Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

The Month of April Dedicated both to Devotion to the Eucharist and Devotion to the Holy Spirit

In other years: Saint Francis of Paola 91436-1507); Saint John Payne (c.1550-1582); Blessed Pedro Calungsod (-1672)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 51 Brothers on a Short Journey

The Commemoration of the Lord's Entrance into Jerusalem: Mt 21:1-11

Mass: Is 50:4-7; Resp Ps 22; Ph 2:6-11; Mt 26:14-27:66   

In the midst of the assembly I will praise you.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US.

JESUS, WORD OF GOD,

DIVINE ESSENCE, ONE TRUE GOD,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

And when He entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken and asked, "Who is this?"

(Mt 21:10)

Welcome to Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. In the words of Saint Andrew of Crete (c.650-740), "let us go together to meet Christ on the Mount of Olives. Today He returns from Bethany and proceeds of His own free will toward His holy and blessed passion, to consummate the mystery of our salvation ... He will be meek and humble, and He will make His entry in simplicity ... Let us run to accompany Him as He hastens towards His passion, and imitate those who meet Him then, not by covering His path with garments, olive branches or palms, but by doing all we can to prostrate ourselves before Him by being humble and by trying to live as He would wish. Then we will be able to receive the Word at His coming, and God, whom no limits can contain, will be within us."* The donkey certainly was meek and humble. United in faith and prayer, we go forth to receive the Word; God is within us.

THE POET THINKS ABOUT THE DONKEY

On the outskirts of Jerusalem

the donkey waited.

Not especially brave, or filled with understanding,

he stood and waited.

How horses, turned out into the meadow,

leap with delight!

How doves, released from their cages,

clatter away, splashed with sunlight!

But the donkey, tied to a tree as usual, waited.

Then he let himself be led away,

Then he let the stranger mount.

Never had he seen such crowds!

And I wonder if he at all imagined what was to happen.

Still, he was what he had always been: small, dark, obedient.

I hope, finally, he felt brave.

I hope, finally, he loved the man who rode so lightly upon him,

as he lifted one dusty hoof and stepped, as he had to, forward.**

THE DONKEY

When fishes flew and forests walked

And figs grew upon thorn,

Some moment when the moon was blood

Then surely I was born.

When monstrous head and sickening cry

And ears like errant wings,

The devil's walking parody

On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,

Of ancient crooked will;

Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,

I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;

One far fierce hour and sweet:

There was shout about my ears,

And palms before my feet.***

*From a sermon by Saint Andrew of Crete, bishop, in Office of Readings, Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday).

**Mary Oliver, "The Poet Thinks About the Donkey,' in M. Oliver, Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver (Penguin, 2017), p. 130.

***G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), "The Donkey." 

SAINT FRANCIS OF PAOLA,

SAINT JOHN PAYNE,

BLESSED PEDRO CALUNGSOD,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Behold, your king comes to you, meek and riding on an ass.

© Gertrude Feick 2023