol of triumph over suffering. The palms we place on the graves of our beloved dead offer us the opportunity to meditate on the victory over death Christ has achieved for all who believe.

Last Sunday we celebrated the first anniversary of the death of John Paul II. John Paul's death had a great impact on the world, as did his life. He was a man of peace and reconciliation. We pray for him and ask his intercession for peace and reconciliation in the world and for ourselves personally

Let us join together before this Easter in reconciling ourselves to one another and to the Lord. This is truly an experience of putting out into the deep since the risks are so great. We do not want to face rejection when we are ready to reconcile. Take the risk.