Reflections from the Heart – April 13, 2025

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
by Fr. Ivan Olmo

“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Lord, with a deep sense of humility and with an honest honesty, but at the same time with a deep respect for reverence and in all sincerity, we humbly acknowledge and relate to you the place, that deep emotional place deep inside our broken humanity that yearns for freedom, seeks redemption, and needs relief from a suffering humanity. Until then, we continue to experience daily hurts and fatigues. We suffer on-going pain from the wounds of others, the pain from our own selfish pride and the selfish pride of others. We even experience a constant fear in an act of contrition, fearing the loss of heaven and the pains of hell. We also seriously dread the fear of humiliation, being vulnerable, exposing our weaknesses and appearing weak to others. We suffer a suffering humanity that grievously suffers the darkened effects of sin in our daily duties, throughout the ages past, throughout our insignificant lifetime until the dawning of the fullness of salvation and our immediate entrance into the kingdom and presence of God. We suffer the continued daily effects of selfish lies, greedy personas, personal jealously and the lust of original sin. Plagued by the sins of our fathers, the sins of our mothers, and the sins of family, friends and foes as well, we feel abandoned, neglected, tossed to the side and simply left behind with no sense of help insight. We experience our own helplessness and that of humanity as well. A call of hopelessness that falls on deaf ears. A cry for salvation to unreceptive hearts. A search for mercy from a fearful person rather than a trust from a faithful person. The effects of this dreadful, needless fear still sadly plagues and affects us today in being transmitted and handed down from one generation to the next, from Adam and Eve into our immediate families, throughout our surrounding communities and into the people yet to come. We feel a deep sense of abandonment. We experience hurt and mistrust. We worry about loneliness and wonder if anyone really cares or is really listening. We wonder does God really care. Will he come to save us or are we on our own? Jesus’ cry of abandonment is our cry, the cry of a fearful, untrusting humanity. His cry to become our cry is a reminder that God loves us and always listens to us. He has truly forgiven us and will always provide for us. He will never abandon us. He is faithful forever.