Before we enter Holy Week, when we commemorate and celebrate the most important week in our salvation history, let us reflect on the reassurances and promises that God has kept on giving us — that He will always be with us, guiding and protecting us in our journey of life, as long as we keep our faith in Him.

God is always faithful to the covenant that He has made and has repeatedly renewed with each one of us. We are all reminded that God has always been gracious and generous with His love toward us, calling each one of us to return to Him and to embrace once again the fullness of His love and compassionate mercy.

In our class last Friday, Dr. Moses Catan, discussing the Book of Numbers, said that despite the many sins and rebellions against Him, God’s love for all the people of Israel endured. He has always been willing to reach out to His people so that they may all receive pardon and forgiveness for their many faults and mistakes against Him and return to His loving embrace, receiving once again the fullness of His grace and love as He has always intended for them.

Likewise, from the Epistle to the Hebrews, which was addressed to the Jews, the author wanted to highlight to the Jewish people that essentially Jesus Christ, the One Whom some of them considered to be merely a great Prophet and Messiah, was not just a Messiah in the manner that they thought He would be, like a great King Who would liberate them from their foreign rulers and oppressors. That was the common perception of who the Messiah would be then. The author, therefore, presented Christ as the One Who is the manifestation of God’s love and the Incarnate Son of God, the Divine Word that had taken up human existence to be with us.

The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews also often presented the Lord Jesus as the High Priest of all, offering on our behalf the perfect and most worthy offering of His own Body and Blood for our salvation.

Further, in our Gospel today, the interactions between the Lord Jesus and His disciples are elaborated when some Greeks came to Jerusalem and wanted to know more about Jesus, His teachings and works. It is a reminder that Christ’s mission was ultimately to become the bridge between us and God, leading us back to God our Father and Creator, who wants us all to be reconciled to Him.

Jesus repeatedly showed that His love was directed at everyone, at every descendant of Adam and Eve. He did not discriminate by status, descent, or any other worldly parameter that we often use to distinguish ourselves from others around us. He loves every one of us regardless of our condition and differences. All of us are truly dear and beloved to Him, and He wants to bring us all back to Himself.

He did everything He could so we would have a chance to enter into His loving Presence again, purified of our corruptions and sins. All of us should, therefore, be reminded of this fact as we are about to enter the most Holy and Solemn Week ahead so that we can truly celebrate and commemorate those important moments and events with great appreciation, understanding, and faith.

Allow me to greet Brig. Gen. Redrico Maranan, Director of the Quezon City Police District, and his Public Information Officer, Major Jennifer Gannaban, for always being willing, ready, and able to extend a helping hand to those who need immediate police assistance. “I’m proud to be QCPD.”