Palm Sunday – The Passion of the Lord

 

Palm Sunday is the last day of Lent and the first day of Holy Week

Invitation

May I take this opportunity to draw your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?

This invitation is intended to share with you the joy
of the Gospel. Everyone, without exception,
can experience that joy by opening their heart
to the healing power of God’s word.

Available every day

 

Introduction

Over the past few weeks, we have been preparing for Easter.
Today we stand ready to greet the Lord.
With green palm branches in our hands, we wave to Him and shout:
‘Hosanna, Son of David, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
The King of Peace will go before us,
but the path He has chosen is not the easiest.
The triumph of Jesus’ entry soon gives way to slander and betrayal.
Palm Sunday presents us with a choice:
do we give up in the face of all that opposition
or do we continue to follow Jesus through the difficult moments of suffering and death?
In this hour, we see how great Jesus’ trust is in the Father’s love.
He takes us on a journey of love to the very end,
which will lead beyond the tomb into the new light of Easter

FIRST READING  Isaiah 50, 4-7

I have not turned my face away from those who revile me
but I know that I shall not be put to shame.

From the prophet Isaiah    

The Lord God has given me the gift of speech:
I know how to speak words of encouragement to the discouraged.
Every morning He speaks His word;
every morning He addresses His word to me
and I listen with complete devotion.
The Lord God has spoken to me
and I did not resist,
I did not shrink back.
I offered my back to those who struck me,
my cheeks to those who plucked out my beard,
and I did not turn my face away
from those who reviled me and spat upon me.
The Lord God will help me:
Therefore I shall not be put to shame
nor will I shrink back.
Yes, I know that I shall not be put to shame.

Responsorial     Ps. 22(21), 8-9, 17-18a, 19-20, 23-24

Refrains
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

They laugh at me, all who see me,
they sneer and shake their heads.
“Surely he trusts in the Lord? Let the Lord rescue him
and deliver him, if He loves him.”

A pack of dogs is chasing me,
a gang of thugs has me surrounded.
They have pierced my hands and my feet;
I can count all my bones.

Now they divide my garments among themselves
and cast lots for my robe.
O Lord, do not be far from me,
my support, come quickly to my aid.

I will glorify Your Name among my brothers,
proclaim Your praise before all the people.
You, servants of the Lord, glorify Him,
all the house of Jacob, give Him glory.

SECOND READING             Phil. 2, 6–11

Christ humbled himself, therefore God exalted him.

From the letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Christians of
Philippi

Brothers and sisters,

He who existed in divine majesty,
did not regard equality with God
to equality with God.
He emptied himself
and took on the form of a servant.
He became like human beings.
And appearing as a human being,
He humbled Himself,
by becoming obedient unto death,
even to death on the cross.
Therefore God exalted Him
and bestowed upon Him the name
which is above every name.
So that at the mention of his Name
every knee should bow
in heaven, on earth and under the earth;
and every tongue should confess,
to the glory of God the Father:
Jesus Christ is Lord.

Vers for theGospel      Phil. 2, 8-9

Praise and glory be to You, Lord Jesus.
Christ became obedient for our sake even unto death,
even to death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted Him
and bestowed upon Him the name that is above every name.
Praise and glory be to You, Lord Jesus

GOSPEL                Mt . 26, 14–27, 66

From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew

At that time, one of the Twelve,
named Judas Iscariot,
went to the chief priests and said:
“What will you give me if I hand Jesus over to you?”
They paid him thirty pieces of silver.
And from that time on
he looked for an opportunity to hand Jesus over.

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread
the disciples came to Jesus and asked:
“Where do you want us to prepare the Passover meal for you?”
He replied:
“Go into the town and tell so-and-so:
The Master says:
My hour is near;
I wish to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.”
The disciples did as Jesus had instructed them
and prepared the Passover meal.

When evening had fallen,
He sat down with the twelve disciples.
During the meal, He said:
“Truly I tell you,
one of you will betray Me.”
Deeply distressed, one after another they began to ask Him:
“Surely it is not I, Lord?”
He replied:
‘The one who dips his hand into the dish with Me
will betray Me.
“Yet the Son of Man is going
as it is written of Him,
but woe to the man
through whom the Son of Man is betrayed!
“It would be better for him
if that man had never been born!”
Judas, his betrayer, also spoke up and said:
“Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”
He replied to him:
“You have said it.”

