May we all have a most JOYFUL ENTRANCE INTO THE HOLY CITY OF JERUSALEM THIS “PALM SUNDAY”! As we WAVE HIGH the newly blessed PALMS and enter the Church in a solemn procession, our hearts are filled with JOY, the JOY of entering into Jerusalem with the KING OF GLORY, Our SAVIOR OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. This entrance for us today is the entrance into HOLY WEEK! It is the entrance into the PASCAL MYSTERY. It is the entrance into the TRIDUUM: HOLY THURSDAY, GOOD FRIDAY, AND EASTER VIGIL.

Today, on Palm Sunday, we share the JOY of the crowd that has been accompanying JESUS from the top of the Mount of Olives (Luke 19:37-39): “As Jesus was approaching the slope of the MOUNT OF OLIVES, the whole multitude of his disciples began to praise God aloud with JOY for all the mighty deeds they had seen. They proclaimed: BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. Peace in Heaven and glory in the highest”. We too will cry out today: HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST!

Unlike the crowd 2,000 years ago, we know this triumphal entrance will lead to the PASSION OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST”. This is why “Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord” is the full name of what we call simply “PALM SUNDAY”. This is why in this Year C of Luke, the GOSPEL we proclaim is the entire PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO LUKE (Luke 22:14-23:56).

If the crowd accompanying Jesus from the Mount of Olives had understood that Jesus must go to Jerusalem to celebrate the JEWISH PASSOVER so as to suffer and die on a Cross, their joy may have been changed into sorrow. For us today, His Passion and Death can be celebrated with JOY. At his Last Supper, Jesus gives us the Great GIFT OF HIS BODY AND BLOOD: THE EUCHARIST (Holy Thursday). By His Blood shed on the Cross (Good Friday), Jesus redeems all our sins, past and future, and those of the whole world. By his RESURRECTION (EASTER) Jesus sets us free and opens to us the door to HEAVEN AND ETERNAL LIFE. This is the ENTIRE PASCHAL MYSTERY that we celebrate with JOY during HOLY WEEK.

We are coming to an end of the LENTEN JOURNEY we began on Ash Wednesday. It is a time to reflect on our own prayer life and relationship with God, but also on our own relationship with our brothers and sister, especially those who may have hurt us and whom we have not yet forgiven. Jesus’ new commandment to love one another as he has loved us, includes the need of forgiving one another as Jesus is forgiving us. Luke’s Passion Narrative highlights GOD’s MERCY: the last words of Jesus Christ focus on FORGIVENESS: As Jesus is being crucified, he asks for the forgiveness of his executioners: “FATHER FORGIVE THEM, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:24). Later on, when one of the two criminals being crucified next to him is asking “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”, he responds: “AMEN I SAY TO YOU, TODAY, YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE” (Luke 23:43)

After the celebration of the HOLY THURSDAY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER (the institution of the EUCHARIST), we will have a day of FAST AND ABSTINENCE on GOOD FRIDAY (FRIDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD) and will enter into the silence of HOLY SATURDAY PREPARING US TO THE GREATEST CELEBRATION: EASTER VIGIL and EASTER SUNDAY!

Let us all enter joyfully into the Holy City of Jerusalem!

May God grant all of us a most blessed Holy Week!

One in Christ,

Father Alain