Palm Sunday, 2025

Lk 19:28-40;

Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalm 22; Phil. 2:6-11; Luke 22:14-23:56

Blessed are you who have come in your abundant mercy!

The first Gospel reading of the Palm Sunday Mass provides the metaphor for our journeying with Jesus during this last, most holy, week of Lent. We see an anonymous servant, perhaps representing us, untie a tethered colt at the command of God.  He, or we, sets the little animal free in order to let it bear a lofty burden: “The master has need for it.”

We, like young colts, need to be tamed as well by carrying our Master, Jesus. He needs us to bear the lofty burden of the Word of God wherever we go, so that others may experience His Word, too, and proclaim it in their turn.  The price for this honor is our humble submission to the weight of the Word as we walk His Way.

Our Lord approaches his saving Passion, where the ending has already been prophesied for him – so sad on His way of the Cross, then so solemnly quiet as the faithful mourn, and finally glorious beyond words.

For us mortals, our ending depends on how closely we follow Jesus in his suffering footsteps and in his trusting love for God and for all of us.  His plan for us is a successful journey, in union with Him.

Saint Luke’s Passion narrative speaks powerfully of God’s steadfast love as Jesus treads the way of the cross.  We can prayerfully read it over again this week, but today, friends, let us continue to reflect on how the readings prior to the Gospel prepare us for our own share in His Paschal Mystery.

Isaiah describes first the steep price of speaking out “with a well-trained tongue”, and then the unfailing support of God when we courageously proclaim his Word.  Isaiah did not turn back when his preaching resulted in terrible suffering. God supported him with grace and Isaiah continued his mission.

Like Isaiah, if we speak the truth courageously, in the end we too” shall not be put to shame,” but be united to God in his victory.  In order to speak well we must discipline ourselves and be sure that what we speak is from the Lord.

Psalm 22 speaks of the Lord’s suffering in the Passion. It begins with the dark night of persecution and ends with public praise of God “in the midst of the assembly.”  This is a model for our faithfulness. Like Jesus, we count on the trustworthy, constant help of God which we then proclaim.  Haven’t we experienced at one time or another, that His answer to our anguished prayers has led us through sorrow to rejoicing?

Next, the reading from Philippians brings us all the way back to the Incarnation. Jesus chose to become man and have feet and legs so that he could walk, like us.  His walk from infancy to death was unique, and is a lofty model for us.  His path led Jesus only and always toward the cross. After laying down his life, helpless and seemingly defeated, he rose up in power, gloriously triumphant, to live forever.

The faithful carrying of the cross will carry us, too, to the heights of the Resurrection. We must keep this in mind as we try to imitate Our Lord faithfully.

Let us do our best, friends, to be faithful to this humble task of walking with His Word, because we know of the glorious ending and we want to stay united with Jesus, the Word of God, during our journey.  We are all on the way. Let us cling to Him who leads us, and walks with us.

May you have a rich spiritual renewal during this Holy Week.  We must keep our faith strong, because the passion will happen, and in our time we will share in it.  With certainty, we also believe the resurrection follows, and that gives us hope for the road ahead.

We wish you great joy and peace in the Lord as you share his Passion this week, day by day.  May his Word lift us up and help us place our feet most precisely in His own divine footprints.

Let Him enter, the King of glory!