Palm Sunday
Liturgical Year A 2011, 2014, 2017 (Matthew 26:14-27:66)
Liturgical Year B 2012, 2015, 2018 ( Mark 14:1-15:47)
Liturgical Year C 2010, 2013 (Luke 22:14-23:56)
The Prophecy
“There I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east…I fell prone as the glory of the Lord entered the temple by way of the gate which faces the east, but spirit lifted me up and brought me to the inner court. And I saw that the temple was filled with the glory of the Lord.” (Ezekiel 43:2, 4-5)
“Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass.” (Zechariah 9:9)
Today we enter Holy Week, processing into our churches from the east, we lift our palms branches high, joining pilgrims world wide as we proclaim, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the Highest!” (Mark 11:9-10)
Today we commemorate Palm Sunday a day 2000 years ago that just as prophesied by Ezekiel and Zechariah, Our King, Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem riding on a colt, arriving from the same direction His Shekinah Glory, the very presence of God, had left the Temple 500 years prior, from the east.
"Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness...he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death...on a cross." (Philippians 2: 6-8)
Father Robert Barron digs deeper into our Gospel readings for Palm Sunday with his following homily, proving over and over again, how rich our Sacred Scripture is and how great is Our God - I have so much to learn.
“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. On this day, throughout the world and across the centuries, young people and people of every age acclaim him, crying out: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
But what are we really doing when we join this procession as part of the throng which went up with Jesus to Jerusalem and hailed him as King of Israel? Is this anything more than a ritual, a quaint custom? Does it have anything to do with the reality of our life and our world?...
Our procession today is meant, … to reflect the fact that, together with Jesus, we are setting out on pilgrimage along the high road that leads to the living God. This is the ascent that matters. This is the journey which Jesus invites us to make...We are striving for pure hearts and clean hands, we are seeking truth, we are seeking the face of God. Let us show the Lord that we desire to be righteous, and let us ask him: Draw us upwards! Make us pure!” (Pope Benedict XVI, Homily Palm Sunday April 17, 2011)
Our journey continues..........God's will be done.
For items related to the Catholic Church
please visit Lynn's Timeless Treasures
please visit Lynn's Timeless Treasures
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Art Christ Enters Jerusalem - Giotto di Bondone
Christ Enters Jerusalem - Hippolyte-Jean Flandrin
Marker for Station 8 on Via Dolorosa - IC-XC NI-KA - translates to Jesus Christ Conquers
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