Eight other priests concelebrated, among them were the Provincial of the Franciscan Province of Bosna Srebrena OFM Jozo Marinčić, Rector of the Cathedral Msgr. Anto Meštrović, Cathedral parish priest and Dean of the Sarajevo Deanery venerable Mato Majić as well as the Secretary General of the BK BiH Msgr. Ivo Tomačević.

Blessing of branches

At the beginning, the Cardinal greeted the faithful watching through the BHRT channel live video of the Holy Mass and those listening to the Eucharist through the waves of Radio Marija BiH. He then recalled what Palm Sunday represents and blessed the olive branches. Due to the situation with the pandemic of the coronavirus, there was no procession, and the believers were able to bless the olive branches themselves at home.

In the proclamation of the Passion of the Lord according to Matthew, the role of Jesus was played by cardinal Puljić, the reader was Dr. Msgr. Sladjan Ćosić, and other roles were played by Msgr. Tomašević.

The virus reminded us how small we are

Then followed a homily in which the Cardinal asked the believers to “stop” and reflect on what they had heard in the proclamation.

“In this crisis we are going through, let us become aware that Christ took the human body and lived with us. That is why it is also necessary to recognize his presence. As we go through temptations, let us remember his torment”, said the Archbishop of Vrhbosna, reminding that ”it is difficult to understand God's logic which is different than human.”

He then said that “by listening to the Passion of the Lord, we must understand His humility because the man of today has become arrogant and wanted to play God and to turn His laws.”

“This is especially true of the natural law that man has changed in the name of democracy. Humility is not about destroying what we are, or rising above what we are. Humility means accepting reality. We experienced a lot of stress when there was an earthquake in Zagreb. It reminded us how small a man is. It's happenings like this, that teach us how small we are”, said cardinal Puljić, pointing out that a simple virus makes the whole of humanity seam small.

“That is why we should be aware of our limitations and have humility that drives us to place our safety in the hands of God”, he said, and encouraged believers to “learn to bear the cross as Jesus did”.

Persistence during temptation

He then said that a man was not created for the suffering that sin brought. “That is why we must get rid of a sin that does not belong to God's love. As we consider the Passion of the Lord, we find ourselves and realize that we should live our daily lives in temptation and be persistent, strengthen the faith that will be a force in suffering and temptation, and adopt a love of God that is different from human standards”, he said, and invited people for  “prayer to encourage our trust in God because we cannot solve problems by force and arrogance but by trust in love”.

In the end, he wished that “the Blessed Virgin Mary be with the people as she was with her Son, so that we all may persist until Golgotha and then welcome the resurrection”.

After the communion prayer a prayer was held for the Synod of the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna.

The Eucharist in a live broadcast was commented by deacon rev. Vedran Ćosić.