During the meal, Jesus took bread,
said the blessing, broke it
and gave it to his disciples, saying:
“Take, eat;
this is my body.”
Then he took the cup,
and, after saying the prayer of thanksgiving,
He handed it to them, saying:
“Drink from this, all of you,
for this is my blood of the Covenant,
which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
“But I say to you:
From now on
I shall no longer drink of what the vine produces
until the day when I drink it new with you
in my Father’s Kingdom.”
After they had sung the hymn,
they went to the Mount of Olives.

Then Jesus said to them:
“This very night you will all fall away from me.
“For it is written:
‘I will strike the shepherd
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.
“But after my resurrection, I will go before you to Galilee.”
Then Peter said:
‘Even if everyone else is offended by you, I never will.’
Jesus said:
“Truly, I tell you:
this very night,
before the cock crows,
you will deny Me three times.”
Peter replied to Him:
“Even if I have to die with You,
I will never deny You.”
All the disciples spoke in the same vein.

When Jesus
came with them to a place called Gethsemane,
He said to his disciples:
“Stay here whilst I go over there to pray.”
However, Peter and the two sons of Zebedee
, however, He took with Him.
Then He said to them:
“I am deeply distressed, even to the point of death.
‘Stay here and keep watch with Me.’
After He had gone a little further,
He fell face down on the ground and prayed:
‘My Father, if it is possible,
let this cup pass from Me.
“Yet not as I will,
but as You will.”
Then He went to His disciples and found them asleep;
and He said to Peter:
“Was it too much for you
to keep watch with Me for one hour?
‘Watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation.
“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
He withdrew for the second time and again He prayed:
“Father, if it is not possible
that this cup should pass from Me without My drinking it:
then let your will be done.”
And when He returned, He found them asleep
for their eyelids were heavy.
He left them alone,
went away again and prayed for the third time
once more with the same words.
Then He went to His disciples and said to them:
“Go on then, sleep and rest!
“Now the hour has come when the Son of Man
is handed over into the hands of sinners.
“Get up, let us go; my betrayer is near.”
He had not yet finished speaking when Judas,
one of the Twelve,
accompanied by a large crowd armed with swords and clubs,
sent by the chief priests and the elders of the people.
His betrayer had agreed on a sign with them
by saying:
“The one I kiss is the man; seize him.”
He went straight up to Jesus and said:
“Greetings, Rabbi,”
and he kissed Him.
Jesus said to him:
“Friend, is that why you are here?”
Then they came forward,
seized Jesus and took Him into custody.
But one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it
and with a single blow cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant.
Then Jesus said to him:
“Put your sword back in its sheath.
For all who take up the sword
shall perish by the sword.
“Or do you think
that I cannot call upon my Father’s help,
who would then immediately
place more than twelve legions of angels at My disposal?
“But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled
which say that it must happen this way?”
Now Jesus addressed the crowd:
“As though against a robber
have you come out with swords and clubs
to take Me prisoner.
“Every day I sat in the temple teaching
and yet you did not arrest Me.
“But all this has come to pass
so that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”
Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled.

Now that they had Jesus in their power,
they led Him to the high priest Caiaphas,
where the scribes and the elders had gathered.
Peter followed Him at a distance
as far as the high priest’s palace;
he went inside and sat down with the servants
to see how things would turn out.
The high priest and the whole Sanhedrin
were looking for false testimony against Jesus
so that they might put Him to death,
but they found none,
even though many false witnesses came forward.
Finally, however, two came forward and declared:
‘That man there claimed:
‘I can tear down the temple of God
and rebuild it in three days.’
Then the high priest stood up and said to Him:
‘Do you not answer?
‘What do these people testify against You?’
But Jesus remained silent.
Then the high priest said to Him:
“I adjure You by the living God
to tell us whether You are the Christ,
the Son of God.”
Jesus answered him:
“You have said so.
“But I tell you:
from now on
you will see the Son of Man
seated at the right hand of Power
and coming on the clouds of heaven”.
Then the high priest tore his robes and cried out:
“He has blasphemed God;
why do we still need witnesses?
“You have now heard the blasphemy!
“What do you think of that?”
They replied:
“He deserves the death penalty.”
Then they spat in His face
and struck Him with their fists;
others struck Him with a stick, whilst saying:
“Be a prophet for us, Messiah:
who is it that has struck You?”
Meanwhile, Peter was sitting in the open courtyard.
There a servant girl came up to Him and said:
“You were with Jesus the Galilean too.”
But he denied it in front of everyone and said:
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
After this, he went to the gatehouse,
but another servant girl recognised him
and said to those present:
“That man was with Jesus the Nazarene!”
He denied it again with an oath:
“I do not know the man.”
Shortly afterwards, the bystanders came closer
and said to Peter:
“Truly, you are one of them too!
“It’s clear from your accent.”
Then he began to curse and swear:
“I don’t know the man.”
Immediately afterwards a cock crowed.
And Peter remembered the words of Jesus, who had said:
“Before the cock crows,
you will deny Me three times.”
He went outside and began to weep bitterly.

