In his homily read out during the celebration in Saint Peter’s Square marking Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, Pope Francis calls on us to reflect on the Lord’s compassion that knows no limits, “how we are meant to carry our own cross during this Holy Week”, and help others “all around us” who bear the cross of suffering.
The Pope explained how when we hold out our own hands to those who are suffering, lifting up those who have fa-llen, embracing those who are discouraged, we manifest how “Jesus’ passion becomes compa-ssion” expressed today. During Holy Week, he suggested we look at our own lives, how in order to experience God’s “great miracle of mercy” we can carry our own cross, “but also the cross of those who suffer all around us”, even that of some unknown per-son we find along on our way, and so become “for one another, a Simon of Cyrene.”