Year C
Discover the deeper meaning and connections found in this week's readings, through these great commentaries written by our priests.
Explore this week's readings and hear what God is saying to us through His Word.
Find out more about how we can mark this special day in our liturgy.
See our music recommendations for the liturgy.
Today, we share in Jesus final journey into Jerusalem, before we look forward to events which we will celebrate later this week, in the Passion and death of our Lord on the Cross on Good Friday. Our participation in this journey is key to how we will see the events still to come as we approach Easter Sunday.
As Pope Benedict wrote, ‘it is a moving experience each year on Palm Sunday as we go up the mountain with Jesus, towards the Temple, accompanying him on his ascent. But what are we really doing when we join this procession as part of the throng which went up to Jerusalem with Jesus, and hailed him, King of Israel? Does it have anything to do with the reality of our life and our world?’
To answer this, we must first be clear about what Jesus himself wished to do and what he actually did. He was journeying towards the Temple in the Holy City, towards that place which, for Israel, ensured in a particular way, God’s closeness to his people, The ultimate goal of his pilgrimage was the heights of God himself; to those heights he wanted to lift every human being. Our procession today is meant, then, to be an image of something deeper, to reflect that, together with Jesus, we are setting out on a pilgrimage along the high road that leads to the living God.’
It is important to concentrate on the language which is used. It is a language of signs by which God manifests his agency and presence even in the midst of wilful chaos. God constructs his story with us as a work of art. This isn’t to say that every detail is lovely. The Bible is startingly honest in naming the ugliness and grief into which our existence easily descends. To be a Christian is not to subscribe to a world which becomes beautiful if we put on the right contact lenses. We inhabit a broken, often cruel world where, like Pilate today, decisions affecting the lives of others are made out of fear rather than from justice; where, like the governor’s soldiers, acts of violence take place for personal amusement; where, like the chief priests and elders, jealousy and envy drive hatred and fear of others leading to their unjust condemnation.
But what we learn from the example and teaching of Jesus is that no sin, no pain, is beyond integration into God’s overreaching narrative – a story of unmerited grace that extends from light’s original emergence out of darkness to the everlasting praise of the Jerusalem on high. Through the scriptures, we realise that God, the all-powerful, can draw meaning forth from what is itself senseless; that he is able to turn even anger into praise, to reveal the victory of life through death.
The days ahead are wonderfully rich in such lessons.
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
CCC 557-560: Christ’s entry into Jerusalem
CCC 602-618: the Passion of Christ
CCC 2816: Christ’s kingship gained through his death and Resurrection
CCC 654, 1067-1068, 1085, 1362: the Paschal Mystery and the liturgy
“Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel. Hosanna in the highest!” On this Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord we recall the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem to accomplish the great Paschal Mystery. The memorial of this entrance recalls Jesus’ messianic entrance which we commemorate in the during the procession. In the liturgy we make use of processions often, especially on the Presentation of the Lord, Lenten stations, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil, and Corpus Christi. For most of us we are able to walk, and most times, we don’t even think about doing it. Every action, including walking, during the celebration of the light takes on a heighten perspective and meaning. Romano Guardini reminds us “and when the occasion is religious, what a beautiful thing walking can be! It is a genuine act of divine worship…walking in a religious procession ought not to be what so often it is, pushing along out of step and staring about.” (Guardini, Sacred Sings, Walking) A procession reflects a pilgrimage, the earthly journey to the eternal homeland. We walk together, not as separate individual beings, but in solidarity with each other, in the same directions towards a finite point. On the Sunday before the Passover, Jesus was intent on accomplishing the Paschal Mystery of the Passion, Cross, and Resurrection, and so he entered Jerusalem for love of each and one of us. During the celebration of the Palm Sunday, we too are entering into the mystery of the Paschal Mystery, the centrality of our faith. We follow the example of the humility of Jesus, his footsteps, who took on flesh and submitted to the Cross, and we ask to be patient in our sufferings during our pilgrimage of life, so that we might have a share in his Resurrection and his life.
Universal Prayer
For the Church – may she be one with her Lord, who gave his life in loving surrender to his Father, so that those who believe in him might live the new life of grace.
For all who are responsible for upholding the rule of law in our society – that they may be faithful to their calling and work always in pursuit of true justice, with integrity, honesty, and courage.
For those who are soon to be initiated into the Church – that with all Christians, they may acclaim him as Lord with tongues and hearts and minds.
For believers and unbelievers everywhere – through the mystery of God’s providence may they share in the fruits of Christ’s passion, which will bring them to the glory of rising again.
Note: These hymns have been chosen from different sources.
All glory, laud and honour (CFE17, L229, LHON113, TCH60)
Ride on, ride on in majesty (CFE623, L230, LHON593, TCH68)
At the name of Jesus (CFE59, L762, LHON147, TCH207)
My song is love unknown (CFE503, L752, LHON487, TCH65)
Key
CFE - Celebration Hymnal for Everyone
L – Laudate
LHON – Liturgical Hymns Old and New (Mayhew, 1999)
TCH – The Catholic Hymnbook (Gracewing)
Do you have questions about the liturgy and how we are called to participate in it? Explore how the Church councils, saints, and popes have answered this key question and many more.
Every movement of the Mass is rich in meaning but we can become over-familiar with it. Rediscover the Mass and explore how it relates to the Exodus story, where many of its rituals come from, and how it makes Jesus present to us today.
