We completed a city wide Parish Mission at Holy Name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church. Six hundred people attended. It was good to see many of you.

Next Sunday is Palm Sunday. It is the beginning of the most sacred week of the year. I do

hope that many of you will attend the end of Holy Week which is called the Sacred Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. In this one celebration that lasts three days we celebrate with very special ceremonies and prayers who Jesus Christ is to us. These three sacred days can help know the Lord Jesus.

What does it mean to know the Lord Jesus? The men who held the stones to kill the woman in adultery grew to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

He said to them as he wrote on the ground, "Let the man who has no sin cast the first stone".

The men knew the Jesus was writing their sins on the ground. They changed. Each one left looking at himself and the woman differently. They came to condemn. They left being condemned.

Jesus said to the woman as he was writing on the ground, "Has no one condemned you? Neither will I condemn you. Go. Sin no more.

Jesus was writing all the good qualities of the woman on the ground. She changed from feeling condemned to feeling that a new way of life could be hers.

To know Jesus is to know the power of his resurrection in our lives. To know Jesus is to know ourselves as Jesus knows us. To know Jesus is to change the way Jesus wants us to change.

To know Jesus is to allow Jesus to take possession of our lives so that he can raise us up to a higher level of living.

St. Paul says in the second reading today that he considers everything as garbage compared to his knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are we willing to put everyone and everything in second place so that Jesus Christ can be number one in our lives?

Jesus Christ has put us as number one in his life. Look at the Sacred Triduum. He gives us his Body and Blood in the Eucharist. He shows us the Cross upon which he hung and died to save us.

He gives us his light of resurrection to be with us.