The Passion of Christ

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

A full year has passed once again and Christendom finds itself commemorating the beginning of the Psssion of Christ with Palm Sunday tomorrow. We then recall the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem the week before his death and eventual resurrection.

As the Bible tells us, people cut branches from palm trees, laid them across Jesus’ path and waved them in the air. As Christians have been taught, the people greeted Jesus not as the spiritual Messiah who would take away the sins of the world, but as a potential political leader who would overthrow the Romans. Thus, the shouts of “Hosanna” actually meant “save now.”

But, how did Jesus Christ epitomize the adulation accorded him by the people? As the palm branches symbolize goodness and victory, Jesus was all humility as He accepted the people’s admiration and hope. This should be emulated by everyone who wields power in whatever endeavour one is in, whether it is in politics, the academe, civil, and civic societies.

In these days and times when people look to and at some Messiah to save them from their woes, let it not be said that they are false Messiahs that actually abound. People will have to be discerning to spot the genuine from the fake.

The Holy Week affords all of us the time to be introspective and to take stock of ourselves. There are those who have predicted that 2012 spells the so-called end of the world as gleaned from the catastrophes and disasters that have been occurring in its various parts one after the other. Places that have never been plagued by such have begun to reel from the effects of these natural calamities.

The lesson from the commemoration of Holy Week – whether it is in the company of family or all by your lonesome – is that, so long as there is life, there is hope. Nothing can beat being prepared at all times and in all aspects, especially spiritually. This will sustain us all this year and beyond.*