At daybreak
all the chief priests and elders of the people
gathered in council
and pronounced the death sentence on Jesus.
He was led away in chains
and handed Him over to the governor Pilate.

When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus had been condemned,
he was seized with remorse,
and brought the thirty pieces of silver
to the chief priests and elders, saying:
“I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
But they replied:
“What is that to us?
‘That is your concern.’
Then he threw the silver coins into the temple and went away.
He went away and hanged himself.
The chief priests picked up the coins and said:
“We must not put these into the treasury,
for it is blood money.”
And they decided to use it to buy the potter’s field
to bury the foreigners there.
That is why this piece of land was named Field of Blood
and is still called that today.
Thus was fulfilled what the prophet Jeremiah had said:
they took the thirty pieces of silver,
the price at which He was valued,
appraised by the sons of Israel,
and gave them for the potter’s field,
as the Lord had instructed me.

Jesus was led before the governor
and he asked Him:
“Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus replied:
“You have said so.”
In response to the charges
brought against Him by the chief priests and the elders,
He gave no answer at all.
Then Pilate said to Him:
“Do you not hear all these things they are bringing against you?”
But He gave him no answer on any point whatsoever,
so that the governor was greatly astonished.

It was the governor’s custom at every festival to release one prisoner,
chosen by the people.
They had just a notorious prisoner,
a certain Barabbas.
Now that they were gathered there, Pilate said to them:
“Which one do you want me to release to you,
Barabbas or Jesus, who is called the Christ?”
He knew full well that they had handed Him over out of envy.
Whilst he was sitting on the judge’s seat,
his wife sent him a message:
“Have nothing to do with this righteous man,
for last night in a dream
I suffered greatly because of him.”
But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the people
to choose Barabbas and put Jesus to death.
The governor spoke to them again and said:
“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?
They said:
‘Barabbas!’
Pilate asked them:
“What then shall I do with Jesus, who is called the Christ?”
They all shouted:
“Crucify him!”
He replied:
“What evil has he done?”
But they shouted even louder:
“Crucify him!”
When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere
but that the uproar was only growing,
he ordered water to be brought
and washed his hands in front of the people
whilst declaring:
“I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man;
you must answer for it yourselves.”
The whole crowd shouted back:
“Let his blood be on us and on our children!”
Then, for their sake, he released Barabbas,
but he had Jesus flogged
and handed Him over to be crucified.

Then the governor’s soldiers
took Jesus into the praetorium
and gathered the whole company around Him.
They stripped Him of His clothes
and put a scarlet robe on Him.
They also wove a crown of thorns,
placed it on His head
and placed a reed in His right hand.
Then they knelt before Him
and mocked Him, saying:
“Hail, King of the Jews!”
They spat on him,
took the reed and struck Him on the head.
After they had finished mocking Him,
they stripped Him of the cloak,
put his own clothes back on
and led Him away to be crucified.

As they were leaving the city,
they met a man from Cyrene named Simon,
and compelled him to carry Jesus’ cross.
When they came to a place called Golgotha
—that is, the Place of the Skull—
they gave him wine mixed with myrrh to drink;
He tasted it, but would not drink.
After they had crucified him,
they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots;
and sitting there, they kept watch over Him.

Above his head
they placed a sign
stating the reason for his condemnation:
This is Jesus,
the King of the Jews.
Two robbers were also crucified with him,
one on the right, the other on the left.

