Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord and Holy Week

March is the month dedicated to Saint Joseph

Readings for the Rule of Saint Benedict for the Week: Ch 44 Satisfaction by the Excommunicated - Ch 48 The Daily Manual Labor 

They have pierced my hands and my feet,

JOSEPH, TERROR OF DEMONS,

MARY, SORROWFUL MOTHER,

SAINT MICHAEL "WHO IS LIKE GOD" THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US.

The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced.

(Isaiah 50:7)

Welcome to Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord and our entry into Holy Week. We will need a little extra protection this week, trust me. The week is not an easy one. This is one reason why we invoke Saint Michael the Archangel to guide and protect us, for, as Pope Saint Gregory the Great (540-604) tells us, "'Whenever something is to be done needing great power, Michael is sent forth so that from his action and his name we may understand that no one can do what God can do.' His name means Who is like God?, attesting to the foundational nature of humility in the spiritual battle." Something else to do is pray the traditional Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel, a prayer that originated with Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903). At the holy father's request, the prayer was recited after Mass for decades. In more recent years, Pope Saint John Paul II and the current pontiff, Pope Francis, have encouraged the faithful to pray the mighty prayer.* And let me tell you, folks, Saint Michael will help you. I now have the prayer next to my bed and got to it first thing this morning. Dreading this week, I turned to Saint Michael for help and God sent him forth. He who is mighty has done great things for me. And as far as dreading this week, I am sure Jesus dreaded it too. Abba Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will (Mark 14:36).

Here are our voices, to help us gain perspective on the week, and be encouraged to keep going. With Jesus, we resolutely set out for Jerusalem. May we courageously pick up and carry our cross and not deny Him. 

Let us run to accompany Christ as He hastens toward 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 shall be able to receive the Word at His coming, and God, whom no limits can contain, will be within us.

(From a sermon by Saint Andrew of Crete, bishop, 650-712/726/740, in Office of Readings, Palm Sunday) 

During this Easter walk that we are traveling together, we would like to live and experience the healing of our true, profound, interior sickness. In the crossing of the desert ... we cleanse ourselves from all that is useless, of our interests, our ambitions ... 

We were born to live. We are called to life, to be the extension of Jesus in the midst of suffering and lost humanity. We want to be the hands, the face, and the heart of Lord that the world (and especially the youth) seek. We want to be the love that is composed of small daily gestures, which day after day become our life and lead us to realize that our life is a gift for those around us.

(Mother Elvira Petrozzi, 1937-2023, foundress of Comunita Cenacolo)

May we never go without the affection and tenderness of Mary, who whispers the word of God in our ears. Then we will receive the power to turn a deaf ear to the blandishments of the Evil One, and walk away laughing.

(Pope Francis)

Try to meditate on the cross a little. You do not understand it. I am sure you do not see the connection between Jesus crucified and yourself. Ask God to enlighten you, and when you come to understand that the nails that pierced Christ's hands and feet have their like awaiting you, then you will be saved!

(Servant of God Jacques Fesch, 1930-1957) 

The most cruel torments of the martyrs could have no comparison with the Sufferings of Mary. Our Mother - let us remain with you at the foot of the cross, and at least share your sorrows.

(Mother Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, 1774-1821)

I believe that the Church dies if it is not sufficiently close to the Cross of her Lord. Though it may seem paradoxical, strength, vitality, hope, Christian fruitfulness, the fruitfulness of the Church come from her.

(Blessed Pierre-Lucien Claverie, Bishop of Orans, 1938-1996)

We are never strong enough to bear our own cross, it is the cross which carries us; nor so weak as to be unable to bear it, since the weakest become strong by its virtue ... He is a Physician who pays His patient, and gives a great recompense for the smallest pains.

(Mother Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, 1774-1821)

Teach me how you love and have to die

And I will try

Somehow to forget myself and give

Life and joy so dead things start to live

Let me show now an untrammeled joy

Gold without alloy.

(Elizabeth Jennings, 1926-2001, "Prayer for Holy Week")

SAINT CATHERINE OF SWEDEN,

SAINT DISMAS,

SAINT MARGARET OF CLITHEROW,

SAINT JOHN OF EGYPT,

SAINT RUPERT,

POPE SAINT SIXTUS III,

SAINT JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA,

SAINT JOHN CLIMACUS,

PRAY FOR US.

* See Magnificat, "Saint Who?", March 2024, p. 348.

Today's photo: Passiflora, or passionflower, perfect for the holiest week of the year. Seen here in the cloister garden, 2018. I can count all my bones.

© Gertrude Feick 2024