On Palm Sunday, Cardinal Jose Advincula reminded Catholics that the greatest acts of love may come not from doing, but from enduring for others.
Preaching to a congregation at the Manila Cathedral, he said Jesus’ silence and suffering reveal the redemptive power of giving oneself completely to God.
Advincula said surrender is often misunderstood as weakness in a world that prizes competition, control and perseverance above all else.
Yet the cross, he said, offers a different wisdom: letting go and trusting God can transform even suffering into something redemptive and life-giving.
“But on the cross, we discover something deeper. The greatest act of love in human history is not an action, but a surrender,” Advincula said.
“On the cross, Jesus shows us that love is sometimes revealed not by what we do, but by what we are willing to endure for the sake of others,” he said.
The cardinal said Jesus’ silence amid betrayal, mockery and crucifixion shows that patience and surrender can accomplish more than visible action or worldly power.
He urged Filipinos to see trials, injustice and personal suffering as opportunities for grace, trusting that God can transform darkness into instruments of salvation.
“This is the good news hidden within the passion. God can take even the darkest moments of human life, like betrayal, injustice, suffering, abandonment, and transform them into instruments of grace,” he said.
As Holy Week begins, the Manila archbishop called on the faithful to embrace both the solemnity of Christ’s suffering and the hope rooted in trusting God.
“For it is precisely there, in the hands of God, that our suffering is transformed. Our crosses are redeemed. And our lives find their true meaning,” he said.