Passers-by mocked Him,
shaking their heads and saying:
‘You there, who tear down the temple
and rebuilds it in three days,
save Yourself;
if you are the Son of God,
come down from that cross!”
In the same vein, the chief priests
, together with the scribes and elders, mockingly:
“He has saved others, but He cannot save Himself.
He is, after all, the King of Israel!
“Let Him come down from the cross now,
then we will believe in Him.
Let Him deliver Himself now, if He is pleased with Him.
“After all, He said: ‘I am the Son of God!’
Even the criminals who were crucified with Him
hurled similar insults at Him.

From the sixth hour, darkness fell over the whole land
until the ninth hour.
Around the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice:
“Eli, Eli, lama sabaktani!”
Which means:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Some of those standing by who heard this said:
“He is calling for Elijah!”
Immediately one of them went to fetch a sponge,
soaked it in sour wine,
put it on a reed and offered it to Him to drink.
But the others said:
“Leave that!
‘Let’s see if Elijah comes to save Him.’
Jesus cried out again with a loud voice
and gave up His spirit.

(Here they all kneel for a while.)

And behold,
the curtain of the temple
was torn in two from top to bottom,
the earth shook and the rocks split.
The tombs opened
and the bodies of many holy people who had fallen asleep
rose again.
After his resurrection, they came out of the tombs
and went to the holy city
where they appeared to many.
The centurion and those who were keeping watch with him at Jesus’ side
were seized with great fear when they saw the earthquake and what followed,
seized with great fear and said:
“Truly, He was a Son of God.”
There were also many women there, watching from a distance;
they had followed Jesus from Galilee
to look after Him.
Among them were Mary Magdalene,
Mary, the mother of James and Joseph,
and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

When evening had come, a wealthy man,
a certain Joseph of Arimathea,
who had also become a disciple of Jesus.
He had gone to Pilate
and asked for Jesus’ body.
Pilate then ordered that it be handed over.
Joseph took the body,
wrapped it in a clean shroud
and laid it in his tomb
which he had recently had hewn out of the rock.
After rolling a large stone in front of the entrance to the tomb,
he went away.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there
and sat opposite the tomb.

The next day,
that is, after the day of preparation,
the chief priests and the Pharisees
went together to Pilate and said:
‘Sir, we remember
that while he was still alive, that deceiver said:
“After three days I will rise again.”
“Therefore, give orders
that the tomb be secured until the third day;
otherwise his disciples might come and steal Him
and tell the people:
He has risen from the dead.
“This final deception would be even worse than the first.”
Pilate said to them:
“You may have a guard.
“Then take your own security measures
as you have planned.”
They went away
and secured the tomb
by sealing the stone
and posting a guard there.

____________________________________________________________________________________

 

Laudato Si

Encyclical of

POPE FRANCIS

On Care for Our Common Home

71. Even though “the wickedness of man was great” (Gen. 6:5) and
God “regretted that he had made man on the earth” (cf. Gen 6:6),
yet through Noah, who remained pure and upright, God decided
to open a path to salvation. In this way, He gave humanity the opportunity
of a new beginning. A righteous person is needed if there is to be hope!
Biblical tradition clearly states that this restoration involves the rediscovery
and respect for the rhythm laid down by the hand of the Creator in
nature. This is demonstrated, for example, by the Sabbath commandment.
On the seventh day, God rested from all His works. God gave Israel the
commandment that every seventh day should be celebrated as a day of
rest, a Sabbath (cf. Gen. 2:2–3; Ex. 16:23; 20:10). Furthermore,
a sabbatical year was established for Israel and its land every seventh year (cf.
Lev. 25:1–4), during which the land was granted complete rest, no sowing took place, and
harvested only what was necessary for survival and to offer hospitality
(cf. Lev. 25:4–6). Finally, after seven sabbatical years had elapsed,
that is to say, forty-nine years, the Jubilee Year, the year of universal
forgiveness and the year in which “everyone is restored to their former
possessions and returns to his family’ (Lev. 25:10). The development of
this legislation sought to ensure balance and equality in the relationships
between people and the land in which they lived and worked.
But at the same time, there was a recognition of the fact that a gift
of the land and its fruits belongs to the whole people. Those who
and guarded it were to share its fruits, in particular
with the poor, the widows, the orphans and the strangers. “When you
harvest from the land, you must not reap your field right to the very edge, nor
gather what is left behind. You must not go over your vineyard
and must not gather the grapes that have fallen. All this is
intended for the poor and the stranger” (Lev. 19:9–10).