Pope’s Palm Sunday homily focuses on gift of self

(April 6, 2009) Pope Benedict XVI ushered in the Holy Week with a solemn Palm Sunday liturgy in St. Peter’s square saying love which is a true gift of self and life as shown by Jesus on the Cross gives meaning to life. Pope Benedict blessed palms and olive branches at the start of a procession of cardinals and bishops in St. Peter's Square to commemorate Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem before his passion, death and resurrection. Explaining the episode during his homily Pope Benedict said that Jesus, the King who entered Jerusalem in a triumphal procession, comes to introduce a new type of kingdom that “passes through the cross." Many among the crowd of an estimated 40,000 held palm fronds and olive branches. Most of them were young people from Rome and various nations, who came to Rome to mark the 24th World Youth Day (WYD), which this year is celebrated at the diocesan level. Last year, the World Youth Day took place at the worldwide level in Sydney, Australia, and the next such meet will take place in 2011 in Madrid, Spain. For this reason, at the end of the celebration Australian young people handed over the WYD Cross to their Spanish peers. Reflecting on his personal experiences, Pope Benedict said that a life of sacrifice and renunciation after the example of Christ on the Cross brings fulfilment and happiness in life. "If I look back on my personal life, I have to say that the moments when I said 'yes' to renunciation were the biggest and most important moments of my life," Pope Benedict said, adding, "a successful life without sacrifice does not exist."