Palm Sunday

by Fr. Michael D. Accinni Reinhardt, MA, Mdiv, MS  |  03/29/2026  |  Pastoral Corner

Dear Parish Family,

We have now entered the most cherished and sacred time of the year, as we as Church commemorate Passiontide. It is here that the stark reality of the Lord’s Passion is encountered through the lens of Holy Week. News Flash! This is not just another ordinary week. Stop yourself dead, before beginning it as such! We must echo the question of Jesus “Will you be my disciple? “Will You! It's not a rhetorical question, it never was! It’s not a redirect for the faint of heart, nor the one that lives a compartmentalized life. It’s the life of the cross, a life filled with convictions and deep conversion. This is the life of a Christian, not one caught up in petty incidentals.

We must stop wasting time, it is of the utmost essence. We are up against a serious prospect as we are called to put some skin in this game, which is the mission of Jesus Christ! Jesus is calling us whether we are young, or old, He calls us now to get up a go and follow him. Pick- up your cross! Do it now! Don’t run from it, but for the men of God-man up! Stop the distraction, pay attention. For the women profess his Holy Name, live in his harmonious obedience, tame the tongue! We must ask ourselves what kind of Christian are we? Are we a fair-weather Christian that speaks it from the mouth, but fails to show it from the heart? From our actions? Do we become indignant at the challenge of our faults? Do we see them as the crosses that they really are? Or do ads mean to prove others wrong? Do we strive to repent of such conditions of our soul, and seek remedy in the Lord? Entering the Lord’s passion means we realize that it is our sins that cause him suƯering. We in our sins put him to death! It is in our ability to admit the wrongs of our heart, that the brokenness of our body and soul, mends. This is declaring victory over sin by the very cross we bear! This Holy Week we are called to stop being petty, childish, or selfish. We are called to stop complaining, and stop the griping, stop the slander, stop the hate, and to stop the division. We are called to the cross, to accept it as Christ did in humility, holiness, and obedience. Yes! obedience is necessary for our salvation. Do it! We are called to conform ourselves into it, to mold our body against it, to feel its discomfort, its contours, and correction. Corrections are hard. It's even harder when we are unwilling and haughty. Don't be haughty, it's unbecoming of you. Look in the mirror see the sinner you are and choose to be willing enough to heal! Cross corrects and manifests in us the very metamorphosis it has become as a device of torture and execution, transforming into an instrument of liberty and freedom found in the resurrection. Holy Week requires our participation. It requires of us to show-up ready, willing, and holy before God. Go to Holy Thursday and go to Good Friday, endure his passion in the garden, stay awake with him there, see him nailed to the cross for the sake of our sins! One cannot enjoy resurrection without crucifixion. Stop sugar coating the Gospel and insulting the Lord with your disrespect, Holy Week is for the mature and serious Christian, it's for the Sinner with a capital S, who dares to move toward a life of metanoia and never looks back! This Holy Week let us be bold, to open eyes our heart and make it a holy one! Please- and do it as if your life depended upon it, because it does! Fr. Michael